Daily Telegraph Building, Napier 4110, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Noteworthy art deco building, former home of the Daily Telegraph, with lotus-topped columns.
The Daily Telegraph Building is considered to be one of Napier’s classic Art Deco buildings. It is the third Daily Telegraph building to be built in Napier. The Daily Telegraph newspaper was established in February 1871. In 1886 a fire completely destroyed the first Daily Telegraph building as well as 25 other buildings. Within a week of the fire, work began on constructing a new premise across the road from the original building.
On 3 February 1931, two days after the Daily Telegraph had celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, the second building was completely destroyed by a massive earthquake which struck the Hawke’s Bay region. At 7.8 on the Richter scale, the earthquake did massive damage and is considered to be the largest natural disaster to have occurred in New Zealand in the twentieth century. A total of 258 people died. In Napier, near the centre of the quake, the earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed most of the central business district. In the days after the earthquake the Daily Telegraph continued to publish using a portion of the Ball and Ball and Company’ printing works, Dalton Street. The first news bulletin was published on 4 February 1931 in conjunction with its local rival, the Daily Herald. When the Dalton Street property was declared unsafe, the paper was published from Te Awa School, and later the Vulcan Foundry in Hastings Street.
Epic New Zealand Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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