Early history of the site:
Prior to European settlement in 1840 successive Maori groups are believed to have occupied Horotiu, an area on Auckland's present-day Symonds Street ridge and Queen Street gully. The site later occupied by Cleave's Building lies a short distance to the east of the Waihorotiu creek, which ran down the length of the gully into the Waitemata Harbour. Traditions mention a small settlement a short distance upstream, on or near the current Auckland Town Hall. Archaeological material from this period has been recovered from several places nearby. Traditions also refer to a food gathering place and waka mooring site located near the mouth of the Waihorotiu. In 1837, Te Taou (a section of Ngati Whatua) planted crops in the area at a time when food was grown to supply the increasing number of Pakeha visiting the Waitemata Harbour. Ngati Whatua's offer to transfer a large area of land to the British Crown for the creation of a colonial capital at Auckland was formally agreed in September 1840.
Vulcan Lane was established in the first few years of Auckland's development, being part of the initial street system for the colonial city as proposed by the Surveyor-General Felton Matthew. Unlike the broad roads that served most of the settlement, it consisted of a narrow side alley linking the main commercial thoroughfare formed by Queen Street with a back lane, High Street, to the rear. Land adjoining the northern side of Vulcan Lane was initially granted by the Crown to William Mason, New Zealand's first Superintendent of Public Works. As early as 1841 Mason subdivided this to create smaller lots fronting the northern side of lower Vulcan Lane, with a narrow alley along their rear boundaries.
Construction and use of early brick building:
The land occupied by Cleave's Building was purchased by carpenter Dennis Traynor in December 1841 who had erected a timber house on the property by 1845. By 1866, this had been replaced by a single-storey brick building with a slate roof, slightly set back from Vulcan Lane. The newer structure was of relatively small dimensions and was used as a store or shop, possibly by its owner, David Graham, a likely wine and spirit merchant. The building may have been constructed after the area was devastated by fire in 1858 or another conflagration in 1863. Following the introduction of building regulations in the mid 1850s, any rebuilding in Auckland's commercial district was to be of fireproof materials. It is possible that elements of this brick building remain within the present structure.
Subsequent owners of the property during the later 1860s and 1870s included William Cawkwell who opened the Crown Distillery in Official Bay in 1870, and James Farmer, who was a member of the House of Representatives and the Legislative Council. The price paid by Farmer in 1871 suggests that the building had previously been enlarged to the rear, an event that certainly occurred before 1882. Enlargement probably also included the addition of a second brick storey, which had a slate roof. Farmer leased the structure to wine and spirit merchants, William Ryan and William Bell who ran their business from the property for several years. As with Graham's enterprise, the building was well situated for such activity being positioned immediately between two hotels, the Occidental to the west and the Queen's Ferry Hotel to the east. Connections between Vulcan Lane and the liquor trade were generally strong throughout the middle and late nineteenth century.
From 1880, the site also developed close associations with the printing industry and journalism. Dissemination of the printed word became an increasingly powerful force in late nineteenth-century New Zealand as technical innovations were introduced and the local market for information and entertainment expanded. Nationally the number of newspaper titles grew rapidly during the 1870s, due in part to the opening of the trans-Tasman cable in 1876. In the 1880s the telegraph and other factors resulted in the development of a uniform news service, and newspapers played an important role in establishing the national identity. During the late nineteenth century, Auckland's printing industry appears to have been focused in two areas on either side of Queen Street: Albert Street to the west, and the Vulcan Lane, High Street and O'Connell Street district to the east. Early printing offices in Vulcan Lane included those of the Southern Cross newspaper, located at its junction with Queen Street in the 1860s. Connections between Vulcan Lane and the printing industry were to persist well into the twentieth century.
From 1880-1 to 1885-6, John Dickson Wickham (1837-1919) ran a printing office in the brick building, in which he published the Free Lance newspaper. Wickham established the Free Lance in 1879 as a rival news sheet to the Auckland Evening Star, and it became a widely read and popular paper. Wickham vacated the building in 1885, after amalgamating with other newspaper interests. After being leased to land agents Morton and Jackson for a few years, the building reverted to publishers' premises when the lease was taken on by Arthur Cleave in 1889.
Arthur Cleave and the construction of Cleave's Building:
Arthur Cleave (1862?-1933) was a significant publisher in late colonial New Zealand, producing many popular titles. These included the Auckland Provincial Directory, Auckland ABC Guide, New Zealand Handbook Trades and Professional Directory, New Zealand Town and Country, and New Zealand Sporting and Dramatic Review.
One of Cleave's earliest publications was Cleave's Auckland City, Suburban, Streets, Alphabetical, and Trades Directory which began in 1889, the same year that he took occupancy of the Vulcan Lane site. Usually published annually, directories provided general background about an area, as well as listing householders with their addresses and occupations. Their main functions were to boost the local and regional economy by bringing producer and consumer together; to provide a compendium of useful information to benefit local population and would-be migrants; and to create in printed format a resource which would help meld isolated communities. Cleave's publication was one of just three main directories produced in New Zealand and covered the whole of the Auckland Provincial district, the largest of New Zealand's six provinces. It continued to be published until 1930 and remained in production as Leighton's Auckland Provincial Directory until 1941.
In 1890, Cleave also started publishing the weekly New Zealand Sporting and Dramatic Review, an industry magazine for the liquor trade. This focused on sport, particularly horse racing, boxing, cricket and rugby and included profiles of publicans, details of particular hotels and contact details for bookmakers. The location of Cleave's business possibly assisted its publication as by the 1890s Vulcan Lane had achieved notoriety in some quarters as a place populated by drinkers and gamblers. During this period, Cleave's premises were known as the City Press Office or Printing Office.
Further publications were launched at the end of the 1890s, including the one-off, 346-page publication Industries of New Zealand (1898), assisting businesses who had neither the time, expertise or finances to advertise their wares and skills for themselves. In 1899, Cleave also started publishing the prestigious monthly New Zealand Illustrated Magazine. The magazine, founded by prominent Auckland lawyer Frederick Baume (1862-1910), was established on the explicit premise that literature should lead the way in forging a national identity, and featured poetry, short stories and articles. It carried contributions from most of the top New Zealand writers of the day, including politician and scholar (later Sir) Apirana Ngata (1874-1950); novelist Jane Mander (1877-1940); journalist, historian James Cowan (1870-1943); and ethnographer, writer Elsdon Best (1856-1831). The publication was heavily illustrated by artists such Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947) and upcoming illustrator, cartoonist Kennaway Henderson (1879-1960). Cleave also contributed some of its photographs himself.
By the end of the 1890s, Cleave had become sufficiently successful to plan the rebuilding or extensive modification of his offices to create a more modern and grander three-storey structure. New technology in the printing trade may also have contributed to pressure for larger premises. The period 1890 to 1914 was one of substantial change in the industry, with the introduction of hot-metal typesetting, photo-engraving, rotary presses for newspapers, offset presses and electric power. From about 1890 onwards, hand-setting of type was increasingly displaced by the introduction of Linotype, Monotype and other hot-metal machines. With the introduction of steam, gas and eventually electric power the work of operators became less laborious.
In October 1899, Cleave purchased the building that he had occupied as lessee for the previous decade. In late March 1900 the business relocated temporarily to the corner of nearby Chancery and O'Connell Streets, to enable re-building of the printing works. The description of the property in City Council valuation records changes at this time from 'brick store', to 'brick store and offices'. It is unclear from the relocation notice and the valuation records whether the 1900 building was entirely new or incorporated part of the earlier structure within the new premises. It did, however, extend slightly further south than the previous building to encompass an ornate new façade directly fronting Vulcan Lane. It also incorporated an additional floor.
Although the architect of the remodelled Cleave's Building is currently unknown, its ornate Italianate design was of a type favoured for the business premises and residences of the late Victorian and the Edwardian mercantile community. Its decorative frontage to Vulcan Lane included double-height fluted pilasters terminating in ornate capitals while mullions in the first and third bays incorporated cabled Corinthian colonettes. The building's upper front windows, however, appear to have been larger than those generally adopted for earlier commercial premises, reflecting more recent trends to admit greater natural light, potentially valuable in a publishing and printing house.
Internally, the building may have encompassed a ground floor with a large shop with a centrally located entrance and a side passage providing access to a rear room. A staircase, located two thirds along the length of the west wall, provided access to the first floor. Behind the staircase, a hoist may have served the upper floors. There appears to have been a basement which, in addition to internal stairs, had access to the right of way at the rear the property.
The remodelling or rebuilding can be seen to physically embody the success and up-to-date nature of Cleave's publishing business, which relied on conveying the latest information and knowledge. While the owner of the reconfigured structure, Cleave continued to print his directories and other publications from the building. The prestigious New Zealand Illustrated Magazine was published by Cleave until 1905.
Subsequent alterations and use:
In 1910, Cleave sold the property although he initially remained in occupation. The building was purchased by Captain James Smith, a coal merchant who had previously been involved with the coal trade from Timaru to Newcastle. After Cleave moved his printing business to new, larger premises further up Vulcan Lane in February 1912, a fourth storey was added to the structure. The work may have been undertaken by a new occupant, Maurice Casey, who is recorded as a contractor. The addition was evidently completed in 1912 or early 1913.
The addition of a fourth storey lent the premises a more imposing appearance in spite of the small size of the site. Continuing the rhythm of the 1900 façade, the fourth storey incorporated three bays, each with a segmental-headed window. Plain pilasters with stiff leaf capitals framed each bay. The addition, effectively contributing an attic storey, visually rounded off the building by dividing it into three horizontal tiers.
From 1912-13 to 1919, the building was occupied by Smith, who appears to have run his coal business from the premises. A number of racing secretaries, including Robert Wynyard and Harry Hayr, who had served as secretaries of the Takapuna and the Avondale Jockey Clubs respectively were also based in the building. The former Cleave's Building was an appropriate location for racing secretaries at this time, being situated between the Queen's Ferry and Occidental Hotels, which were both the unofficial bookmakers' headquarters in Auckland during this period. In 1919, the property was sold to solicitors John Gittos, Garnet Uren and John Gregory, who onsold it the following year to Arthur Eady and John Wilson of Arthur Eady Ltd, one of the most important early music importing and publishing businesses in New Zealand. It is uncertain if Arthur Eady Ltd occupied the building, as in 1922 its tenants were predominantly barristers and solicitors.
Throughout the 1920s and 30s, parts of the building were let to a variety of small businesses. During this period, all the buildings on the opposite (south) side of Vulcan Lane were demolished when the lane was widened from about 5 metres to 9.75 metres (16 foot to 32 foot) in 1928, to provide access for motor vehicles. Reflecting contemporary improvements in the Vulcan Lane retail environment, the building was given a new shop front in 1934.
After Eady's death, his share of the property remained in family hands. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Eady & Wallace ran a mercer's business from the building, selling silk and linen items. In 1944, the shop front was remodelled and the building's central staircase relocated to the rear (north) wall of the building. A secondary entrance was created at the east end of the Vulcan Lane frontage, where a separate staircase was installed to the first floor.
The shop front was again remodelled in 1957, for Brenner's Contemporary Design Centre which occupied the building possibly for only a few months. The retail outlet was dedicated to modernist ceramics and other furnishings, and was one of the first modernist design stores in New Zealand. It relocated from a suburban location on Dominion Road to form part of a newly developed fashion precinct in Vulcan Lane - 'Auckland's street of distinction'. Other tenants around this time included a medical supplier, Swallows Book Store and Stationers, and The Loft which specialised in gramophone records.
The building retained fashion-conscious tenants during the 1960s including Leon Brook Models, a model gown specialist; the Coffee Bean Coffee Lounge (an early coffee bar in Auckland); a hair and beauty salon; and the short-lived Vulcan Lane Art Gallery run by artist Alan Pearson (b.1929). In 1968, Vulcan Lane was converted back into a pedestrian thoroughfare. A fire in 1972 gutted the top floor of the building and damaged the third floor, requiring a new roof and extensive repairs. The building was successively purchased and sold by several property and investment companies between 1979 and 2003. In 1994, the heritage qualities of Vulcan Lane were recognised through its registration as a historic area by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
Recent renovations to the building have included a new shop front onto Vulcan Lane, the installation of modern timber bi-fold windows on the upper floors, and creation of a central staircase against the east wall (1998). Sash windows were also reinstated, including new frames on the western façade of the second and third floors to match those on the first floor.
The basement and ground floor of the building is currently occupied by O'Carroll's, one of several bars with a European ambience in Vulcan Lane. The first floor accommodates The Raw Power Café, a vegan-friendly restaurant visited in 2003 by Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow and (her now husband) Chris Martin, frontman of the rock group Coldplay. The second floor is occupied by Mission Corp an entity with links to the building owner.
