The only commercial building of its style in Gisborne, the 1908 Te Rau Press Building (Former) on Peel Street, was a multipurpose design that stands as testament to an increasingly sophisticated population, as the rapidly expanding farming industry saw the town’s affluence grow. It was a time that saw simple 19th century timber buildings replaced with masonry structures, and the use of architecture as a statement of civic pride and confidence. It is the second of three substantial, two storey Edwardian commercial premises that exemplify this affluence and together form the Peel Street historic area registration. In 1868 the Government purchased 741 acres of land for the town site of Gisborne, which was surveyed into sections two years later. The Te Rau Press Building (Former) was originally designed and constructed for James Erskine, a local baker, caterer and confectioner whose business was established in 1876. As the population grew and the town continued to prosper, Erskine decided to expand and in 1906 had local architect, Herbert John Brownlee draw up plans for an impressive building in both scale and design. It was 1908 before the Erskine Building was completed and a newspaper notice announced that Erskine’s tea and supper rooms were open for business.
The Erskine Building was a two storey, plastered brick building with a 66 foot (20 metre) frontage, featuring cast iron verandah posts and filigree lacework decoration. This supported a generously proportioned, deep second storey balcony of the type often associated with colonial Australian architecture and covered by a bull nosed roof. The asymmetrical neoclassical façade had arched windows, shallow pilasters and plain walls with a parapet and pediment. The ground floor accommodated four shops, a refreshments room, dining room, and service areas; whilst upstairs was private accommodation, and a social hall which opened to the balcony. It became the Te Rau Press Building in 1924, when the Anglican Church printing enterprise of that name relocated to the building. The business was started by Archdeacon William Leonard, the first principal at Te Rau Theological College, to print material for Maori theological students. The building’s pediment and east and west parapets were removed soon after the 1931 Hawkes Bay earthquake. From 1985 to 1996 the building and its business were owned by the Gisborne Herald. It then sat empty until 2003 when significant alterations were made at ground level, to accommodate a retail operation, including a new shop frontage, glass doors, timber flooring replaced with concrete, a suspended ceiling below the original, and seismic strengthening. The north and south parapets were removed after the 2007 Gisborne earthquake.
The Te Rau Press Building (Former) has strong aesthetic importance as part of a heritage streetscape of three substantial commercial, architect designed, Edwardian masonry buildings that collectively make up the registered Peel Street historic area. Its architectural significance is as the only example of this particular building style in Gisborne, and as one of only two local buildings confirmed as the work of architect, Brownlee. It is historically significant as representing the prosperity that farming growth brought to Gisborne in the decades either side of 1900. Socially it is an important reflection of evolving and increasingly sophisticated socialising trends through its purpose built tearooms, supper room and social hall, and in later times, a billiard saloon. It has technical significance for its associations with early Gisborne printing enterprises and later through housing the town’s first offset printing machine. It has important spiritual value for its association with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and William Leonard Williams a preeminent Anglican clergy of the area from the 1850s. It has traditional significance for its association with the Anglican Church’s Te Rau Theological College, becoming the Te Rau Press building that housed the Te Rau Press, an Anglican printing business that provided print material to its Maori students and was a demonstration of the changing, more institutionalised attitudes by the established church after the advent of Pai Marire and the associated loss of Williams’ Mission Station at Turanga.
The Erskine Building was a two storey, plastered brick building with a 66 foot (20 metre) frontage, featuring cast iron verandah posts and filigree lacework decoration. This supported a generously proportioned, deep second storey balcony of the type often associated with colonial Australian architecture and covered by a bull nosed roof. The asymmetrical neoclassical façade had arched windows, shallow pilasters and plain walls with a parapet and pediment. The ground floor accommodated four shops, a refreshments room, dining room, and service areas; whilst upstairs was private accommodation, and a social hall which opened to the balcony. It became the Te Rau Press Building in 1924, when the Anglican Church printing enterprise of that name relocated to the building. The business was started by Archdeacon William Leonard, the first principal at Te Rau Theological College, to print material for Maori theological students. The building’s pediment and east and west parapets were removed soon after the 1931 Hawkes Bay earthquake. From 1985 to 1996 the building and its business were owned by the Gisborne Herald. It then sat empty until 2003 when significant alterations were made at ground level, to accommodate a retail operation, including a new shop frontage, glass doors, timber flooring replaced with concrete, a suspended ceiling below the original, and seismic strengthening. The north and south parapets were removed after the 2007 Gisborne earthquake.
The Te Rau Press Building (Former) has strong aesthetic importance as part of a heritage streetscape of three substantial commercial, architect designed, Edwardian masonry buildings that collectively make up the registered Peel Street historic area. Its architectural significance is as the only example of this particular building style in Gisborne, and as one of only two local buildings confirmed as the work of architect, Brownlee. It is historically significant as representing the prosperity that farming growth brought to Gisborne in the decades either side of 1900. Socially it is an important reflection of evolving and increasingly sophisticated socialising trends through its purpose built tearooms, supper room and social hall, and in later times, a billiard saloon. It has technical significance for its associations with early Gisborne printing enterprises and later through housing the town’s first offset printing machine. It has important spiritual value for its association with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and William Leonard Williams a preeminent Anglican clergy of the area from the 1850s. It has traditional significance for its association with the Anglican Church’s Te Rau Theological College, becoming the Te Rau Press building that housed the Te Rau Press, an Anglican printing business that provided print material to its Maori students and was a demonstration of the changing, more institutionalised attitudes by the established church after the advent of Pai Marire and the associated loss of Williams’ Mission Station at Turanga.
