Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project · 2018. 12. 5. · from the Hastings District Council suggests that in 1958, in a response to changing retailing fashions, Roachs’ converted

Roachs’ Building (Former), 244 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings. Inventory Number 23; Property ID 21104 ; TRIM Reference 21104#002#0005 NZHPT Registration Number: 2787 Initial draft Penelope Laurenson, 2005; Draft: 13 June 2007; Last amended 4 July 2008; Michael Kelly/ Chris Cochran; Final Check 4 November 2009; Updated September 2012, Updated 2015 by HDC Environmental Policy Team

Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project

ROACHS’ BUILDING (FORMER)

OTHER NAMES: Westpoint Plaza

Photo: A. Sanders, October 2009

LOCATION:

Street and Number: 244 Heretaunga Street West

City / Town: Hastings

Region: Hawke’s Bay

Location Information: Corner of Heretaunga Street West and King Street South.

LEGAL DESCRIPTION:

Legal Description: Part Lot 1 DP 6230

Certificate of Title (including Registry): HB93/26, Hawke’s Bay Registry


SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Architectural Value:

The former Roachs’ Building, though now largely demolished, was an excellent example of the Moderne style, perhaps the best in the city and of modest national interest. It was characterised by a complete absence of period details, by strong and simple horizontal shapes and proportions, by narrow bands of glazing, and curved shapes that fit naturally with the corner site. It is a good example of the work of local architects Davies and Phillips, somewhat different from their other buildings of the same period, and extends our understanding of their work.

It was a very strong building in the townscape – it occupies a prominent central CBD intersection and stands out for its streamlined, simple shapes. It is compatible with adjacent buildings, with which it shared the qualities of compatible scale, visual interest and construction materials.

Cultural Value:

The former Roachs’ Building was a prominent retailing attraction from 1934, with generations of local residents having shopped at the store. The social significance can be extended to the previous buildings located there, giving the site on the corner of Heretaunga West and King Street added importance for its long association with Roachs’ Department Store. As the building has been used continuously for retailing since its construction, public esteem for the building is likely to be relatively high. However, the loss of the association of the building with Roachs’ Department Store (in 1979) inevitably means this has diminished somewhat since. The recent redevelopment of the building which involved demolition of the building itself, but maintained the visually significant rotunda, may reduce the cultural value of the building, although it continues to be used as retail department store, Farmers.

Historic Value:

The former Roachs’ Building is historically significant for its association with Roachs’ Department Store, one of the longest running and most successful of Hastings retailing concerns. The present building was the fifth occupied by Roachs’ and the fourth on this site, which the firm traded from for over 90 years. Roachs’ was one of a number of businesses directly affected by the Hawke’s Bay earthquake, but in its case the impact was especially severe; the deaths of 17 people represented the biggest single loss of life in one building. The building is also significant for its association with Davies and Phillips, one of the most significant architectural practices in Hastings' history and key figures in the city's post-earthquake rejuvenation. In the period since its closure the building has remained a significant feature of Hastings' retailing.

Technological Value:

The building has technical interest for its post-earthquake design in reinforced concrete, including post and beam, floor and roof construction. This value is enhanced by the existence of the complete set of original architectural drawings, which document the structural design in some detail. It was a well-executed building of the 1930s, a good example of the building materials and technology of the time.


HISTORY:

In 1884, G.H. Roach opened a drapery between the Hastings Hotel and Market Street.1 Roach, born in London, was educated in Birmingham. On completing his education he returned to London and after working with the drapery firm of Shoolbread and Co. he went to Australia in 1857. He moved to Dunedin in 1862, where he married Hannah O’Connell.2 The couple moved to Christchurch and then on to Wellington, before eventually settling in Hawke’s Bay. 3

In 1886 Roach opened premises in a store on the corner of Heretaunga Street West and King Street. It comprised, among other things, a grocery, ironmongery, glassware and crockery.4 This part of the business was taken over by his son George F. Roach in 1900 and then in 1904 when Roach senior retired. George and his brother Victor carried on the two arms of the business as Roach Brothers, until George bought Victor out. In 1909, a two storied brick building designed by Christchurch architect Sydney Lutterell was built on the site of the previous building and the two businesses were combined under the one roof.5

When George F. Roach successfully ran for Mayor of Hastings in 1929, his son Gordon took over the business.6 During the early 1920s, James Wattie was an accountant for Roachs’.7 The Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 1931 had a devastating effect on the 1909 building. 'The front of the building rose in the air' before the structure collapsed in a heap…’.8 There were about 50 people in the store at the time and 17 of them died, the largest number of fatalities in a single building, many of them customers and employees.9 One was a boy who had gone to buy a school cap.10 It is believed that in the early to mid-1920’s a number of support pillars within the store were removed in order to allow a larger display area. This may have played a role in the subsequent destruction of the building.11

The company, not having held earthquake insurance, found itself insolvent after the earthquake. A new company (Roachs’ (1931) Limited) was quickly formed and in April 1931 they opened three temporary stores, one on the site of the original Roachs’ building, one in Warren Street and one opposite Grays Road. This allowed Roachs’ to keep trading until a more permanent building was erected.12 George F. Roach, now Mayor, suggested that when landowners on Heretaunga Street rebuilt, that they set their building five feet further back to allow the street to be widened. Roachs’ temporary Heretaunga Street store was set back accordingly. The proposed scheme was eventually dropped after vocal opposition from some of the landowners in Heretaunga Street.13

In 1934, Roachs’ temporary premises were replaced with a new building, a strikingly modern design by Davies and Phillips. The Moderne style of the building was somewhat

1 M.B. Boyd, City of the Plains: A History of Hastings, Wellington: Victoria University Press for Hastings District Council, Hastings,

1984, p 52. 2 Ibid.

3 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol. 6. Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and Wellington Provincial Districts, Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company

Ltd, 1908. 4 Boyd, City of the Plains, p.52

5 Ibid. p.116

6 Ibid.

7 M.B. Boyd, 'Wattie, James 1902 - 1974', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 April 2006

www.dnzb.govt.nz/. 8 M. Wright, Hawke’s Bay: The History of a Province, Palmerston North, Dunmore Press, 1994, p.157.

9 Ibid.

10 Boyd, City of the Plains p.270

11 Fowler, Michael, From Disaster to Recovery: The Hastings CBD 1931-35, Havelock North: Michael Fowler Publishing, 2007, p.128

12 Ibid, p.132

13 Boyd, City of the Plains, p.268; Fowler p.132, 135.


different from other Davies and Phillips buildings of the same period which were mainly Stripped Classical (Ebbetts Building and Karamu Chambers) or Art Deco in style. It was built at a cost of ₤12,498 by Charles S Palmer, financed with the aid of a loan from the Rehabilitation Committee.14

Post-earthquake, Roachs’, like a number of other businesses, had suffered from burglaries. Since the 1890s shopkeepers had employed a night-watchman, who, along with the policeman, had keys to the retailers' premises, including Roachs’. A suspicious George Roach, who had lost as much as ₤5,000 over the five years since the earthquake, noticed the disappearance of a small pair of men’s shoes and then later, how small the night-watchman’s feet were. He stayed overnight in his shop and caught the night-watchman and the on-duty policemen red handed. The ensuing scandal led to the removal or resignation of other policemen. Other retailers presented Roach with a clock as a mark of appreciation.15

Over the period of its history, Roachs’ had developed into a fully-fledged department store, carrying a large range of products and becoming one of the Hastings' best known retailing landmarks. This tradition continued on in the new building, but file information from the Hastings District Council suggests that in 1958, in a response to changing retailing fashions, Roachs’ converted their building into a shopping arcade.16 However, no permit records have been located to confirm this change, nor the extent of any alterations required.

Roachs’ continued on until 1979, when the company sold the building to David Winter and Glynn Pointon for the business Winter Pointon Fashions (later Hilary Pointon Fashions). In 1981, the building was converted into the Westpoint Plaza Shopping Centre.

The first recorded alteration to the building came in 1962, when there were changes to the shop display areas. Since Westpoint Plaza was established there have been a number of building alterations. The building was re-roofed in the mid-1980s, along with undergoing major changes to internal partitions, counters and displays. In 1994 a new canopy and frontage were built and there were further internal alterations in 1999. Two shops were fitted out in 2000 and a canopy was reinstated in 2003.17 From the buildings conversion to Westpoint Plaza up until 2007, the main occupier was Hillary Pointon Fashions. Since then the main occupier has been TSB (Taranaki Savings Bank). Building and Resource Consents were granted to TSB in 2007 to alter the buildings frontage and erect signage. Hillary Pointon Fashions remains one of the occupiers. The Farmers department store relocated to the Roach’s Building in July 2012, the building itself was largely demolished, with the noteworthy rotunda, prominent on the street corner, being retained.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

Architect: Davies and Phillips (Harold Davies, Eric Phillips)

Date of construction: 1934

14

For further details on the loan from the Rehabilitation Committee see Fowler p.132 15

Boyd, City of the Plains, pp.246-247 16

Hastings District Council, copies on New Zealand Historic Places Trust file no 12009-776. 17

Hastings District Council, summary of consents from applications on New Zealand Historic Places Trust file no 12009-776.


Construction details: The former Roachs’ Building was in reinforced concrete construction, basically post and beam, with concrete foundations and floor, also a concrete roof over the front half of the building to Heretaunga Street. Timber trusses supported the roof of the rear part of the building.

Description: The former Roachs’ Building was a single storey building with a large floor plate, on the corner of Heretaunga and King Streets. It is a dramatic building on this prominent site, because of the remaining circular first floor room (the rotunda) on the corner and the very long parapet that extends along both street elevations; this gives the building a spread out, horizontal form. Although the corner room is very prominent, it is not a tower, because it does not rise significantly above the level of the parapet; it does however build on the horizontals of the main composition because of its very narrow band of windows and strong circular banding of the roof parapet above. There was further horizontal emphasis in the glazing above the verandah and in the verandah fascia that swept in a bold curve around the corner. The style was Moderne, the building being free of period details, and relying for its impact on strong horizontal, streamlined and curved shapes.

The building was also unusual in having a concrete roof, at least over the front (Heretaunga Street) half of the building; the roof structure of the rear part was timber and steel trusses. The original drawings show most of the floor in use as ‘drapery and showroom’, with a grocery department occupying the eastern end of the Heretaunga Street elevation, and with a cluster of offices, stores, a dressmaking room and service spaces behind.18 The circular room above the corner of the building was accessed via a door from the roof; its purpose is not known.

The building has seen a number of alterations over time; these include a redesign of the shop frontage, and a new roof over the front half of the building. Other visible external elements maintained a high degree of authenticity. In 2008 it was observed that the interior of the building had been cleared of any original fixtures or fittings. At the time of the site visit, the rear of the building was being reconfigured with a view to attracting new tenants. A significant change was of course, the redevelopment of the site for the relocation of the Farmers department store in 2012.

ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:

Element Significance

Street elevations, incl. circular room on roof Architectural, aesthetic

Structure Technical

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:

‘Architect played big role after 1931 earthquake’, New Zealand Biographies, Vol. 3, p22, 1979.

Boyd M.B., City of Plains: A History of Hastings, Wellington: Victoria University Press for Hastings City Council, Hastings, 1984.

Boyd M.B., 'Wattie, James 1902 - 1974', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 April 2006 www.dnzb.govt.nz/

18

Hastings District Council, copies on New Zealand Historic Places Trust file no 12009-776


Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol. 6. Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and Wellington Provincial Districts, Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company Ltd, 1908.

Fowler, Michael, From Disaster to Recovery: The Hastings CBD 1931-35, Havelock

North: Michael Fowler Publishing, 2007. Hastings District Council building files

McGregor R., The Hawke's Bay Earthquake, New Zealand's Greatest Natural Disaster, Hastings: Art Deco Trust, 1998

New Zealand Historic Places Trust file no 12009-776

Swamp to Centenary: a history of Hastings, New Zealand, Hastings: Heretaunga

Intermediate School, 1961.

Wright M., Hawke’s Bay: The History of a Province, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1994

Wright M., Town and Country: The History of Hastings and District, Hastings: Hastings District Council, 2001.

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:

NZHPT Register: Roachs’ Building is a Category II historic place (Register No. 2787).

District Plan Listing: Listed as a Category II historic place in the Operative Hastings District Plan (Plan declared operative 10th June 2003) and is located within the Central Character Precinct.

New Zealand Historic Places Act 1993: This site has been identified as a potential archaeological site under Section 2 of the New Zealand Historic Places Act 1993.

Roachs’ Building (Former), 244 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings. Inventory Number 23; Property ID 21104 ; TRIM Reference 21104#002#0005 Initial draft Penelope Laurenson, 2005; Draft: 13 June 2007; Last amended 4 July 2008; Michael Kelly/ Chris Cochran; Final Check 4 November 2009.

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ARCHIVE PLAN(S): Business Premises, Heretaunga St Hastings, for Messrs Roachs’ Ltd by Davies & Phillips Architects (1931) (TRIM Ref: 21104#026)


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Roach’s Building following the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake

Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project · 2018. 12. 5. · from the Hastings District Council suggests that in 1958, in a response to changing retailing fashions, Roachs’ converted

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