Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

The Dominion Buildings were, reputedly, the 'first ferro-concrete office block' in Hastings. They were designed in 1907 and completed in 1908: on 21 July of that year the Hastings Standard noted that the scaffolding had been taken down from the building to reveal its 'handsome frontage'. The paper went on to comment that the buildings were, 'a distinctive acquisition to Queen Street, and to the town to, for that matter'. The buildings were commissioned by Mrs Andrew Hamilton Russell. Mrs Russell was born Gertrude Mary Beetham Williams and was the daughter of prominent couple Mary Margaret Beetham (1845-1903) and runholder and entrepreneur James Nelson Williams (1837-1915). In 1896 Gertrude Beetham married Andrew Hamilton Russell (1868-1960). Russell was a sheep farmer when the couple married. Mrs Russell commemorated her husband on the Dominion Buildings by incorporating his initials, 'AHR', on the facade. Russell went on to form and command the Hawke's Bay Mounted Rifle Volunteers. He received his first promotion, to Major, shortly afterwards and rose rapidly through the ranks thereafter. He is particularly remembered for his distinguished service during the First World War. The Dominion Buildings were constructed over three separate land parcels. Although it has one continuous facade, for much of its history, the Dominion Buildings were treated as three separate structures. In 1913 Mrs Russell sold the southern portion, which retained the address '110 Queen Street East', to a retired Hastings farmer Letham Wallace Mackersey. Lindsay Mackersey, a solicitor, established an office in the Dominion Buildings shortly after its completion. After Letham Mackersey's death in 1936 the property passed to his executor, John Fraser, an accountant, who also had offices in the building for many years. The building passed from Fraser to his wife, Nellie, upon his death in 1942. That same year Nellie Fraser sold the property to Ian Mackie, a Waipukurau solicitor, and Fred Carlin, a Hastings accountant. In 1955 it was bought by Aotea Chambers Limited of Hastings. Members of the Mackersey family were closely involved in this firm, and retained offices in the building for many decades. The company finally sold the property to Peter Fenwicke's company Fenwicke and Co. Ltd. in 2001. The central portion of the building, or '114 Queen Street East', was also sold by Mrs Russell and passed through a number of hands. In the 1920s it was owned by the Cowan family, who operated a plumbing business from the premises. It was sold in 1965 and was used as office premises. It was purchased by its current owners in 1988. The northern portion of the building, or '120 Queen Street East', retained the name 'Dominion Buildings' and was owned by Russell family members until the 1970s. Prior to the sale it was used as offices by a variety of businesses, including accountants Butler & Spence and the Hawke's Bay Mutual Buildings and Investment Society. It also served as the headquarters for the Hawke's Bay Girl Guides Association and the Hastings Townswomen's Guild. It was sold to its current owners in 1988. As one of Hasting's early reinforced-concrete structures, the Dominion Buildings survived the Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931 and remain in use as offices to this day.

The Dominion Buildings are located in Hastings' central business district and are part of a grouping of two-storey commercial buildings on Queen Street East that were constructed in the first half of the twentieth century. The building is a handsome Classical structure. Two storeys high the building dominates the block of Queen Street east of the railway line. The facade is divided into some 13 bays, ten of them with large windows and three of them narrow ones with a door at ground level and a single window on the first floor. The southernmost narrow bay, at first floor level, is embellished with initials in a shield and scalloped shell in a semi-circular headed niche. The initials are those of Andrew Hamilton Russell 'AHR'. The bays are divided by pilasters, at ground floor heavily rusticated (emphatically marked out as large blocks of masonry), and at first floor smoothly finished with semi-circular capital and bases. There is a strong horizontal band at first floor level and cornice at roof level, these elements stepping out at each of the pilasters, emphasising the bays. The parapet above the cornice is plain but for the name and date of the building, the plainness contrasting with the richness of the architectural features below. All door and window openings are distinguished by rounded top corners to the openings; windows are fixed and double-hung, with some of them (on both floors) altered over time.

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A fully referenced version of this report is available from the NZHPT Central Region Office. Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.