We came to Napier solely to see the Art Deco architecture. After a serious earthquake in 1931 demolished most of the buildings, and also raised land out of the sea thus expanding the city footprint, the rebuilding was undertaken in an Art Deco style, partly for safety reasons, also for cost as it was the time of the great depression. All the architects worked together, and some amazing features were created. In the 1980s buildings in the shop centre were being pulled down and a trust was formed to lobby for conservation of the architecture, allied with promotion of the city as a tourist place of interest. They’ve done a good job. We went on a 2 hour walking tour run by the trust, and as it’s winter there was just the two of us. Our guide, Matilda who moved here from Germany over 20 years ago, knew her history, and was a passionate promoter of the city. It was fascinating to see the styles which we sometimes now associate with Hitler, and it was amazing to see a whole street of beautiful buildings. Interestingly the NZ architects of the 30s introduced some Maori patterns into the Art Deco, which fitted in well with the Mayan, Aztec and Egyptian themes that were also used. Luckily the rain held off during the walking tour. Later in the evening we came back to see the lights - the Tom Parker fountain glows red, green, orange and yellow, and was very pretty.
Napier seemed a curious mix. There is an air of gentility from the beautiful buildings - even some of the manhole covers were decorative - but there is apparently a gang element and we saw several boy racers driving round with blaring stereos which was incongruous. It’s quite isolated. We drove for 2 hours from Taupo across the mountains without there being a petrol station and no real towns or villages along the way. So it has that small town feel that you get in rural areas where there’s one centre of entertainment. We were only there briefly, and I think it would look even better in sunshine, but it was still good.
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