Sunday, May 3, 2009

Country Churches of NZ 87. St. David’s, Cust

I wrote and illustrated Country Churches of New Zealand. It was published in 2002 by New Holland, Publishers and is still on sale in bookshops. The publishers have kindly agreed to me re-publishing some of the book’s images and descriptions in this blog.
ST. DAVID’S, CUST

Not far along the road from St. James’s (86) but built much later, in 1935, is the Presbyterian St David’s Union Church.

As with St James’s, it was detail that caught my eye - this time the central bell tower, which seems to shrug into the roof giving the whole structure a fortress-like stability.

Its windows and embellishments are refreshingly Art Deco, reminiscent of some cinemas built in that era.

Designed by Cecil Wood (whose more traditional work can be seen in some of the Christ’s College buildings) and built by Wadey & Efford for £1300, it supplanted an 1885 church.

© DON DONOVAN 
 
donovan@ihug.co.nz

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Revington’s, Greymouth

I wrote and illustrated ‘The Good Old Kiwi Pub’. It was published in 1995. It’s a snapshot of some New Zealand pubs as they were at the end of the 20th century. I have decided to share some of the entries from the book from time to time on this blog

I have a confession to make: back in 1961, long before the present proprietors owned Revingtons, my wife and I stayed there one freezing winter weekend, having foolhardily crossed the mountains from Christchurch in deteriorating weather. We were dismayed to find that the tap on the gas fire in our bedroom was padlocked. A notice advised that the lock would be undone upon payment of half-a-crown (25 cents). I was affronted at such parsimony and promptly picked the lock with a hairpin. I have felt vaguely guilty ever since; but I feel better now that I have told you.

It’s a splendid pub and I thoroughly enjoyed drawing it in its new livery; it is much cherished by its present owners, the Dalzells.

Its ancestry is traced to a hotel built opposite the Greymouth post office by John William Oliver in 1876 which, predictably, he called the Post Office Hotel. Twenty years later - by which time Greymouth had become respectable and was known more for its coal than the rough and tumble of its goldfields - it was purchased by Captain W. D. Revington who added his name to its title.

But ‘Revington’s Post Office Hotel’ must have been such a mouthful, and West Coasters are generally people of few words (well chosen, usually) inevitably it became ‘Revington’s’ which, I think, has quite a ring to it. I’m told that the locals shorten it even further, to ‘Revvies’, which tends to knock the top off any attempt at grandeur.

The first Revingtons was a fine looking hotel but it was replaced in 1938 by this art deco style building with its Spanish tiles, built by the owners of the day, Allan and Margaret Marshall. They must have had a presentiment that, one day, Royalty would grace the pub for they incorporated that fine balcony. From its double doors, below the flagstaff, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh waved to the loyal Greymouth crowd when they paid a visit on 18 January 1954.

© DON DONOVAN

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Sunday, March 9, 2008

Railway Hotel, Woodville


I wrote and illustrated ‘The Good Old Kiwi Pub’. It was published in 1995. It’s a snapshot of some New Zealand pubs as they were at the end of the 20th century. I have decided to share some of the entries from the book from time to time on this blog.

It’s the relief lettering on the balcony that appeals to me. I’ve seen nothing quite like it elsewhere. It is in a style known as ‘Stencil’ and is typical of the art deco period. The verandah wing, which incorporates the balcony, some decorated farmhouse shutters and support posts with strange, pyramidal bases, looks to date from about 1930 and has been added to an unremarkable nineteenth-century hotel.

As its name implies, the hotel sits beside a railway line, the one that runs the length of the Wairarapa to join, at Woodville, lines from Palmerston North and Hawke’s Bay. Over the years its relationship with the permanent way has been such that, at one time, the pub was called ‘The Office’ because the boys from the railway station tended to spend significant parts of their working days in the bar. The goodwill engendered kindliness all round and the pot belly stove in the bar was usually white-hot from the free coke dropped off from passing trains!

Woodville, a horse training and farming town, also has an important geographical raison d’etre; it guards the eastern end of the Manawatu Gorge, which separates the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges and provides easy access to Palmerston North and the west coast.

© DON DONOVAN

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