ART DECO !

We had vanilla pancakes and syrup to tide us over the art deco trail – the guide book said 60 minutes – we completed half the tour, in two hours! Still half to go; but the feeling of being art de-co-ed out is an interesting one!

The girls were our guides and told us about each building – the designer, features and what happened to it in the earthquake. I think they have become art deco experts.



We spotted every geometric, angular pattern variation, lots of sun symbols (even in the pavement) and dancing women – the antique shops which are down every street were filled with artefacts and china ornaments, embroidered silk shoes and beaded dresses.



What really came across was that the entire town, practically, was rebuilt in two years. The town was like a demolition site after the quake and the architects were nearly all art deco influenced (with some Spanish Mission style thrown in) the place has a cohesive feel to it, rather than the mis-matched usual style of a town.



There are also no telephone poles or electric poles, as they were all buried underground after the disaster, which meant there were no street signs (there were no poles for them) instead they set them into the pavements. – there are, of course, street signs today, but the pavement names are still there, made out of mosaic tiles.



“ Napier’s buildings create a tapestry in which all the threads of the modern movement (the 1930s) are woven together.”

When you combine the buildings with the long sea front and avenues of bottle palms, it is a unique place to visit.
We also found ourselves noticing the Maori designs which crept into facades and balustrades or doorframes. The cathedral, and New Zealand only has seven, had a Maori altar, with woven flax designs, side by side with the traditional stained glass windows and pulpits. Interesting mixture of faiths.







There aren’t many statues here – some memorials to soldiers who fought in the war and one on the esplanade of Pania – it’s made of bronze and depicts a Maori legend of the place.
A Napier poet May Cottrell wrote a poem about the legend and the statue was modelled in 1954, using a student at the Maori Girls’ College, called May Robin.