Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

Both iwi history and archaeological evidence show Māori occupation in the Ōtākou Otago region over an extended period, with the inhabitants utilising a wide variety of natural resources from the diverse environment. Archaeological evidence supports the date of earliest settlement around the 12th century. Today, Kāi Tahu mana whenua is recognised over a large part of Te Wai Pounamu. Kāti Māmoe and Waitaha whakapapa and shared occupation are always acknowledged. Tūpuna such as Waitai, Tukiauau, Whaka-taka-newha, Rakiiamoa, Tarewai, Maru, Te Aparangi, Taoka, Moki II, Kapo, Te Wera, Tu Wiri Roa, Taikawa, and Te Hautapanuiotu are among Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu tūpuna whose feats and memories are embedded in the landscape, bays, tides and whakapapa of Ōtākou Otago. The hapū Kai Te Pahi, Kāti Moki, and Kāti Taoka still maintain their presence and responsibility as kaitiaki in this region. While not as densely populated as the North Island, numerous kaik in the Ōtākou region still hosted a good number of Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe and later Kāi Tahu peoples. Various bays and beaches around the Tairaoa Heads supported several hundred people with kaik in Karitāne, Waikouaiti and at the mouth of the Mata-au or Clutha hosting a similar number. Pā kāinga on the Ōtākou coast included Māpoutahi (Pūrākaunui), Pukekura (Taiaroa Head), Kōpūtai, Huriawa and Moturata (Taieri Island). Whareakeake, one of several pounamu manufacturing sites, attested to another facet of lifestyle for the artisans of the iwi. Historically, Kāi Tahu and previous tangata whenua Waitaha and Kati Māmoe used the tauraka waka (landing site) at Ōtepoti (Dunedin city) when they visited the head of the Ōtākou harbour as either the gateway to the route to Kaikarae (Green Island) or on other mahinga kai expeditions. The soft slope of the foreshore and the tidal flats in the upper harbour where the small stream, Toitū, entered the sea was bisected by a prominent hill Ngā-moana-e-rua (called Bell Hill by colonists), the foot of which lay at the very edge of the high water mark. No permanent kaik or villages were situated at the mouth of the Toitū, as there was no need for it. While the population numbers are still debated by academics and historians, there is no argument that through epidemics and intertribal warfare, the numbers of Kāi Tahu living in the region had dwindled considerably by the time the Treaty of Waitangi was signed at Ōtakou (Otago Heads), 13 June 1840. The Manor Place Convenience site was originally part of the foreshore. In 1852 a strip of land between Princes Street and Manor Place on this foreshore was chosen by the Government for Māori Reserve. Previously, the Toitū tauraka waka landing site was a place of early interactions with European colonists and it became a well-known as the Ōtākou Kai Tahu trading site with colonial settlers. However, while requested as a Māori Reserve, this site was not reserved and instead the area of land, near the Convenience site, was utilised as storage for building material for a short time; eventually being withdrawn by the Government from Māori. McDonald notes that there was an agreement made to the chiefs in 1844 at the time of the Otago Block regarding land at the head of the harbour. Topi requested a site at the Toitū tauraka waka and land at the ‘sandy cove to the east afterwards occupied by a manse.’ In November 1852, the Colonial Secretary at the time, Alfred Dommet, requested Walter Mantell, Government Land Purchase Agent, to recommend the strip of land between Princes Street and the Harbour from Jetty Street to Manor Place to be reserved for Māori accommodation when visiting Dunedin. However, this land had already been reserved by Captain Cargill as a reserve to protect the waterfront in 1848. A lack of proclamation by Mantell led to confusion and the Provincial Government placed immigration and police barracks on the site north along Princes Street where the Native Reserve was recommended to be. A Crown Grant was issued for the land to be used for public utilities, known as the ‘Princes Street Reserve’ in 1868 and included a small Native Reserve. In 1872 an agreement was formed to reimburse Māori £5000 ($822,291), a sum agreed to by Taiaroa and Topi, the Provincial Government and City Corporation. This compensation to Māori was never honoured. European Settlement - Sanitation and Sewerage With the arrival of the Scottish Free Church settlers in 1848, the small village of Dunedin was established. Infrastructure was slow to develop with very few resources available. The Dunedin Town Board was established in 1855 (predecessors to the Dunedin City Council) and along with the Otago Provincial Council funding, began to establish culverts and roads. While the town slowly started to develop, the discovery of gold in 1861 by Gabriel Read at Central Otago, resulted in a gold rush with an explosive impact on the burgeoning township. People flocked to Central Otago from over the world, passing through Dunedin in the hopes of making it rich on the goldfields. Dunedin, with a lack of infrastructure to match the onslaught of people and industry, was described as a filthy, dirty place. In 1864 the Superintendent of Otago appointed a group to investigate the sanitary condition of the town and the Sanitary Commission was created. The first sewer and culvert was built down Rattray Street in 1861 but it was not until 1872 that the City Surveyor Samuel Heywood Mirams planned a systematic drainage scheme with large brick sewers which flowed out into the harbour. Discussion around underground drainage occupied the City Council’s meeting discussions during the 1870s and became an election promise for those candidates running for Council. Cholera and typhoid were diseases that plagued Europe and were on the rise in Dunedin. Underground sewers in central Dunedin were proposed. "If this work," wrote a correspondent, "be not attended to before the warm weather sets in, the consequences that must follow from any epidemic breaking out in the city, will no doubt be chargeable to the wilful negligence of the Corporation”. Large brick sewers were built under the main streets of Dunedin to meet the new sanitation standards in 1877 which was completed by 1912.

Current Description The Manor Place Convenience is located on the edge of the Market Reserve, on the corner of Princes Street South and Manor Place. It previously was a separate piece of land forming an island within the road system but has been incorporated into the reserve itself with footpath around it. The urinal maintains the original footprint and is surrounded by an octagonal garden bed. It is an octagonal, brick structure set at ground level, one-storey in height with a flat concrete roof and a deep, overhanging, moulded coping of concrete. The brick elevations, with 26 visible courses, features two bands of slightly darker-coloured, rusticated brick that break the monotony of the red brick facades. The bricks are laid in English Garden Wall bond with the rusticated bricks laid in Stretcher bond, and though unconfirmed, the mortar appears to be a cement mortar. Once covered in ivy, this has been removed and various weeds, ferns and moss have grown on the structure, and there is visible evidence of water ingress/egress on the walls in the western section of the structure. The eastern side, facing Manor Place, has remnants of white paint, possibly from the substation that was attached from 1926-1958. An electrical pillar box for connection to mains power is located at ground level on the west elevation. Ad-hoc electrical fixtures can be seen on the roof and include a disused electrical insulator, a bracket for a former light, an aerial for a meter and an electrical conduit from the pillar box. There is a substantial, partially open crack through the brick masonry in the south elevation panel adjacent to the south screened opening. The structure has an entrance and exit corridor with a small locker on the southern side. Behind the wooden door into the locker there is an etched date of “12/12/12” in the concrete, presumably by one of the original contractors. One entrance on the southern side was bricked up possibly from the early 1960s and the other north facing entrance was bricked up sometime after 1985 (nothing has been found in archives about this work). The north facing entrance was opened by removing the recent bricks in 2017 to gain access for Dunedin City Council to assess potential work on the space. The structure has three narrow rectangular ventilation openings inlaid with a decorative iron grid of floral and circular patterns. The inside of the northern ventilation opening has additional iron bars across the inside of the opening. The interior is clad in white “Forite” tiles with a green dado and a green ornamental art nouveau frieze along the top of the walls. There are eight urinals that were purchased in a set that have been inlaid around the inside of the octagonal structure with two cisterns. The interior has never been modernised with only minor repairs occurring to rectify damage from subsidence and vandalism. The original Adamant fireclay urinal is still present as is the original wall tiles, decorative frieze and dado. The removal and subsequent placing of an underground substation next to the structure resulted in some damage due to ground subsidence under some of the urinal’s footings. The concrete floor was broken in 1958 for the remediation of broken drainage pipes. Large cracks are prominent and seen from both the interior and exterior on the Princes Street side (southwest side) and the urinals have split at the joins. The decorative tiling is cracked in several places but predominately has remained intact although separated from the concrete roof. The interior walls have shifted, approximately 10cm, from their original placement and many are no longer be level. The cisterns are possibly from 1963 as they were replaced when a porcelain one was damaged; the previous brackets holes remain. There are small rough repairs to the fireclay urinals. Comparative Analysis The Manor Place Conveniences can be compared to other urinals and conveniences across New Zealand. There are two Public Conveniences listed on Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s Rārangi Kōrero – the Bus Shelter and Toilets (List No. 561) at Symonds Street, Auckland, and the ‘Taj Mahal’ Public Toilets (Former) (List No. 1434), Wellington. Neither of these are a urinal or like the Manor Place structure. Two unlisted historic toilets are the Cast Iron Urinal in Masterton, being more relocatable it has been refurbished and moved several times, and the former Courtney Place Men’s Toilets in Wellington are reused as a pizza restaurant. This public convenience built in 1910 catered for men and women and also featured a tram stop. These were built two years earlier and although brick, it is significantly different in its design to Manor Place. The interiors have similar white tiles to the Manor Place urinal, although are square rather than rectangular in shape. It has also been significantly modernised over the decades and has recently undergone restoration works and a seismic upgrade in 2022. The ‘Taj Mahal’ was built as a public toilet in 1928–29 and was bestowed its popular name from the distinctive domes at either end, reminiscent of the great Taj Mahal. It was designed by the City Engineer’s office and built by Fletcher Construction. Unlike other public conveniences built at the time, this building was constructed above ground, and was part of a series of interesting public utilities designed by the Wellington City Corporation. The convenience is rendered in reinforced concrete with a tiled mosaic floor and a Malthoid roof covering. Similarities with Manor Place are that is above ground, single storey with a semi-circular row of urinals at the south end, it differs from Manor Place in its materials and the fact it was built for both men and women. The toilets closed in 1966 and since then has served multiple purposes including: storage, theatre workshops, art gallery and restaurant. The cast iron urinal in Masterton was refurbished in 2012 after being in storage for many years. No longer in its original position on the main street, it was relocated to Masterton Park and is believed to have been built in the early 1900s. As this was built of cast iron it was easy to move around unlike the permanent Manor Place brick structure. Many councils opted to have the cast iron style as it was inexpensive and could be easily shifted. However, Dunedin City Council chose to build a brick one with the last of special funds money that had been allocated and used for the underground conveniences, in the Octagon, Customhouse Square, and London Street. The first iron public urinal manufactured in New Zealand was by Mr J. Storrier in 1903. The former Courtenay Place Men’s Toilets are a good representative example of a utilitarian, local authority, Edwardian building. They were built in 1910, two years before Manor Place Convenience and they were semi-underground. The walls were constructed in brick with a concrete roof on steel joints. All walls, floor, and roof were covered with mineral asphalt with the floors also being coated with red arkilite. The toilets were more substantial than the Manor Place Convenience as it included six urinals, three toilets and an attendant’s room. They were closed in 1994 after many years of complaints, making them one of the last underground toilets remaining in New Zealand. In 2011 the space was leased and developed into a pizza and gelato kiosk. All interiors were removed, and the cast iron fences, and the prismatic skylights were preserved by the Wellington City Council.

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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. A fully referenced New Zealand Heritage List report is available on request from the Otago Southland Area Office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.