An Obituary for a Papanui Centenarian

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. - 2 - 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. - 3 - 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. - 4 - 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” - 5 - 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. - 6 - 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. - 7 - ...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”. - 8 - 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. - 9 - 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.

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