AN OBITUARY

for a

PAPANUI CENTENARIAN

The motto of the Papanui Building could very well have been “Location, location, location”.

An early view from Papanui Road, looking north, Harewood Road off to the left, and Main North Road to the right. Papanui Hotel to the right of the big tree in the centre, Sevenoaks Butchery two-storeyed building on the right.

NOTE –Cover Details: Title “Papanui Building” is a representation of the parapet facing the North Road, removed at some time,possibly after an eartquake for safety Sketch by David Bailey, of DabHand Graphics for Papanui Heritage Group’s fund-raising calendar.

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INTRODUCTION

Robert Rickerby‟s land purchase on which in 1910-1911 he erected his two-storeyed building, was obviously a desirable site: a distinctive junction even from the time of the first survey for the Canterbury Association prior to the arrival of the First Four Ships in 1850. The early survey, recorded in a “black map” (see below) incorporated a Maori track to the north and a proposed road out to the west to the timber at Oxford.

 Edge of the Papanui Bush 

Section of the original ―Black Map‖ 1, as drawn by Chief Surveyor Thomas Cass, in March 1856, showing the southern fringe of the Papanui Bush at the top, and particularly the junction that became the site of the Papanui Building.

1 Thanks to Land Information New Zealand for allowing it to be photographed.

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Papanui had early been a significant settlement with the Bush, early referred to as the ‟Papanui Wood‟ being its attraction. In the early 1860s the population of Christchurch was noted as 900 and that of Papanui as 600. The Bush was fairly quickly cut out, and Papanui‟s growth declined for a time. However the coming of the railway and the trams gave a motive to building here.

Over the years this “Papanui Building” became a landmark for Papanui. Traffic heading north always came face to face with it, a fact not lost on advertisers, most notably “Firestone”, whose neon sign erected after the factory opened in 1947. The sign capped the building for many years: it still shows on a photograph dated 1981.

The Christchurch earthquake of September 4, 2010, was a mortal blow, with the February 22nd 2011 quake proving fatal.

This document seeks to preserve and record the story of the Papanui Building.

The Papanui Building has housed tenanted shops all its one-hundred-year life. Its location at what came to be known as the Roundabout 2 made it something of the landmark of the district.

[However, at the time of producing this booklet, it has not been possible to locate any plans of the building or details of who constructed it.]

2 For more on the “Roundabout” see page 14.

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The evidence of Directories 3 and photographs, and also rating records, indicate that Rickerby‟s “Papanui Building” was erected between 1910 and 1911.

Wises Directory records that there were two buildings on the site in 1910: one occupied by George Bayley, 4 land agent, and that “Mrs Annie Adams had a drapery shop (and private residence) on the corner replaced by Rickerby‟s.” 5

An earlier photo of the site of the ―Papanui Building, around 1905.

3 It should be noted that Directories took a year or more to be printed. 4 see later in the section headed “Last Days.” 5 And see Plan on page 9: “Dwelling (wood old) Shops”

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The relevant entry in the 1911 Directory, starts at the Papanui Hotel, suggesting that then there were no buildings on the site. 1912 is the first year the Directory records a listing of the shops with their occupants and occupations, but no address numbers. This makes a study of tenants and occupations slightly difficult, because it is not until 1923-24 that shop address numbers are given; each shop then being shown individually on CTs.6

Examination of the records of Directories from 1912 onwards offers a kind of Social History as the designations of occupancy change. In this block of shops there was usually a bakery and/or confectionary, a newsagent and/or bookseller, a fruiterer, a tobacconist and/or hairdresser, and for many years a cycle shop of some kind. Never a butcher though – there was usually one “over the road.”

So, on the corner the baker and confectioner becomes pastry cook, and in 1923 this shop became a boot maker‟s, reverting in 1927 to confectioner. It was then taken over by “Self Help Co-op Grocery Ltd”7 which traded there until 1940. There are no Directory entries for this shop until 1950 when it is recorded as a hardware shop. “Newsagent” is a current occupation from 1912 until 1924 when it changes to “stationer,” and sometimes “bookseller” or “bookshop.” There has always been a “fruiterer” - not always in the same premises, and certainly up until 1955, a “cycle shop” or equivalent, such as “cycle dealer” or “cycle engineer.”

6 CT = Certificate of Title. 7 Founded in Wellington in October, 1922 by Benjamin Sutherland. A year later, 7 shops in Wellington, and by 1929, 56 shops throughout New Zealand.

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A significant item of „Social History‟ is that “Billiards” have featured in the Directories from 1913 until at least 1955, and the rooms 8(there appears no mention of “Saloon”) were probably accessed from the hairdresser and/or tobacconist.

View looking south towards the ―Roundabout‖ junction, featuring the Billiard room entrance, and the tram track from around the ―loop‖.

Some tenants listed in the Directories appear for at least a decade: Robert Rickerby, of course, firstly with cycles and later Creswell M. Manhire; George and Mrs. Agnes Green as newsagent; George and Mrs. I.G. Tapper 9 later; Henry Black as bookseller and sometimes electrician.. Hugh Bruce, listed for three years as “pastry cook”, later became partner in the firm of commercial bakers – Adams Bruce.

Among occupations occasionally listed, suggesting a service that failed to attract a regular clientele, were: hardware, beauty salon, dressmaker, and jeweller.

8 Whether upstairs or downstairs – there is now some uncertainty. 9 See advertisement on page 10.

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...and now BACK TO THE BEGINNING.....

Captain Belfield Woollcombe, son of a rector in England, retired from the Royal Navy, and came to New Zealand on the “Canterbury” in October, 1851. He selected his Rural Section entitlement, RS 203, of fifty acres on the north side of Harewood Road, Papanui; a rectangular-shaped block that ran from the North Road to about the current Wilmot Street.

The first piece of this fifty acres to be sold off was in May, 1852. It was a block of one acre, sold for £6 to William Meddings,10 carpenter. It had a narrow frontage on the North Road. At the end of November, 1853, this one acre property was sold for £9.10.0 (nine pounds, ten shillings) to Robert Carr and Henry Roil, described as “timber dealers.”11 In January, 1876, John Barlow. “of Papanui, Hotel Keeper” purchased the block12 The document has no price specified. An interesting transaction recorded on 29 May, 1905, is a transfer of a portion as a reserve to the Christchurch Tramway Board.13 The name of Robert Rickerby “of the Styx, farmer” first appears on 18th September 1907 to whom is transferred “balance together with reservation as to Right of Way”.

10 William Meddings‟ name appears a little later in Papanui‟s story as the first licensee of the Papanui Hotel. 11 Carr and Roil also appear later in Papanui‟s story as the licensees of the Sawyers Arms Hotel, the first hotel in Papanui. Carr is recorded as “American”; Roil came to New Zealand in 1842 with his parents. Carr and Roil worked for Captain Thomas preparing for the arrival for the first Canterbury Association settlers. 12 Certificate of Title (CT) 17/25 13 see later (page 13) in the section “The Loop”.

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The transactions recorded on the documents between 1907 and 1915 are often of Mortgages taken up and discharged, which suggest financial activities involved in the erection of the “Papanui Building.” By April, 1916, Robert Rickerby becomes recorded as “cycle mechanic.”

A Deposit Plan14 dated March, 1908, “surveyed by Arthur Templar for R Rickerby” shows the long narrow section from “North Railway”, “Railway Land” and “Tramway Land”, divided in to fourteen Lots. Those along Harewood Road are about 14 roods; but Lots 8 to 12, fronting North Road, are much smaller.15 These Lots in due course became the location of the Papanui Building.

A portion of DP 2599 – A D diagonally at the top left is Harewood Road.

14 DP 2599 15 one rood is 0.25 of an acre, or .003 hectares.

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In the second of two articles specially written for the “Star” and published therein, this extract from Saturday, March 8, 1919, “Fron Erins’ Isle to Papanui” Mr. John Joyce continues his story “Ramble Round the Township.”

Early in habitants and landmarks. At the corner of North and Harewood Roads there was a very old building, once a butcher’s shop, where Mr Jackson established his business, and later it was a school carried on by two ladies. The next occupier was Mrs Adams, who carried on for many years a general drapery store until she removed to her present premises on the North Road. Then it did duty as a land agent’s office under the direction of Mr George Baillie for a few years, and lately it has disappeared from view, having fought the good fight and is now no more, as a better and more substantial row of shops has taken its place, in the form of a two-storey brick building, comprising some five shop frontages. ______

Fragmentary image of newspaper advertisement, ―Press‖, 23 July, 1931

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AFTER ROBERT RICKERBY

Robert Rickerby died 20th March, 1949, aged 81. He left three daughters: Eva who became Mrs Harold Winter and later Mrs Blair, Leah Isobel who married R H Hamilton, and Mabel Fanny who married Kenneth J MacDonald.

It is recorded 16 in September 1949, that title was transferred to Eva Blair and Mabel Fanny MacDonald, housewives as Executors; and in February 1954 solely to Mabel MacDonald. In May 1957 possession passed on to Mabel MacDonald and Thomas Harold Winter, manager, (son of Eva and Harold). In August 1961 it passed from them to Clifton William Selby, company director, and father-in-law of Thomas Harold Winter.

An old identity 17 records that rents used to be collected weekly, in cash, for Mr Winter by his son-in-law, Mr Robinson.

It is also noted that around 1946 next to Rickerby‟s building, along Harewood Road, the MacDonalds set up the Papanui Service Station with a bowser. 18

16 Certificate of Title 379/026. 17 Miss Connie Kevern, who owned the Devon Bookshop from 1947 to 1977. 18 A pump for dispensing gasoline.

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In the 1950s the shops in the building are recorded as: Empire Milk Bar, Devon Bookshop, Ladies‟ Hair Salon, Stubbings Jewellery, Douglas‟ Men‟s Hairdresser, Billiard Room; then the “Loop” then the Papanui Hotel.19

A list recorded in 2004 gives CopyCat, Maharaja Indian Restaurant, Pet Shop, $10 Haircuts, a little tea-room, (which is pretty much the situation up until the Building‟s demise).

Changes in ownership of the Building are recorded in a series of entries dated 16 December, 1963 detailing transfers to Lake Timara Limited, with its Registered Office in Blenheim. Hard facts from “rates Information” for 1 Harewood Road, (Lot 9 DP 16730, Pt Res 64), in September, 2010, give the area as 1.075 Hectares, and a Capital Value of $1.640,000, made up of Land valued at $798,00 and Improvements of $842,000.

And then a later document 20 refers to the Original Proprietors as “Main North Road 1 Limited.

19 Kay Matthews to Lorna Garden 20 Computer Freehold Register, CB39D/84.

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TWO SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATES The Loop and the Roundabout.

The Loop, 21 The public opening for the first electric tram line operated by the Christchurch Tramway Board, was to Papanui on June 15th, 1905. The opening did not however proceed smoothly. Nevertheless it began the running of trams from Papanui to the Christchurch Railway Station until 1934. “In August 1922 a balloon loop, the first in Christchurch was installed at the Papanui terminus, to eliminate the shunting of trailers on a loop at the busy intersection.” Trams came up Papanui Road, in to Harewood Road on a track that went to the Railway Station with a branch that took it around behind the Papanui Building and out into the North Road. “After the demise of the trams [in September 1954] this facility remained to enable buses to turn, until the land was sold in 1975 to a developer who built a shop.” 22 Old identities recollect that “where this shop is used to be the tram loop”. There had been difficulties in the negotiations between the Railways and the Tramways over the land for the branch to the Papanui Railway Station. The entry into the Station yard eventually became Restell Street. Rickerby‟s “Papanui Building” was indeed “central” to the Loop.

21 Information largely from “Papanui – the number one line” Tramway Historical Society (Inc), 1977 22 Papanui Lighting and Radio Centre proprietor Bill Walker “site of the old turn- around loop” Nov. 1975

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The Roundabout. In the late 1940s- early 1950s the Tramway Board was dealing with politics, considering conversion of its services to buses. There were some who considered that trams should be retained on the Papanui/Cashmere line. In September 1951 a start was made on re-laying tracks, in concrete, at the top end of Papanui Road. The Board approving this had a short life, and the following election returned a Board committed to the entire conversion to buses. The line closed on Friday, 10 September, 1954 and ceremoniously closed the following day.

The mass concrete section of track between Blighs Road and the Terminus remained visible until February 1966 when a contract was started to form a roundabout and to reconstruct Papanui Road. Then the last visible tramway tracks sank slowly beneath tar-sealing.

A view from the ―Papanui Building, looking south on to the Roundabout and down Papanui Road, with the Memorial Hall prominently on the left (around 1977).

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At least for the next decade, any local resident knew what folk were referring to when they located anything at or near “the roundabout.” A single-storey commercial building was erected on the east side, at the corner of the North Road and Horner Street, known as the “Roundabout Arcade.” Part of it became the new location of the Papanui Library, opened in 1978. The Arcade was also the location of “Arcade Records” and a series of other smaller shops.

The Roundabout as a physical feature remained until traffic lights, commissioned by City Council staff, were installed, operating from December 1978. 23

A Note: In the 1940 Directory appears “No.11” there previously having been only the initial five lots, giving the North Road postal Numbers 1,3,5,7, and 9. A single-storeyed extension was added on the North Road in the 1960s as a lighting shop as part of the old “tram loop” with the lane next to it, the former entrance to the old Papanui Hotel.

23 “Press” 21 December 1978 – article on the new reserve at the site of the Memorial Hall.

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SOME REMINISCENCES 24

A number of old identities recall dances and dance halls in Papanui. A number refer to the one in Rickerby‟s building, “top floor of the hairdressers‟” 25 and as being across two shops. One recalls “The gymnasium was on the second storey in Rickerby‟s building...” and “when Rickerby shut the billiard room down it was made into a social hall.” Undoubtedly there was a large, open space upstairs in the Papanui Building, and some, if not all of it was at some stage a billiards‟ room. But it also was renowned as a space for dances.

“Next to this row of shops [in the Papanui Building] was the Papanui Hotel which used to have a walkway through to the railway station. This was to enable people to walk through to catch the tram to town. The terminus of the trams was a great meeting place for people in Papanui.” 26 From the mid-1950s a favoured meeting-place in Papanui was the “Empire.” It was a Milk Bar, next to the corner premises of the Papanui Building. It operated seven days a week, and its four different owners each held it for about two years. In those days the local Rugby Club would call in after their game at St James Park for milk shakes and ice cream sodas. 27 In time it changed its name from “Empire Milk Bar” to “Empire Dairy.”

24 From “Interviews with “Old Identities” undertaken by Des King, proprietor of the “Papanui Herald” in 1979-80. 25 And see the comment on page 7 about the Billiard Room. 26 David D. Barnard 27 Noeline Howe in “North Christchurch News” cNov. 1993

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Such was its standing in the community that a number of reminiscences recall: “Mr Rickerby used to own the Empire Building.” “... as a child she can remember Mrs Green‟s lolly shop in the Empire buildings...”.28 and “...having the bike shop in the Empire buildings.”

Such was the impressive place it had in the lives of contemporaries 29 that although “Papanui Building” was set in concrete on the Building‟s parapet, in locals‟ memories it was the “Empire.”

28 Mrs. Evelyn Hern. (née Kettle 29 “ Mr Rickerby used to own the Empire Building.” –Lesley Troon

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LAST DAYS

In August, 2003, a “Bayleys (Real Estate Agents)” advertisement appeared in the “Press”. “Papanui Landmark – A piece of ChCh History” and advised: “Main North Road, fully managed, multiple tenancies, some leases to 2012, 30 maximum possible profile, recently refurbished, purchase price $1.5m.” There is a larger “Bayleys” advertisement in April 2005: “Double exposure, Papanui, fully leased and managed investment. Excellent tenant mix – retail/office/billboard & residential, unqualified profile with wide street frontages, major billboard site,31 poised for rental growth.” The deadline sale closing was Tuesday, 31 May, 2005.

In mid-2008 there appear in the property pages of “The Press” a number of advertisements for the leasing of the upstairs office rooms. fronting Harewood Road. Some refurbishment and interior decorations was carried out, but there were murmurs and rumours that the Building was showing its age, giving concerns about its long-term viability. It was commented that if an investor considered demolition given the site‟s exposure and accessibility, there would be issues of Resource Consent, particularly the availability of requisite parking.

30 a curious choice, given the subsequent earthquake events. 31 Reported to represent one third of the income.

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In the last days before its demise by earthquake, the Building housed: on the corner at address 1 Main North Road, “Copycat Service Centre”, next to them, an Indian restaurant, then a Pet Shop, a $10 Haircut, and a food shop.

After the earthquake on September 4th 2010, the Building was emptied and cordoned off, and remained so, until the ruinous earthquake of February 22nd, 2011. During the period between the two earthquakes, it stood empty and forlorn, just as it had been left by its tenants at the end of the day before the first, 4.00 a.m. earthquake. To any enquiries about its future prospects the response was that “decisions were being made”.

The first big shake of Tuesday 22nd 2011, just before one o‟clock, separated the Harewood Road frontage from the main structure, and the first aftershock about a quarter of an hour later, tumbled it into the carriageway Within two days it was demolished into a mound of bricks

Compare this view, taken after the demolition after the February earthquake with the same corner view on page 2.

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POSTSCRIPT

(by Soohwak Kim (known as Soo) owner of CopyCat Service Centre at 1 Main North Road for more than the past nine years; an immigrant from South Korea about 15 years ago. The CopyCat business had been operating for 7 years previously.) My daughter, Jiyun informed me that the main big window was smashed, a friend from school had phoned her. What was the cause, and what cost would it be? What the business will be in the future and also more earthquakes? On 4th September 2010 early in the morning our family rushed to go to the shop, and discovered the cause of the broken window. There were already people gathered. The couple from the Pet Shop, and the family of the Indian Restaurant and a few other people looked at each other but nobody seemed to have any idea what the future will be. We all wanted to believe that the building would be all right soon though it might take a while to recover. All the people started to fix the damaged window and broomed all broken windows and called repairers but all their stock got damaged. It was unbelievable! I was getting to realise how the situation is so serious There were so many rumours spreading around, rumours, but how do we know? What do we do next and where do we go really? One episode unforgettable for me. A couple came and took a photograph of his wife in front of the smashed window when we were cleaning the site and then they swapped the position and took another photo for him. Now, we CopyCat lost 1 North Road, but very fortunately we are all safe and secured. CopyCat Service Centre did not go back into the 1 North Road premises between the September and February earthquakes.

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Twisted and desolate – the CopyCat corner a day or two after the February earthquake

In disarray—Harewood Road side—before it fell. The cordon fence had been up since the September quake.

These photographs taken by Christine Grant.

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Compiled and Edited by Christine Grant and Warren Hudson March – May, 2011.

a PAPANUI HERITAGE GROUP Publication ISSN 1173-6909 23 (print) ISSN 2253-4830-23(online)

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