Harbour Street, Tyne Street, Wansbeck Street, Tees Street, Itchen Street, Thames Street, Meek Street, Medway Street, Steward Street, Wear Street, Coquet Street, Esplanade Road, Oamaru
Oamaru’s limestone buildings tell the story of a town built on the prosperity of the 1860s and 1870s, carving an identity in stone that was continued with the architectural styles of the twentieth century. From the Victorian Italianate glory of the warehousing and offices on Harbour and Tyne Streets, to the imposing Classical authority of the banks on Thames Street, to the Moderne design of the Centennial Memorial Restrooms, the streetscape within the Oamaru Historic Area is remarkably intact and distinctive, giving it special significance. Oamaru’s buildings illustrate the archaeology and technologies of working stone, the history of the Oamaru and the development of the town’s cultural identity as it is reflected in the variety of architectural styles and forms, and over time.
Oamaru, the place of Maru to Ngai Tahu, was built on the proceeds from North Otago’s rich bounty of grain and wool. In a single generation from the 1860s wealth, combined with the easy availability of limestone and the inspired designs of architects including Oamaru’s beloved Thomas Forrester, created a distinctive townscape, much of which still remains. Oamaru’s townscape reminds us of the European settlers’ dreams, of making their way in the world and creating their own future. Oamaru Historic Precinct represents that dream: the harbour, the warehousing and commercial precincts centred on Harbour, Tyne, Tees, Itchen and Thames streets – where sea captains, warehousemen, merchants, brokers and bankers bargained and traded – a prosperous town where a person could make good with hard work and a bit of luck.
The Oamaru Historic Area is made up of buildings and structures in Harbour, Tyne, Wansbeck, Tees, Itchen, Thames, Severn, Meek, Wear, Coquet and Medway Streets. These represent the range of functions that have shaped Oamaru and given it a distinct identity – the warehousing, stores and office, shops and hotels, banks, civic and government buildings, as well as memorials and churches. Architects such as Thomas Forrester (of Forrester and Lemon), his son John Megget Forrester and partner W.I.C (Ivan) Steenson, as well as James Johnston, Thomas Glass and others, have made use of the qualities of the stone to create a striking identity for Oamaru. While the Italianate and Classical styles of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are most evident, the sensitive use of stone continues into the mid-twentieth century with Ivan Steenson’s Centennial Memorial Restrooms, and Grenfell’s RSA Clubrooms. The styles combine to form a remarkable and coherent streetscape recognised as central to Oamaru’s identity.
In 2017, Thames Street remains Oamaru’s bustling retail and civic centre, watched over by the imposing former post office, the revitalised Town Hall and Municipal Chambers (now the Opera House), and the stern architecture of the courthouse. Harbour, Tyne and Tees Streets are the focus of small boutique retail spaces and galleries, while Itchen Street, dominated by St Luke’s Anglican Church, has a civic focus with the Volunteer Drill Hall and the RSA Clubrooms and Garden of Memories.
Historical Significance or Value
The Harbour/Tyne Street area is closely associated with the first European settlement in Oamaru. In the 1870's it became the central commercial area of Oamaru during a time of prosperity. The buildings housed a mix of commercial, agricultural, and industrial uses and reflect the economic base of North Otago at that time. By the mid 1880's depression had set in. The buildings in the Oamaru Historic Area reflect the history of boom and bust in the 1870s and 1880s. Later years saw some economic recovery and new building. The later building continued the architectural themes of the boom years – substantial stone buildings with a sense of grandeur, picking up on that early identity and developments. This has created in Oamaru, a strong sense of historical identity that continues to change but is an identity firmly rooted in the past and the vibrant architecture of the town.
Aesthetic Significance or Value
Oamaru’s historic streetscapes have considerable aesthetic significance – with their harmonious use of Oamaru’s limestone and their combined sense of grandeur and solidity. The views along Harbour Street, along the eastern side of Tyne Street, and from the west down Itchen Street in particular, provide long uninterrupted streetscapes of buildings looking very similar to their appearance in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These views are possibly the best in New Zealand for understanding the atmosphere of the commercial and warehousing heart of a prosperous late nineteenth century colonial town. Tees Street’s diminutive shops give a sense of small scale businesses and have a strong visual coherence. Thames Street with its grand civic and commercial edifices impresses with its grandeur, while Harbour/Tyne Street’s concentration of wool and grain stores and offices presents the face of business.
Archaeological Significance or Value
Oamaru’s buildings and the archaeological remnants of earlier structures provide an understanding of the development of the town from the 1860s. The layout, stone technologies, relationships between industries, transport routes (such as the railway and the port) have potential to provide further archaeological information about the occupation of Oamaru in the nineteenth century.
Architectural Significance or Value
Oamaru’s historic streetscapes represent a lineage of architectural styles from Victorian to mid-twentieth century. Many of the buildings in the area were built between 1870 and 1885 and follow the prevailing Neo-Classical style. Two of the most striking aspects of the buildings are the degree of ornamentation they exhibit, and the homogeneity of the construction material. This is a reflection not only of the town's late nineteenth century prosperity but also of the special qualities of the local limestone. During the 1870's and early 1880's, many impressive buildings were erected. The prosperity of the period, the easy availability of a first class building stone and the presence in the town of capable designers, united to produce a unique collection of commercial and industrial buildings. Such was the quality of Oamaru's commercial area at the time that it was widely regarded as the "best built" town in New Zealand. The sense of status continued with the twentieth century designs, which have continued the solidity and grandeur of earlier buildings in their modern styling.
Architecturally, buildings in the area broadly follow Classical Revival styles. Forrester and Lemon, the practice which designed most of the buildings in the area employed a range Italianate styles which were pared-down and adapted to colonial conditions. The twentieth century buildings carry on the use of stone and the sense of architectural grandeur of the nineteenth century. The close architectural relationships of such a large group of buildings make this a particularly valuable part of New Zealand's built heritage. Together they form the most complete group of nineteenth century commercial and civic buildings in New Zealand.
Technological Significance or Value
The Oamaru stone buildings range in age from the 1860s through to the 1950s. The buildings provide evidence of the stone working technologies used and the way these have developed over time. As many buildings are conserved, the new conservation methods also provide illustration of modern building technologies and the way they are incorporated into historic structures.
Social Significance or Value
The Oamaru Historic Area has social significance – Thames Street and the streets around Harbour, Tyne and Tees Streets are the centre of social life, representing meeting places, shopping, worship and cultural activities. For both visitors and locals, this area is the centre for community activity.
Summary of Significance or Values
The Oamaru Historic Area provides insight into New Zealand’s best preserved historic townscape, representing life and architecture from the 1860s into the mid-twentieth century. The Oamaru stone buildings and structures have a remarkable coherence and a range of styles but communicate a sense of grandeur and solidity as well as exuberance and solemnity. The Oamaru Historic Area represents the historic heart of Oamaru – the civic, commercial, and religious lives of the people.
Historical Narrative
The Waitaki area is traditionally associated with the Kahui-tipua, Te Rapuwai, Waitaha and Kati Mamoe peoples. The land around the Waitaki River Mouth shows evidence of extensive settlement, while Moeraki was one of the early cradles of knowledge for Waitaha and Kati Mamoe histories. Key coastal settlements were at Moeraki, Shag Point, Waikouaiti, and Huriawa (the Karitane Peninsula). Ngai Tahu’s prehistoric presence is shown through a range of archaeological sites from middens and urupa, to rock art. Ngai Tahu named the area in the lee of the cape, Oamaru or the place of Maru, making use of the resources of the area.
The Oamaru Historic Area is closely associated with the early European town centre of Oamaru. In 1858, the town was surveyed, and the first sections were opened up for sale the following year. These sections were between Tyne and Tees Streets. Here, some of Oamaru's earliest European buildings were erected among the first being H.C. Hertslet's accommodation house, Trail, Roxby and Company’s store, and the Northern Hotel. From the 1860s, as the town grew, serving the rich hinterland with its grain and wool, these buildings were replaced by the stone structures that survive today. The scale and elaborate design of the buildings in the area reflect the vigorous nature of the town's economy.
The first buildings were built on Itchen Street and the western side of Tyne Street. In 1874 the Oamaru Harbour Board was formed and granted the land on the seaward side of Tyne Street as part of their 171 acre endowment. Harbour Street was the first part of the endowment to be developed, with the land subdivided and leased, providing income for the harbour board. The buildings on Harbour Street were grain stores, wool stores and warehouses, ornately designed in Classical style reflecting the wealth of the hinterland and the buoyant economy. On Tyne Street office banks and stores sprung up, servicing the nearby port. The town’s first commercial centre grew around Tyne Street, Wansbeck Street, Tees Street and Itchen Street – the first hotels, grocers, butchers, bootmakers, saddlers, boarding houses, bakers, plumbers, chemists, hairdressers, newspaper proprietors and even photographers had their premises here. From the mid-1860s to the early 1880s, the area was the commercial heart of Oamaru.
Timber soon gave way to stone. In a town where the streets were still potholed and muddy and the streets reeling with drunkards and larrikins, elaborate limestone buildings lined the streets. Architectural historian Peter Shaw described this as the ‘Architecture of Prosperity’ but it was a façade: the town had the ‘sorry distinction of being the best built and most-mortgaged in the colony.’ During the 1860s-1870s Oamaru was a thriving local port and service centre, its prosperity based on the export of grain and wool to other parts of New Zealand and overseas. From 1884, frozen meat was exported through Oamaru, although Port Chalmers was the main port for the trade.
Thames Street, cratered and rough, separated from the harbour by the meandering Oamaru Creek, soon had the grandest Limestone temples of Victorian architecture – the Bank of Otago and the Bank of New South Wales, completed by 1871. Architect William Clayton’s 1864 post office was superseded by Thomas Forrester’s Chief Post Office in 1884. The Athenaeum and Mechanics’ Institute, the Courthouse, the Town Hall and Opera House, and the Waitaki County Council Chambers marked Thames Street as the civic centre of the town.
By the early 1880's New Zealand was entering a depression that affected Oamaru particularly badly. Wool prices fell dramatically and the massive public spending of the Vogel era had come to a close. By 1885, virtually all new construction stopped in Oamaru.
When the national economy finally recovered in the mid 1890's Oamaru's followed only slowly, its role as a local centre having been eroded, mainly by improvements in the transport infrastructure. Rail links were established with Christchurch in February 1877 and Dunedin in September 1878. The new rail links, combined with the more sophisticated port facilities at Dunedin and Timaru, absorbed much of Oamaru's trade, and reduced its former self sufficiency. Oamaru’s seatrade remained in the UK export trade until World War II.
Oamaru’s new railway station opened on Humber Street in 1900, consolidated Thames Street as the business centre, leaving Tees, Tyne, Harbour and Itchen Streets marooned. The lack of growth contributed to the preservation of the Harbour/Tyne Street area.
The 1920s saw some economic recovery and this is reflected in the architecture. The council let a block on the west of Thames Street (previously the site of the gaol that was demolished in 1921), and a block of buildings, still reflecting the Classical idioms of the nineteenth century, sprung up. These commercial buildings, such as National Mortgage and Agency and Company’s premises and the Union Bank, were more reserved than their elaborate predecessors but brought a restrained grandeur in keeping with the Oamaru’s architectural character. On the east, businesses such as Bulleid and Company’s drapery, and McDiarmid’s Boot Shop, expanded, but continued the use of Oamaru stone and the sense of solidity and status implicit in the material. Around the corner on Severn Street, the Centennial Memorial Rest Rooms and the nearby public conveniences took Oamaru stone to a new vision, in their Streamlined Moderne styling – sleek curving stone structures bringing modernity to the town. The modern style continued with Grenfell’s RSA Clubrooms completed in 1950, which saw a restrained design appropriate to a building that recalled the sacrifices of the town’s returned servicemen, and as a neighbour of the Garden of Memories, the site of commemoration for Oamaru’s service people’s roles in later conflicts.
From the 1960s, Oamaruvians were recognising the value of their historic town. The 1980s saw some 30 buildings in the vicinity of Harbour/Tyne Street included on the then New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register (now the New Zealand Heritage List), as well as the registration of the Harbour/Tyne Street Historic Area identifying the importance of the streetscape. Adaptive reuse, giving new life to the old buildings, has encouraged the conservation and restoration of many buildings. The formation of the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust in the late 1980s, which purchased eight buildings in 1989, has led to a revival of the area with a focus on arts, crafts and other boutique businesses. The area has developed around the theme of a ‘Victorian Town at Work’. Thames Street, too, has remained remarkably intact. The big box retailing of the later twentieth century has taken place to the east and north, leaving Thames Street with its small shops and grand civic buildings. In 2017, the Oamaru’s limestone architecture is the heart of Oamaru’s tourist attractions, what one writer calls a ‘unique platform for “living history.”’
Physical Description
Current Description
Oamaru Historic Area is located in the historic precinct of Oamaru close to the harbour, in Harbour Street, Tyne Street, Itchen Street, Tees Street, Wharfe Street, Severn Street, Thames Street and its side streets: Meek Street, Medway Street, Wear Street and Coquet Street.
The buildings and structures are constructed of Oamaru stone, a locally quarried limestone. In Harbour, Tyne and Tees Streets the buildings are a mix of single storey and two storey buildings, which reflect their original commercial functions ranging from warehouses and stores to banks and hotels. At the edge of the commercial grouping south of Oamaru Creek, on the lower slopes of the hill is the imposing St Luke’s Anglican Church and its associated vicarage and parish hall.
The north side of Itchen Street, part of a reserve, saw civic or municipal facilities develop. On the site of the former council chambers is Jones Park with its stone memorial arch, and next to it the former fire station. Further west again are places associated with military activities – the Volunteer Drill Hall, the RSA Clubrooms and the Garden of Memories, commemorating World War Two.
The Thames Street Bridge crosses Oamaru Creek, linking the old commercial precinct to what is the business centre of the town from the 1880s. The historic area includes buildings on both sides of Thames Street as far north as the intersection with Severn Street. The east side of Thames Street saw the first commercial premises – the grand banks, and the single and double storey Oamaru stone shops that characterised nineteenth century Oamaru. This was the public face of wealth in Oamaru with some grand shops built alongside more modest premises. In common they had their use of Oamaru stone. On the west side of Thames Street, where much of the land was reserved for government purposes, grand statements of civic, governmental and municipal power were built on the triangle of land formed by Thames, Itchen and Severn Streets. These buildings represent the power of the state and of local government – post offices, council buildings, town hall, and courthouse. When this land was opened for lease first in the 1870s and a later block in the 1920s, similarly grand shops and offices were built, creating a remarkably coherent streetscape. The importance of Thames Street is shown by the placement of both the First World War Memorial and the Fallen Soldiers Memorial in the median strip. This was the civic heart of the town, the public face of wealth that was built from the commerce evident on Harbour and Tyne Streets.
The Severn Street block was home to the Crown Flour Mill, a huge building illustrating the importance of grain to Oamaru’s economy. It also saw buildings relating to community – such as the St John’s Ambulance Hall and the Gospel Hall on Steward Street. The Oamaru Grammar School was built on this block, as were the Centennial Memorial Restrooms.
On the side streets, some other architecturally significant buildings stand – the Category 1 St Paul’s Presbyterian Church and Hall, the former Gospel Hall, St John’s Ambulance Hall (Former), the New Zealand Express Company building.
The buildings in the historic area range in date from the late 1860s through around 1950. They range in style from modestly detailed commercial premises, to ornate Victorian Italianate designs, to streamlined Moderne. They have in common a gravitas, a recognition on the importance of Oamaru’s defining ‘Whitestone’. There is a remarkable continuity in the architecture, showing the versatility of the building stone and the architects who incorporated into their designs. There is also a remarkable continuity and lineage in design – from Oamaru’s famous Forrester and Lemon architectural partnership, inherited by Thomas Forrester’s son John Megget Forrester, later joined by W.I.C (Ivan) Steenson, whose designs feature in many striking buildings on Thames Street built from the early twentieth century into the 1940s.
Oamaru’s historic streetscapes have considerable aesthetic significance – with their harmonious use of Oamaru’s limestone and their combined sense of grandeur and solidity. The views along Harbour Street, along the eastern side of Tyne Street, and from the west down Itchen Street in particular, provide long uninterrupted streetscapes of buildings looking very similar to their appearance in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These views are possibly the best in New Zealand for understanding the atmosphere of the commercial and warehousing heart of a prosperous late nineteenth century colonial town. Tees Street’s diminutive shops give a sense of small scale businesses and have a strong visual coherence. Thames Street with its grand civic and commercial edifices impresses with its grandeur, while Harbour/Tyne Street’s concentration of wool and grain stores and offices presents the face of business.
Construction Dates
Other
1858 -
Oamaru township surveyed
Other
1859 -
First land sales
Construction Details
Limestone , timber, corrugated iron, brick, concrete
Public NZAA Number
J41/130
J41/131
J41/156
Completion Date
28th June 2017
Report Written By
Heather Bauchop
Information Sources
McCarthy, 2002
Conal McCarthy, Forrester and Lemon of Oamaru, architects, Oamaru, 2002
McDonald, 1977
K C McDonald, White Stone Country: the story of North Otago, Capper Press, Christchurch, 1977, [1962]
Muirhead, 1990
Syd Muirhead, Historic North Otago, Oamaru Mail, 1990
McLean, 2002
Gavin McLean, Oamaru History & Heritage, University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2002
Oamaru Mail Co. Ltd, 1978
Beginnings - History of North Otago From 1853 With interesting records of the developments of Oamaru and its Institutions, The Oamaru Mail Co. Ltd, Oamaru, 1978
Other Information
A fully referenced List Entry Report is available from the Heritage New Zealand Otago/Southland Area 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.
Historic Area Place Name
131 and 131A Thames Street
68 Thames Street
AH Maude's Stores (Former)
AMP Society Building (Former)
Anderson and Co. Flour and Grain Merchants' Store (Former)
Bakery (Former)
Bristola Piano Building (Former)
Bulleid’s Drapery (Former)
Cagney’s Bookshop (Former)
Coal Depot
Colonial Bank of New Zealand (Former)
Commercial Building
Commercial Buildings
Commercial Premises
Connell and Clowes' Store (Former)
Criterion Hotel
Custom House (Former)
Dalgety and Company Building (Former)
Dalgety, Rattray and Co's. Store (Former)
De Lambert Building (Former)
Dock Chambers (Former)
Empire Hotel (Former)
Exchange Chambers (Former)
Façade between 32 Tyne Street (Hepburn’s Bakehouse (Former)) and Tees Street Corner
Façade between the Northern Hotel and Morris’ Buildings
Falconer’s Seed Warehouse (Former)
Gaol Stables (Former)
Garden of Memories
Gemmell’s Building (Former)
Gillies Foundry frontage to Tees Street
Gillies’ Foundry Façades to Tyne Street
Gospel Hall (Former)
Grenfell’s Building (Former)
Hallenstein Brothers’ New Zealand Clothing Factory (Former)
Hepburn’s Bakehouse (Former)
Historic Kerbing and Cobblestones
House
Hynds Building
Imperial Hotel (Former)
J and T Meek's Grain Store (Former)
J.G. Flett's Bookstore (Former)
James Scott Merchant (Former)
Jardine’s Auction House (Former)
Johnston’s Building (Former)
Jones’ Park and Memorial Arch
Kennedy’s Building (Former)
Lane’s Emulsion Factory (Former)
London House (Former)
Macallan House and Glasgow Clothing House (Former)
Marshall’s Building (Former)
McDiarmid’s Building (Former)
McFarlane Buildings (Former)
Meek Street Bridge
Morris’ Buildings (Former)
National Mortgage and Agency Company Building (Former)
Neill Brothers' Store (Former)
New Zealand Elevator Company’s Building (Former)
New Zealand Express Company Building (Former)
New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company Warehouse (Former)
Northern Hotel (Former)
Oamaru Cycle Works Building
Oamaru Dispensary (Former)
Oamaru Drill Hall
Oamaru Fire Station (Former)
Oamaru Harbour Board Office (Former)
Oamaru Hospital
Oamaru Mail Company Building (Former)
Oamaru Mail Office and Hodge and Jones Saddlery (Former)
Oamaru Masonic Centre
Oamaru Public Library
Oamaru Railway Sheds
Oamaru Squash & Badminton Club Building
P. D. Johnston’s Butcher’s Shop (Former)
Phoenix Bowling Club Pavilion
Polytechnic Drapery (Former)
Power Board House
Proctor’s Pharmacy (Former)
Returned Services Association Clubrooms and Bowling Green
Robertson’s Hardware (Former)
Sanderson’s Building (Former)
Searle and Gibb’s Coach Factory (Former)
Severn Street Public Conveniences
Shop
Shop and Dairy
Shops
Shrimski and Moss’ Buildings (Former)
Shrimski’s Auction Rooms (Former)
Shrimski's Sale Rooms (Former)
Simpson’s Furniture Factory (Former)
Smith's Grain Store (Former)
Society of St Vincent de Paul Building
Spence and Bee's Store (Former)
St John’s Ambulance Hall (Former)
St Luke’s Parish Hall and Sunday School
St Paul’s Presbyterian Church Hall
Star and Garter Hotel (Former)
Star and Garter Stables (Former)
Sumpter's Grain Store (Former)
T.H. Brown and Co.'s Auction Mart (Former)
T.H. Brown's Store (Former)
Tees Street Hall (Former)
Thames Street Public Toilet
The Bungalow Tearooms (Former)
Townsend's Store (Former)
Udall’s Store (Former)
Union Bank of Australia (Former)
Union Offices (Former)
Waitaki Health Board Offices (Former)
Waitaki House (Former)
Waitaki House Façade
Waterloo House (Former)
Watson and McIntosh Ironmongers (Former)
Wilson and Bailie’s Store (Former)
Wilsons Sports
Works between the Northern Hotel and Udall’s Store
