For people whose idea of a perfect trip does not include bungee jumping or sky diving, there is sweet relief in Napier, a small city that sits on the east coast of the country's North Island. Although it claims a pleasing location on the edge of Hawke Bay on the Pacific Ocean, Napier's main draw is not its natural scenery, but its surprising collection of Art Deco buildings.
Ghislaine Wood of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and curator of the exhibition Art Deco 1910 to 1939 now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, called Napier one of the purest Art Deco cities in the world. Its legacy can be traced to the morning of Feb. 3, 1931, when an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit the Hawkes Bay region. Nearly 260 people died, and the vast majority of the buildings in the town centers of Napier and nearby Hastings were destroyed, either by the quake itself or the ensuing fires.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
Most remarkably, the area around Napier was pushed upward nearly 3m, which lifted the inner harbor above sea level and created 2,700 acres of dry land. Rebuilding began almost immediately, and much of it was completed in two years.
PHOTOS: NY TIMES
An unusual confluence of factors resulted in the entire township's becoming a monument to Art Deco. First was the timing: By the early 1930s, Art Deco had captivated the world, and even the tiny town of Napier, in what was then one of the world's most remote countries, was no exception.
In addition, Deco architecture was considered safe, since it typically relied on a stable base of concrete adorned with low-relief surface embellishments rather than the elaborate Victorian-style ornamentation that had fallen from buildings and proved a serious liability during the quake.
Finally, the architectural attributes of Deco design -- simple streamlined shapes, minimal detailing and relatively inexpensive building materials -- made it affordable, particularly important since the rebuilding occurred during the Great Depression. Thankfully, the buildings survived some revisionist movements when they were considered hopelessly passe, and Napier's heritage is now well protected.
A peculiar result of Napier's singularly focused rebuilding effort is that the city center has the feeling of a time capsule. Unlike the streetscape of Miami Beach, for example, buildings from other periods are not mixed in, so there is a seamless line of Deco architecture on many streets. While the endless rows of candy-colored Deco storefronts have a fantasy quality, the stores themselves house ordinary businesses.
Contemporary signs are propped up against the facades, but floating above them is a virtual lexicon of Deco icons: geometric designs glorifying the Machine Age; sunbursts and fountains, representing the birth of a new modern era; and references to ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian and Maya -- and, in Napier, the indigenous Maori (the best example is at the ASB bank on the corner of Hastings and Emerson Streets, with koru, or curled-fern shapes and zigzags similar to those used in Maori weaving designs.
Closer examination reveals a scattering of buildings exhibiting California-influenced Spanish Mission style. Napier's most fascinating example is the former Gaiety de Luxe Cinema on Dickens Street, which extravagantly incorporates Moorish references as well.
Another pre-earthquake style that occasionally coexists alongside Art Deco is Art Nouveau, the best example being the opulent National Tobacco Co building in the Ahuriri area near the port. The building has both Art Deco and Nouveau influences, the latter seen in its lavish details, such as the recurring motifs of roses and grapevines (in stark contrast to Deco's preoccupation with machines). Built in 1933, it is considered the masterpiece of the local architect Louis Hay, whose work was influenced by the Chicago School and Frank Lloyd Wright.
The tour offered by the Art Deco Trust is both purposeful and leisurely, led by volunteers who are usually lifetime city residents. Much of the information they provide can also be found in a booklet sold by the trust, but taking the accompanied tour offers access to many prime Deco sites that the average sightseer might overlook.
On afternoon guided walks, guides will take you inside several buildings, including a restored Prairie-style office building, also designed by the prolific Louis Hay. There may even be a visit to Firecats, a strip club that happens to be the current tenant of one of the town's most spectacular Deco buildings. (It was designed by EA Williams, who was responsible for many of Napier's most flamboyant landmarks.) If the front doors are locked, there is plenty to look at among the exuberant details of the facade, in contrasting shades of pink, including the balcony's geometric columns crowned with lotus shapes and Egyptian-style falcon motifs, then topped with sunbursts and surrounded by cascading zigzag borders.
Another EA Williams creation is the Daily Telegraph building, which so perfectly typifies the cliched ideal of a grand 1930s news office that it seems like a Hollywood set. It bears the newspaper's name along the roofline and is decorated with numerous ziggurat and fountain shapes.
The tour's highlight is a visit inside the Municipal Theater, which features the Streamline Moderne style of the late 1930s, including chrome speed lines and a grand domed ceiling illuminated by a neon light that hypnotically shifts through a vivid array of rainbow shades.
Those who do their own exploring beyond the tour's route will be rewarded with a number of amusing diversions, including the suburb of Marewa, more than a kilometer from downtown Napier, developed in 1934 on some of the land that sprung up from the quake. The residents of the region needed new homes after the quake, and what makes the collection of bungalows dotting Marewa's streets unusual is that they make up a large group of Deco buildings intended for residential purposes, in a style generally used for commercial properties. The simple flat-roofed bungalows with smooth stucco walls are sparsely decorated with linear or geometric designs. Today, they appear to have changed very little, and are well kept and often surrounded by meticulous gardens -- sometimes with the original landscaping of tightly cropped shrubbery.
When the people of Napier rebuilt their broken city, they simply needed a new home. But what they created has instead become a vast monument to their experience, a moment of tragedy and renewal frozen in time.
Go all the way :
SIGHTSEEING
The Napier Art Deco Trust, Tennyson Street opposite Clive Square, (64-6) 835 0022, fax (64-6) 835 1912, www.artdeconapier.com, runs two daily walking tours; a two-and-a-half afternoon tour is US$8, a shorter morning walk is US$5.35. Maps for self-guided walking and driving tours, including one for the suburb of Marewa, are US$2. Napier Art Deco Weekend is the third weekend of February, when Decophiles dress up in 1920s and 1930s clothes and drive around in vintage cars.
DINING AND LODGING
Pacifica Kaimoana, 209 Marine Parade, (64-6) 833 6335, specializes in seafood, such as scallops, mussels, John Dory and whole flounder grilled with fresh herbs, in peaceful surroundings. Open for dinner only; closed Monday. Dinner for two with wine, US$75.
Of the numerous outdoor cafes downtown, Cafe Aroma, 20 Dalton St., (64-6) 835 3922, is one of the best. Closed Wednesday.
Another option is eating at one of the vineyards in the Hawkes Bay wine region. Terroir at Craggy Range Vineyard in Havelock North, about 15 miles from Napier at 253 Waimarama Road, (64-6) 873 0143, fax
(64-6) 873 7141, www.craggyrange.com, specializes in wood-fired oven and rotisserie cooking. Dinner for two with wine, about US$120. Open for lunch and dinner daily except Sunday night through April; closed Sunday night and Monday through October.
Marine Parade, the street that runs along Napier's beachfront, has a number of fine Victorian homes, rare survivors of the quake, that now operate as B&B's. The Sea Breeze, 281 Marine Parade, (64-6) 835 8067, www.aaguides.co.nz, is a sweet family-run operation that offers three colorful rooms -- a single is US$50; doubles are US$60 (shared bath) and US$70, with breakfast -- with eclectic d'or on the upper floor (the family lives on the ground floor). Guests have a private entrance, a small kitchen and a sunroom.
In the central downtown area, the County Hotel, 12 Browning St, (64-6) 835 7800, www.countyhotel.co.nz, occupies a building constructed in 1909. It survived the quake and was refurbished as an upscale boutique hotel in 1995.
HOW TO GET THERE:
Napier's high season is the New Zealand summer, December through February.
T Link Travel Service Ltd in Taipei (02) 2562 9335: From Taipei to Hong Kong to Auckland is NT$31,500, with Cathay Pacific.
Lahoo Ticketing and Tour on (02) 2531 25778, offers the cheapest ticket, on Malyasian Airlines, transit in Kuala Lumpur, NT$27,500. That's for 30 days.
Interlink Travel on (02) 2578 0611. Fly from Taipei via Hong Kong to Auckland, with Cathay Pacific, is NT$28,500 plus tax. (See classifieds on page 18).
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