Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. The General Store at Tinui was originally owned by Joseph Nathan and Company and known as "Nathan's Cash Store". Nathan had settled initially in the Wairarapa founding the Wairarapa Grand Trunk Tramway Company Ltd which laid down the railway from Wellington to Masterton. The Wairarapa Farmer's Co-operative Association bought the store from Nathan's and then sold to John Johnston in 1894/95. Johnston and his wife leased rooms to doctors who served the Tinui area. Doctors were resident in the store until 1932. Johnston sold the store in 1959, by which time the old surgery was in use as a post office.

Physical Significance

This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: Although the purpose of this building is utilitarian it has the elegance of proportion typical of buildings in the Georgian idiom. Although this was a remote country area, it was anticipated that Tinui would quickly expand to township size. The architecture of the General Store expresses the importance assigned to that building as does its placement at the centre of the township. However, its style, even for the period in which it was built is "old fashioned", that is, not the more adventurous styles of High Victorian Gothic or Classical which were in vogue in the larger centres. TOWNSCAPE/LANDMARK SIGNIFICANCE: Occupies an important site as part of the Tinui Conservation Area.