Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

The Hawke's Bay Farmers Co-operative Association Limited (HBFCA) was founded in 1891. It was established to enable the region's primary producers to secure a financial interest in the marketing of their produce. Several similar cooperative associations were established in other rural districts, with coordination provided at a national level by the Farmers Co-operative Association N.Z. Limited. The activities of the HBFCA quickly expanded and it soon operated grain and produce stores, grass-seed dressing plants, warehouses, and retail outlets for merchandise. In 1899, the HBFCA erected a building on Market Street with what was then the largest floor space in Hastings. Along with the firm of de Pelichet McLeod, the HBFCA helped to generate growth in Hastings' trade, capturing much of the rural business that had previously gone to Napier and Port Ahuriri. In 1925, the HBFCA opened a service station and garage adjacent to their head office building. Branches of the HBFCA were also opened in other towns, including Napier, Waipukurau, Dannevirke, Wairoa, Takapau, and Woodville. Business interests continued to broaden. In 1948, the HBFCA activities were listed as those of 'Wool Brokers, Stock Agents & Auctioneers; Insurance & Shipping Agents; Grain, Seed & General Mchts; Garage Proprietors; Land & Estate Agents'. The HBFCA Head Office Building that stands today on the corner of Market and Queen Streets was erected after the original building was destroyed by fire. While some secondary sources claim that it was built in 1928, the plans are dated 29 March 1929. The building was designed by the Wellington architectural firm of Edmund Anscombe and Associates. Along with W.H. Gummer and J.W. Chapman, Anscombe has been described as 'the most eminent architect to have worked in Hastings'. Believing that the prosperous town would offer further work opportunities, Anscombe set up a branch of his practice in the HBFCA Head Office Building. The reconstruction period that followed the 1931 earthquake provided Anscombe's firm with an unexpected source of new work. Upon completion, head office of the HBFCA was transferred to the three-storeyed building on the corner of Market and Queen Streets. On the ground floor, there was a large department store that stocked groceries, china, footwear, and hardware. A tearooms and clubrooms for country women were located on the first floor, while the second floor was occupied by offices. The new department store marked a development in the retail trade as existing family businesses were threatened by the advent of chain stores and the entry of stock and station agents into the grocery, hardware, furnishing, and clothing trade. The new Farmers department store also reflected the growth of retail businesses in Hastings, which had become the region's main shopping centre. The HBFCA Head Office Building is an example of a modernist building, predating the 1931 earthquake. It has been noted as Hastings' 'most imposing and prominent survivor' of the quake. Built with reinforced concrete foundations and a similar superstructure, the building suffered only superficial damage. Following the quake, the building was reconditioned under Anscombe's direction. Since then, the interior of the HBFCA Head Office Building, which housed the town's first lift, has been altered many times. Ceilings have been lowered and, especially on the ground floor, original wood panelling has been covered over. Since 1970, several building consents have been issued for the alteration of the interior space. In 1982, the HBFCA merged with Dalgety NZ Ltd, creating HBF-Dalgety Limited. The HBFCA Head Office Building was the headquarters of the new company. In March 1985 the building was split into unit titles and are privately owned. Among the building's present occupants are Beds'R'Us, AMI Insurance, and Wine Country Credit Union.

The HBFCA Head Office Building is located on one of Hastings' main streets in the central business district. A very prominent building, the structure is three storeys high and features long facades on both Queens Street West and Market Street North. These facades are symmetrical and are articulated by a grid of columns through the first and second floors, which support a frieze with roundels; above this is a stepped parapet at roof level, emphasising the column grid. The windows are grouped in threes and are set back from the facade in tall narrow reveals, with recessed spandrel panels between the first and second floor windows. The building can be described as Stripped Classical in style, where Classical details (in the case of the HBFCA Head Office Building the frieze, roundels, parapet and mouldings) are used to articulate and lightly decorate an otherwise quite utilitarian concrete framed building. The facades were originally finished in imitation stonework, using coloured cement plaster, but this has now been painted over. The ground floor has large display windows under the verandah; while the windows and shop fronts have been modernised, the verandah, which is hung from the building, retains is original and quite ornate pressed metal soffit. The initials HBF are worked in terrazzo in the floor of the porch at the main corner entrance. Inside the building, through the main entrance on Queen Street West, there are some special features remaining from 1929, in particular the original cage lift; bronze window joinery; and on both the first and second floors, oak panelling and oak joinery. The bronze and oak suggest a building of very high quality, as befits not only the organisation that built it but the architect Anscombe who designed it. The rooms that retain their oak panelling are now rare, even nationally, as authentic commercial spaces of the 1920s. The structure is also visible in parts of the interior, and shows 'mushroom' columns (splayed out at the top) supporting thickened concrete floor slabs; these columns were a feature of the tea rooms in its original form. One end elevation of the building shows a plain grid of columns and beams with infill panels in cavity brickwork. The roof is timber-framed and clad in corrugated iron.

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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.