Strong's Watchmaker Shop

Leven Street, NASEBY

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Standing inside Strong’s Watchmaker Shop on Leven Street in Naseby, if you stretch out both arms you can just about touch the walls and the ceilings, such is its diminutive size. The Shop, built in the late 1860s when gold rush to the Maniototo in Central Otago was at its height, forms a tiny but finely detailed centrepiece in Naseby’s historic streetscape. Storekeepers and retailers were vital to communities and shopkeepers were among the earliest residents of these haphazard gold mining towns. Historian John Angus writes that gold mining towns were often an ‘incongruous jumble of handsome stone hotels and public buildings, ornate shop facades often masking bare corrugated iron sides, and ramshackle tin sheds.’ Jeweller and watchmaker Robert Strong was among the early residents. English born Strong (1838-1899) arrived in Naseby in the mid 1860s and was in business by 1868. Two of the Strong children followed their father into the trade: Robert (b1870) and William (1879-1967). A photograph of the shop front during Robert Strong’s era shows the original signage below the clock stating ‘Under the patronage of the Governor of New Zealand’ and includes the royal coat of arms. Below this panels read ‘R. Strong Watchmaker Jeweller’. The window shows an elaborate display of silverware, clocks, watches and other small items. Robert’s son William joined his father in business on leaving school in 1894. On his father’s death at the age of sixty one on 26 December 1899, twenty year old William took over the business. William ran the business until 1959, when he was aged 80. He died in 1967. Jack Strong, the benefactor of William’s estate, gifted the shop and its contents to the Maniototo Early Settlers’ Association on his death in 1975. Strong’s Watchmaker Shop is located on the main commercial street of Naseby. It is the sole survivor on this part of Leven Street which shows the dense small scale occupation of this once bustling gold mining town. Constructed in timber and clad in corrugated iron, with an elaborate façade and parapet, the Watchmaker Shop is a narrow rectangular building consisting of three interconnecting rooms: The shop, workshop and storeroom. The street exterior consists of a panelled bay window and a small porch leading to the doorway. Timber pilasters with simple moulded caps frame the doorway and window. The façade is capped by a clock resting on two timber scrolls above the gable. With its flimsy timber construction and ornate façade opening directly onto the footpath, the Watchmaker Shop epitomizes the characteristics typical of buildings thrown up in gold mining frontier towns, such as Naseby, to cater for the residents. The Watchmaker Shop set alongside other intact historic buildings which attract visitors to the once bustling town, has survived for over 140 years. Its construction is typical of the gold mining period where businesses were essential to these communities, and its false front and diminutive scale make it a special representative example of a now rare building type. With its corrugated iron and timber construction and vernacular style the Watchmaker Shop is a special and iconic element of the historic Naseby township. In 2011 Strong’s Watchmaker Shop, still in the ownership of the Maniototo Early Settlers’ Association, forms part of the Maniototo Early Settlers’ Museum.

Strong’s Watchmaker Shop. Image courtesy of www.flickr.com | PhilBee NZ - Phil Braithwaite | 17/09/2012 | PhilBee NZ - Phil Braithwaite
Strong's Watchmaker Shop. Image courtesy of www.flickr.com | Shellie Evans – flyingkiwigirl | 05/08/2015 | Shellie Evans
Strong's Watchmaker Shop. The rear of the shop | Heather Bauchop | 15/11/2010 | Heritage New Zealand

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

2270

Date Entered

6th June 2011

Date of Effect

6th June 2011

City/District Council

Central Otago District

Region

Otago Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Pt Sec 108 Blk I Town of Naseby (RT OT214/25) Otago Land District, and the building known as Strong's Watchmaker Shop thereon, and its fittings and fixtures. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the registration report for further information).

Legal description

Pt Sec 108 Blk I Town of Naseby (RT OT214/25), Otago Land District

Location Description

Strong’s Watchmaker Shop is positioned between 16 Leven Street to the north and 4 Earne Street to the south.

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