Maori History
Ancient stories tell the origins of southern Maori, with the waka of Aoraki becoming Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island), and its sternpost, Te Taurapa a Te Waka o Aoraki becoming Bluff Hill (also known as Motupohue). The Maui traditions are told in the south, with Maui arriving in his waka Maahunui, and pulling up the stone to be used as an anchor - Te Puka o Te Waka a Maui (Rakiura). Maui's achievements are recognised in place names in the south, including Omaui near Bluff, and Te Tapuwae o Maui and Te Rereka o Maui in Fiordland (Maui's footstep and Maui's leap).
According to the Ngai Tahu Statutory acknowledgments in the settlement important villages along the south coast included: Te Wae Wae (Waiau), Wilson House Dr Report 7 Taunoa (Orepuki), Kawakaputaputa (Wakapatu), Oraka (Colac bay), Aparima, Turangiteuaru, Awarua (Bluff), Te Whera, Toe Toe (mouth of the Mataura River) and Waikawa. Mokamoka (also known as Mokemoke or Mokomoko) was a settlement at the Invercargill estuary sustained by the rich resources found there. Tauranga waka occur up and down the coast linking land and sea trails with mahinga kai resources. Whaling boats plied the waters from the 1820s leading to changes in settlement patterns and resource use. 1853 saw the Murihiku purchase which left Maori south of the Pataki (excluding the Otakou Block) with only 4,630 acres, the start of a long quest by southern Maori for justice questioning the legality of the purchase as well as the inadequacy of the land reserved.
Invercargill
Invercargill Township was laid out by chief surveyor John Turnbull Thomson in 1856. Although the location was chosen for its centrality for both sea-based and land-based traffic, the surrounding low lying swampy ground made the new settlement practically inaccessible. The development of the town, however, was given an enormous boost with the gold rushes of the early 1860s.
Invercargill’s first Bank of New Zealand
Early settlers saw the establishment of banking institutions as integral to the ‘welfare of the community.’ The lack of a bank drew many a lament:
‘The community are daily sustaining irreparable losses in consequence of not having the ordinary means of transacting business; money becomes scarce, and every individual is compelled to avoid entering into many highly profitable schemes for the benefit of the settlement. Newly arrived immigrants are inconvenienced from having no place of safety to deposit their cash. It is an invariable question, Where is the Bank? They are told there is not one. They express their disgust, and blame the colonists as destitute of energy.’
Banks had become central to the normal functioning of Western society. They provided a safe place to leave money and operated as a reputable money lender. These roles were not only essential at the national economic level but in the daily dealings of every colonist.
The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) opened for business on 16 October 1861 in Auckland. The founders quickly turned their attention to the South, as without co-operation from these provinces there was little prospect of long term success for the institution. On 1 May 1862, the first Invercargill branch opened in Calder Blacklocks bonded store, a wooden building, on Tay Street. The original store was built by famous Otago pioneer, Johnny Jones of Waikouaiti, in 1857.
The foundation stone of a permanent home for the BNZ was laid on 26 May 1864 on the corner of Tay and Clyde Streets by the general manager Alexander Kennedy. A central and prominent site in Invercargill, it was also the site of the first landing of supplies for local settlers. In March 1856, John Kelly, a seaman who had settled at Ruapuke 32 years earlier, landed the stores for the first farmers who settled near Invercargill.’
This building was one of the first erected in New Zealand by the BNZ for its own purposes. It was single storied with a two roomed attic, a round headed opening and a wooden residential addition. Robin Griffin, researcher of New Zealand’s Victorian banks, theorised that the architect may have been William Mason because of its similarity to the Wellington BNZ.
New premises, 1877-1879
Banks symbolised wealth, position, strength and trustworthiness. The BNZ embodied these characteristics in colonial Southland but gained additional substance from its home grown origins as a ‘colonial institution... It represented the solid, trustworthy, financial base on which Southland grew, on the back of the province’s wealth from sheep, wool, cattle, cropping, timber and coal.’
As a palpable testament of this solid trustworthiness and wealth, the BNZ required an extravagant building more suited to the prosperous and thriving township that Invercargill had become. It was time to replace the old bank with something more fitting the Bank’s growing status and Invercargill’s growing township. The BNZ was not alone in this philosophy. Over the course of the next few years, the various banking institutions competitively tried to surpass each other with the edifices they built, to show off their success to the public at large. Testimony to this is the three magnificent bank buildings which still grace the corners of the intersection of Tay and Dee Streets in Invercargill. The fourth corner was also adorned by the Colonial Bank of New Zealand, although this building was demolished in the 1950s.
During the 1870s in New Zealand more bank buildings were constructed or re-constructed than at any other period during the nineteenth century. The number of BNZ buildings almost tripled. During this decade capital from abroad was invested freely in New Zealand. Properties rose to high values and money was freely lent upon mortgage. Interestingly, Griffin notes with regard to the architecture that ‘the New Zealand bank architects of the 1870s were feeling their way with reasonably economic, bland buildings in young townships so as not to offend either local citizenry with unaccustomed ostentatious displays of wealth or the directors and shareholders with wasteful expenditure’. The architect of the new BNZ premises was, apparently, unhampered by these concerns.
The first decision was selecting the site for the new and imposing BNZ bank; a straightforward matter. The site already occupied by the Bank was on a prominent corner, indeed one of the most prominent, in the central township. Forty years of retrospect later, it was written that the BNZ occupied ‘what may be termed the most imposing site in Invercargill’. It was also clear that other banks were establishing themselves on opposite corner sites to form a financial hub. For the BNZ there could be no better site.
The next decision was the choice or architects. Noted Invercargill architect, F.W. Burwell (1846-1915) was selected. Burwell’s designs began revolutionising the centre of Invercargill township around 1874; a transformative reign which lasted until the mid-1880s. Born in Scotland, Burwell served his articles with the architect John Matthews. Immigrating to New Zealand in the late 1860s, he was in business in Queenstown by 1873. He moved to Invercargill in 1874. Described as ‘Invercargill’s earliest and probably most influential architect’ Burwell designed The Crescent and much of Invercargill’s commercial district. It has been argued that he ‘made Invercargill one of the finest built towns of New Zealand in the 1880s’.
Architectural historian Michael Findlay wrote that ‘Thomson’s wide streets required the attentions of an ambitious architect ... the matching of Frederich William Burwell (1846 - 1915) and Invercargill was a most successful and productive one... Burwell brought a new level of cosmopolitanism to the Invercargill streetscape... He began filling Thompson’s plan with highly disciplined rows of two-and three-storey Italianate shops, banks and financial buildings. Burwell’s carefully proportioned classical facades answered a need for appropriate architectural form ..his vocabulary included round headed windows at the upper level under projecting cornices and richly detailed balustrades. The overall effect was both varied in scale and highly consistent in detail...’
In recognition of his work, Burwell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1880. The depression in the 1880s, however, saw his commissions decline and he moved to Australia in 1887, practising first in Melbourne, followed by Perth and then Freemantle. Burwell returned to Melbourne in 1910, where he died five years later.
Burwell’s design for the new BNZ premises showed a certain similarity to the 1862 building. Both were round-headed with pilasters, a balustrade at roof level, and a doorway recessed within the rounded corner. This similarity may have been out of respect for the previous building on site, or because of Burwell’s friendship with the possible original architect William Mason. The bank’s brief, however, may simply have been for a similar building except more elaborate and suitable to the larger, more prosperous township of the 1880s.
Tenders were called for in June 1877. Mr John Ramsay was the successful contractor and by August foundations were being laid. The building was not completed until mid 1879.
Owing to the difference in street levels the building was two storeys high on the street front and three storeys high at the rear. Burwell’s design provided accommodation for banking business and also a residence for the ‘officer in charge’. The banking chamber was 31 by 37 feet (9.45 by 11.27 metres) and 28 ½ feet (8.68 metres) high with a floor of Staffordshire ‘encaustic tiles of rich design’. Around the central chamber were various rooms including the manager’s office, two strong rooms, bathroom and a residence. The residence, which ran over three floors at the rear of the building, contained a dining room, drawing room, bedrooms and kitchen. Its front entrance was via a porch on Clyde Street.
Burwell’s exterior embraced a handsome circular portico; a row of Corinthian columns raised on a base of dressed stone, supporting a large entablature which was topped by bold balustraded parapets. The window design included circular heads with transoms supported by pilasters and columns.
Materials included Portland cement concrete for the foundations, slate for the roof and bricks for the internal walls and partitions. The superstructure used stone from the Oreti quarries, which ‘though costly, is held to be the finest and most durable building stone yet discovered in the Colony. This is the first building constructed with this stone’.
Contemporary commentators followed the construction with interest. The Southland Times noted that ‘when completed, the building will throw into the shade very many of the first-class banking establishments in this Colony’. It described the architectural style as ‘Corinthian Renaissance.’ The article went on to describe the proposed premises:
‘The banking chamber will be a spacious and handsome room...The walls throughout are formed into a series of panels by bold pilasters with moulded bases and capitals springing from a dado of panelled and moulded cedar, supporting a full moulded entablature, consisting of moulded architrave and cornice, with richly designed frieze. From this springs the arched ceiling with its moulded and panelled ribs running up to the elaborate panelling above, comprising geometrical ornamentation, rosettes, pendants, &c., in bold relief. The whole, when finished, will have a rich, light, pleasing and artistic effect..The external design presents an elevation to Tay and Clyde Streets of equal dimensions and of precisely similar design. The main entrance is at the corner of the two streets, facing Dee Street. This has been made a prominent feature, and consists of a circular portico, having a row of Corinthian columns raise on a base of dressed stone, supporting an entablature of massive proportions, surmounted by bold balustraded parapets.. Ornamentation has been judiciously though sparingly introduced... Taken as a whole, the design exhibits great study, and has throughout the appearance of stability and repose, combined with no small amount of grace and beauty.
In January 1879, some three months before the Bank was finished, the newspaper again reported on the ‘massive structure..which is at once original, striking, and from an architectural point of view, very beautiful.’ By this time the semicircular tellers’ desk was in place and the ceiling was completed. The ceiling of the bank chamber was described as ‘unique in this district, the beautiful plaster mouldings having all been executed by a highly experienced workman.’ Burwell was praised for following ‘a highly commendable principle, namely that of utilising colonial industries in every possible instance..[it] reflect[s] the highest credit on the architect, Mr Burwell, and must greatly enhance his already high reputation in this town’.
1927 Modifications
In the following years the interior was altered to suit the growing needs of the town, and the residential quarters were continually encroached on. By 1927 it was felt that ‘the arrangement of the planning of the building was more ingenious than convenient or complete.’ The BNZ was faced with either demolition and a rebuild, or remodelling and extension of the original building.
Architect E.R. Wilson was consulted. Edmund Richardson Fitz Wilson was from a noted Invercargill family who were prominent in local business and religious circles. His father Henry was Chairman of the Savings Bank, Hospital and Bluff Harbour Boards, as well as active in St John’s and All Saints’ churches. In 1897 Edmund completed a seven year apprenticeship with Invercargill architectural practice MacKenzie and Gilbertson, taking over the firm when the two partners moved away. He gained several important commissions including the Invercargill Town Hall, Civic Theatre, Fire Station, Kew Hospital, St Catherine’s Girls College, St John’s Anglican Church and many leading retail stores. Wilson’s reputation exceeded the local to the national, particularly during his governance roles in the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
After considering Wilson’s designs for both options, the BNZ decided on a compromise; the building would be extended, the interior would be completely reconstructed, and the exterior would be retained with some significant changes made to the facades.
Work probably began in 1926. The first stage was to gut the interior. The exterior facades facing Tay and Clyde Street were retained, along with the old south wall and the basement structure. The roof structure and the interior of the building were gutted along with the old east side wall. The main change to the exterior was the repositioning of the entrance door, which may have been because the corner was particularly windswept. The old large portico was replaced by a small porch located on Tay Street and the three bays between the original corner columns were filled with concrete. New windows were constructed and installed throughout the building in a style in keeping with the Art Deco style of the 1920s. The original slate roof was replaced with corrugated iron. The building was extended an extra bay width on the Clyde Street elevation and an extra half bay width on the Tay Street elevation.
The new style of the interior was predominantly that of the early Art Deco period, with some Corinthian column detailing. The plaster work on the auditorium walls illustrated simple Art Deco lines. It was the ceiling which attracted the most public notice, described as ‘designed in fibrous plaster of a very ornate pattern [which] adds materially to the atmosphere and impressiveness of the Bank’. The walls were rebuilt in brick and the foundations in concrete. The main floor was entirely occupied by the chamber and manager’s room. The basement strong room was also built at this time. The walls were 2 feet 6 inches (76 cm) of thick reinforced concrete. An apartment was again constructed for the senior banking officer on the top floor of the new rear extension.
The Southland Times, under banner ‘Asset to the Town’, gave a full report of the reconstruction in July 1927:
‘The chamber ranks among the most imposing and convenient banking chambers of the Dominion. While handsome and attractive, it is simple compared with the old chamber and with many elsewhere. It is flooded by daylight from three sides, with absence of top-lightings, and for night work is fitted on the latest principles of semi-indirect electric lighting. The staff is arranged compactly on modern lines for ideal administration in the heart of the chamber, while the counters and desks for public convenience are on the outer margin in letter U shape, thus affording them the maximum of space and ease of service.
In the basement with headroom of 11 feet [3.35 metres] floor to ceiling, are commodious safe storage vaults for the various records and documents which are kept by the bank for a minimum of ten years, In the heart of this storage vault are the strong rooms and treasury, fitted with every modern convenience and with great precautions by way of protection against thieves and fire. Here also is storage for stationery, small lavatories and the heating chambers.
The rear portion of the building towards Wood Street has comfortable and attractive top floor accommodation for the resident staff.’
On 28 March 1927 the staff were able to move into the new premises. After the remodelling, the Bank covered an area fifty percent greater than that of the old building. It had been completely remodelled at a total cost of £17,032. The building was well-received - ‘the latest architectural designs in the construction of a modern bank have been incorporated, and the result is a building that is a credit to its architect and to the town.’
Later modifications
The building appeared to undergo few modifications in the decades following its reconstruction. By the mid 1970s, however, the BNZ apparently decided the site and the building was no longer suited to the needs of modern banking. In 1978 the Bank moved to new premises on the corner of Kelvin and Esk Streets. The BNZ first offered the former bank to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Following discussions, the property was put on the market. On 2 December 1980 the property sold for $70,000. The new owner was the Bethel New Life Church (now named Cornerstone New Life Church).
Modifications and repairs were quickly undertaken. The contractor was Peter Baxter but much of the work was carried out by volunteer labour. The banking chamber was turned into a church auditorium and a half-moon shaped mezzanine was added half way across the chamber, which provided seating for 500 people. A kitchen area was installed in former office space. The basement was altered firstly to provide some flood protection and secondly to create Sunday School rooms. The exterior was steam cleaned and painted. The new church opened on 12 December 1981.
In 1996 a three stage restoration of the building was begun. During stage one the windows were restored. Old panes were replaced with new glass and aluminium windows were removed and replaced with curved windows made in Invercargill. Original steel frames which had rusted and were beyond repair were replaced with replica steel frames. During the second stage, the former Bank was painted and some plaster was repaired, as was the roof. In 2002 the congregation repainted the interior. The ornate coffered ceiling is intact and the façade is as it was reconstructed in 1927.The building’s original grandeur is still evident.
In 1927, as the Bank’s reconstruction was nearing completion, architect E.R. Wilson remarked that it was ‘interesting to reflect what will be the size and appearance of the town when this new building has become obsolete as did its predecessor’. Perhaps Wilson would have been proud to know that over 80 years later, far from being obsolete, the BNZ bank building was revitalised and looking into the future with confidence.
