Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

Small corner shops were once a feature in just about every New Zealand town. They served local clientele along the lines of a convenience shop, where people would call in to buy a few items and have them 'put on the account' as well as chat with the shop keeper. Typically, many small shops and commercial premises had an attached or adjacent dwelling. To the north of the Corner Shop is a small cottage at 192 Talbot Street (record number 2025), which had been built in c1873. In 1901, the cottage including the corner site was purchased by William Bryant who added the Corner Shop to the south of the cottage. The shop was for the sale of his bakery goods. In 1906 Bryant sold the property containing both cottage and shop to Thomas Elliott. Elliott ran a drapers and tailors business from the shop until he died in 1919. His widow, Jeannie Robb Elliott took title to the property in 1919 under his will but closed the shop in 1920. Mrs Elliott died in the 1970s, aged 100 years, whereupon her daughter Jeannie Elizabeth Elliott continued to live for many years. The shop is closely associated with the adjacent cottage (record number 2025) which was and remains under the same legal title. While the cottage was built around c1873, the associated corner shop was not constructed until the first decade of the 20th century, c1901. Unlike nearby South Canterbury towns of Timaru, Waimate and Temuka, Geraldine has never had a main street lined with solid two or even three-storeyed brick buildings. Although there are some solid grand buildings, these are somewhat spread out, and many of the buildings within the central township are single storey. The Corner Shop is not located right in the main part of town, but is about a kilometre to the south, more on the outskirts of the main commercial area. Corner shops have been a characteristic building type in both towns and cities and remain so especially for dairies. However, while very common in the past, corner stores are at risk as many dairies close down with the increase in opening hours by supermarkets. The Corner Shop at Geraldine is noteworthy as it continues to function as a business - currently a Barber Shop - and has never been converted for residential use. Ferrymead Heritage Park used photographs and measurements of this corner shop in Geraldine as the basis for building a reconstruction/old style corner shop (or shops) within their heritage village in Christchurch. A certificate of title (CT228/67) for the place was issued in 1906 in the name of Thomas Elliot [sic] of Geraldine, Draper. His widow, Jeannie Robb Elliott [sic] took title to the property in 1919 under his will. In 1978 their daughter, Miss Jeannie Elizabeth Elliott, took title under her mother's will. Miss Elliot, who had lived in the cottage from 1906, held strong views about the need to retain both the cottage and the Corner Shop for posterity. However, the Corner Shop was unutilised for some years. In 1993 the property was sold to Gary and Donna Cook who undertook repair and maintenance work on the shop. The shop has functioned as a Barber shop since that time.

The Corner Shop on the north-west corner of Talbot Street and Kennedy Street occupies a corner site at the southern end of the Geraldine township, slightly outside the commercial area of town. It is located on flat land adjacent to the older cottage at 192 Talbot Street, to its north. The site contains various pieces of vegetation, mostly in grass but also including a mature tree behind the Corner Shop and a small palm tree immediately to the north of the Corner Shop. The Corner Shop occupies the south-east corner of a much larger piece of irregularly shaped lot of land that is bounded on its south and east sides by a roadway. The building fronts directly onto the footpath of Talbot Street. The Corner shop is a single storey weatherboard building with a hipped roof of corrugated iron. There are two large glass windows either side of the corner doorway. The door is timber and panelled, has a fan light above it and moulded architraves. The verandah runs around the street façade and has timber posts. The verandah covers the footpath and the posts are at the outer edge of the footpath near the kerb. There is no fenestration on the north elevation. The building is distinctive in appearance, having a pronounced set back corner and associated hip in the roof at its south-eastern entry point and a rather broad verandah. Comparative Analysis: There are relatively few corner shops on the NZHPT Register. The Shop (Former) at 9 Grafton Road, Auckland (Register No. 667) is an earlier building c1870 which was later converted into a corner shop. A set of shops at 26-28 Ross Place in Lawrence (Register No 5212) were probably built in the later part of the 19th century but do not appear to be 'corner shops' as such. The Corner Shop at Geraldine was originally used by the owner for the sale of bakery goods. The NZHPT Register has several registrations for bakeries that include the shop where the goods were sold (for example Collins' Bakery Complex (former) Kaikoura No 1456; which includes a house, shop and flour store, is of a similar age (c1905) to the Corner Shop in Geraldine). Nelson's Bakery and Old Bakehouse in Inglewood (Register No 871) and a Bakery in Ngaruawahia (Register No 4248) were purpose-built in c1923 and 1928 respectively. .

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Other Information

A copy of the original report is available from the NZHPT Southern region 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.