Completed in 1956, the New Zealand Insurance Building (Former) is a central Nelson commercial building of historic importance for its association with one of New Zealand’s biggest and longstanding insurance companies. The construction of the New Zealand Insurance Building (Former) was also part of a local mid-twentieth century building boom. The building has architectural heritage value because it demonstrates the development of celebrated New Zealand architectural firm Gummer and Ford, through references to their early work being incorporated into a Modern building. The building is also associated with notable local modern movement architect Alexander William Bowman (1916–2002). Nelson was the New Zealand Company’s second settlement and Captain Arthur Wakefield (1799–1843) chose its site in 1841. As Wakefield intended, Trafalgar Street north of Church Hill was the focus of commercial activity. Hardy Street, intersecting with Trafalgar Street, was one of the first streets surveyed and named. The New Zealand Insurance Company (NZI), established in 1859, was one of a number of life insurance companies operating in New Zealand from the mid-late nineteenth century. The company first established a presence in Nelson in 1861 with an agency and had a Trafalgar Street branch by the early twentieth century. In 1956 they constructed new offices in Hardy Street, near the Trafalgar Street intersection, on a site formerly occupied by a law firm. This was part of NZI’s building programme in provincial centres in the 1950s. It was typical for Gummer and Ford to work in association with a local architect on these projects. Gummer and Ford were New Zealand’s ‘most prominent practice’ between the two World Wars. This series of buildings for NZI was among Gummer and Ford’s later projects because William Henry Gummer (1884–1966) and Charles Reginald Ford (1880–1972) retired in 1961. Bowman was the local architect involved in the project. He went on to design important Nelson buildings, including the Trafalgar Centre, Airport Terminal and the City Council Building. The 1950s NZI buildings share architectural features associated with the company from the early twentieth century, referencing the lower central section of their Auckland offices which Gummer and Ford also designed. However, the mid-century buildings are given a modern movement twist because the pair of substantial full-height Classical columns stand in front of a recessed glass curtain wall. Awnings have since been added to the New Zealand Insurance Building (Former), partially obscuring the curtain wall. The construction of NZI’s Nelson offices coincided with what seems to have been a period of local economic growth, with new buildings ‘popping up all over town’. For example, plans for Christ Church Cathedral were approved in 1957 and other buildings on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero were built, such as the nearby Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Building. In particular, insurance companies appear to have been prospering at the time, because South Island Motor Union Mutual Insurance Association also built new Nelson premises.
Location
List Entry Information
Overview
Detailed List Entry
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 2
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
3022
Date Entered
11th November 1982
Date of Effect
11th November 1982
City/District Council
Nelson City
Region
Nelson Region
Extent of List Entry
Extent includes the land described as Lots 2-3 AP 133 (RT NL57/98, NL39/180), Nelson Land District and the building known as New Zealand Insurance Building (Former) thereon.
Legal description
Lots 2-3 AP 133 (RT NL57/98, NL39/180), Nelson Land District.
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