Friday, January 28, 2005
You think to yourself, look at this foolish rotund Belgian, eh? But 'is grey cells, they know the truth...
Napier is a lovely and above all genteel town. It's very seasideian. With a side order of gin and tonic please waiter (at one of the, count them, THREE Irish pubs - this is out of five pubs in the city centre. Sigh).
Napier, and it's close neighbour, Hastings, are really interesting from an architectural point of view. Both towns were devestated when an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit in February 1931. Napier's building were not only destroyed by the earthquake, but also by the fire which swept through minutes after the earthquake.
So the towns had to be rebuilt. During the Depression. And they were, in a ridiculously short two year period. Thus, most of the architecture is of the Art Deco school, with some Spanish Mission, Stripped Classical and hints of Art Nouveau here and there. There are also some beautiful examples of Art Deco patterns using Maori motifs.
And yes, this is why I went to Napier. I love Art Deco. It's such a vibrant, clean, distinctive style. It immediately calls up the Jazz Age and cocktails in the Bahamas with the New Woman, just before she hops in her motorcar and takes you to the airfield for a terrifying ride on one of those new fangled aeroplanes.
I have to admit, most of the time I was in Napier, I felt like I was in a seventies film adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, perhaps starring Michael York.
Napier, and it's close neighbour, Hastings, are really interesting from an architectural point of view. Both towns were devestated when an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit in February 1931. Napier's building were not only destroyed by the earthquake, but also by the fire which swept through minutes after the earthquake.
So the towns had to be rebuilt. During the Depression. And they were, in a ridiculously short two year period. Thus, most of the architecture is of the Art Deco school, with some Spanish Mission, Stripped Classical and hints of Art Nouveau here and there. There are also some beautiful examples of Art Deco patterns using Maori motifs.
And yes, this is why I went to Napier. I love Art Deco. It's such a vibrant, clean, distinctive style. It immediately calls up the Jazz Age and cocktails in the Bahamas with the New Woman, just before she hops in her motorcar and takes you to the airfield for a terrifying ride on one of those new fangled aeroplanes.
I have to admit, most of the time I was in Napier, I felt like I was in a seventies film adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, perhaps starring Michael York.
