The sun has returned and it is a lovely sunny day which is good as we have a couple of walks planned for today. Napier is one of the most complete and significant groups of Art Deco buildings in the world. The earthquake that hit the town on 3 February 1931 devastated the town so it was rebuilt over a period of 2 years making it the worlds most modern city at the time. The houses that survived the quake had mostly been built in the preceding 10 years so the whole town ended up reflecting the Art Deco style of the time. Of the 164 buildings that were erected between 1920 and 1940, 140 remain today so the town now markets itself as a time capsule both of the architecture and the style of the inter war years. The Art Deco centre provides a guided walk of the town, or you can buy a booklet of 2 self guided walks which is what we did. We walked from our apartment along the beach to the first walk which was called the Seafront walk, an interesting name as you didn’t actually walk by the sea at any point but it did provide information on the main buildings around Marine Parade and the buildings associated with the Seafront. During the earthquake the coastline along Marine Parade moved out to sea by 100 metres as the land was lifted up, and in some places the land in Napier rose by up to 6 feet. So a series of gardens and public facilities were created along the front which reflected the era, such as public baths and outdoor amphitheaters. Once we had finished the Seafront Walk we set off on the City Walk which covered the main business district, this was quite extensively rebuilt after the earthquake and one of the distinguishing features compared to other towns in New Zealand is the lack of posts holding up the verandas. This is because after the quake buildings were required to cantilever their verandas over the footpath at a standard height, supported by steal hangers anchored into the concrete facade rather than as previously where they had been supported by wooden or cast iron posts, although verandas are common in New Zealand they were not built to shelter shoppers but to protect the merchandise in the shop windows from sun damage. The buildings are all very well kept and a number have restored the interior as well as the exterior, but the only building we went in was the Municipal Theatre which was completed in 1934 and is very Art Deco inside. Because there was so little flat land in Napier the streets were very narrow, after the earthquake most of the town centre streets were widened by setting the buildings back by 6 feet from their original location, there are 2 ‘kinks’ in this layout as the buildings survived the quake and therefore couldn’t be moved. The new town layout benefited the increase in the number of cars on the roads as it is said that one of the benefits of the Art Deco style is the buildings are splayed at the corners to improve visibility for cars! By the time we finished the walks it was lunchtime so we went back to the apartment to have something to eat and find the leaflet for the Napier hill drive which took us all around the residential area of Napier. It isn’t until you leave the town that you realise how hilly, twisting and turning the roads were before the quake. A lot of the houses up the hill actually survived the earthquake so there are a lot less Art Deco buildings and a lot more ‘Victorian’ and ‘Tudor revival’ style houses, which to be honest to me look pretty similar but are very nice. The best part of the drive is the fact that you get up really high above the town and therefore get fantastic views of both sides of the bay. By the time we had finished this drive it was almost 4.30 so we picked up a bit of shopping and went back to the apartment to relax a bit before heading out to have something to eat.
