Heritage area - Island Bay

Michael Kelly

First published in Ngā Ākau ki te Tonga Southern Bays number 5 2009/2010

This is an edited version of material prepared by Michael Kelly for the Wellington City Council's decision on the Island Bay Heritage Area, described in our last issue. A fuller version, with footnotes is available from the Society Archives. The Photos, by John Simpson, date from 1987.

The properties of the Heritage area

The buildings of the Heritage Area began to be built immediately after the arrival of the electric tramway to Island Bay. Trams brought the former seaside resort into easy commuting distance of Wellington city, and created the rapid growth of s suburb. The tramway began running in June 1904. It reached Medway Street (then called Cornwall Street) by November 1905 and Reef Street the following month.

The Edwardian and post-Edwardian commercial premises on the eastern side of The Parade near the Medway Street intersection were built between 1904/5 and 1928. The building firm of J. Odlin and Co. Ltd, built five shops (with dwellings) to accompany the many houses it built in the Island Bay area. These were added to by more buildings in the 1910s and 1920s, some also built by J. Odlin and Co; forming the streetscape that can be seen today. The first permit was issued in January 1905 for what would become 151 The Parade.

John Odlin was a joiner from Surrey, England, who arrived in New Zealand with his wife Harriet in the mid-1870s. He set up business in Wellington as a builder while Harriet ran a poultry farm in Tasman Street. In 1884 his eldest son John was killed in a fall of earth at a building site in Willis Street. In the 1890s John established a partnership with his oldest surviving sons, George and Charles, and bought land in Brooklyn and Island Bay for subdivision and building. This partnership became J. Odlin and Co. Ltd in 1905. This family business survived for many decades, acquiring cutting rights over native forests and had substantial investments in property. It operated out of the Cable Street premises built in 1906 by C & A Odlin, the hugely successful timber business established by John's sons Charles and Alfred in 1903.

The building at 151 was followed the next year by four more shops and dwellings for J. Odlin and Co. (129, 131, 135, 139a The Parade), which formed a continuous row. F.H. Chinn (1885-1962), later a registered architect, was then working as a draftsman for Odlins and it is likely that he designed the shops and dwellings that the firm was erecting. A single-storey house was built at 141 at this time but it has since been totally transformed into commercial premises.

Some houses were built to the north and south of the buildings and then, from 1922, a further series of one-off shops and dwellings was built. Two shops were built for Odlins, at 141 and 145-147, and a larger masonry building (another shop and dwelling) was constructed at 121 for S.D. (Herbert) Clarke. In 1927, a permit was issued for a shop and dwelling for butchers Howard and Tilyard. The following year, shops and dwelling were erected at 155-157 for Harold Hanson. The majority of the buildings were built of timber, but two later buildings (121 and 127) were built of brick and concrete.

The uses of these buildings are typical of their time. When the area was first established, the typical goods and services were offered e.g. William Potts, a fruiterer at 131, Herbert Clarke, a chemist at 139a (later a long-standing fruiterers), Harold Hanson, a draper at 135, L. Pallesen, confectioners (what we now call a dairy) at 151, and Howard and Tilyard, butchers at 129 (and then at 127 when it was built). It is interesting to note how often an early use was maintained for a number of decades. In the case of 127, two generations of Howard and Tilyard ran the butchery and even after they left it has remained a butchery. 129 became a fish shop in the late 1920s and remained so throughout the 20th century.

By the late 1920s the remainder of the buildings had been built. New occupants arrived, including Dallow and Sons, stationers in 147, who lasted until the early 1960s, Bernard Kelly, a baker in 145, and the Island Bay Post Office and Bert Orr, a hairdresser, in 121. (For a time, the chemist, Herbert Clarke, was also the postmaster, switching roles as required between the Post Office and the chemist shop, which were linked by an internal door. Customers, however, used separate entrances. -Ed). Some of the premises were purpose-built for their occupants who then bought the buildings.

In the later 20th century changes to buildings became more regular as the pattern of suburban life changed. Some occupants remained constant and some buildings kept the same use but changed occupants, while other buildings acquired utterly different uses. One example is 145, which went from a milk bar and dairy, to a hardware store in the late 1970s; more latterly it has been a video outlet and then a charcoal chicken eatery.

The arrival of the supermarket in the 1970s drew shoppers away from traditional, single-purpose suppliers. What were formerly shops selling foodstuffs were turned into all manner of different outlets that reflected the changing times, such as video rentals, fast food outlets, restaurants and garden centres.

The properties of the Heritage area

These potted histories on the following pages concentrate on the commercial premises and not on the first-storey flats. This is primarily because few occupants of the flats were listed on street directories.

121 The Parade

This building was constructed in 1923 for S.D. (Herbert) Clarke, whose name is in relief on the façade. The builder was Limpleton & Keeble and the estimate cost was £4,760.

This building has always been an investment property. The first listed ground floor occupant was the Island Bay Post Office, which stayed in the building until World War II, while a range of individuals or couples occupied the flats upstairs. Another early tenant was Bert Orr, a hairdresser, who occupied the building for at least 10 years from the early 1930s. A series of electrical engineers occupied one shop from the 1940s to the 1960s, while the Lotus Milk Bar was a fixture from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s. Since then there has been a regular turnover of occupants, including real estate agents, a delicatessen, lunch bar and café. Permit records show no great changes to the building.

127 The Parade

This building was constructed for butchers Lindon Howard and William Tilyard by builder E.S. Knight in 1927. They established their butchery business as early as 1909 and were occupying 129 The Parade for some years before building their own establishment, which also had flats upstairs. The business they established remained associated with 127 for a great many years, although Howard sold out to Tilyard in 1946. The latter remained the building's owner until his death in 1967. Howard and Tilyard's name did not disappear from the butchery until 1986 when Mack Daly Meats took over the lease. It is currently occupied by the Island Bay Butchery. A verandah was built in 1998.

129 The Parade

This building was erected by and for John Odlin and Co. in 1906, as part of a group of five shops and/or dwellings. The first occupants were butchers Howard and Tilyard who went on to build their own premises at 127 in 1928. Odlins sold the building to Peter Isbister in 1938, by which time the commercial space was occupied by Cook Strait Fisheries. There was a flurry of additions and alterations to the building during that period, including the construction of outbuildings and a toilet. Cook Strait Fisheries bought the property in 1950 and remained the occupant until the late 1970s. The shop remained a fish shop until relatively recently. It is now a pizzeria.

131 The Parade

This sub-divided building was erected by and for John Odlin and Co. in 1906, as part of a group of five shops and/or dwellings. The property, like 135, 139a and 141, was retained as an investment by Odlins until the mid-1960s. The first occupant was William Potts, a fruiterer. (Despite the fact that it is a semi-detached building, generally only single occupants are listed in Wises). By the early 1930s Robert Todd had taken over the shop but he was soon replaced by James Irving, a grocer. It remained a grocery until the early 1970s, by which time the property had been sold to James and Beryl Thorburn (husband and wife) and Douglas Thorburn. In 1982 fruiterer Chong Jok Ng and his wife Kwan Sheung Ng bought the building, and converted the shop front into a takeaway.

135 The Parade

This building was erected by and for John Odlin and Co. in 1906, as part of a group of five shops and/or dwellings. The property, like 131, 139a and 141, was retained as an investment property by Odlins until the mid-1960s.

The building has had many and varied occupiers. For the first half of its history the building was a draper's (Harold Hanson and then Alex Geddes). In the 1940s the building also became a New Zealand Railways Booking Agency, a function it kept until the early 1960s. It was briefly a children's wear specialists before becoming a dairy, which it remains. Changes were made to the shop in 1991.

139a The Parade

This building was erected by and for John Odlin and Co. in 1906, as part of a group of four shops and/or dwellings. The property, like 131, 135 and 141, was retained as an investment by Odlins for a long time.. Apart from the first 20 years after it was built, when it was used as a pharmacy, and a recent conversion into a gallery, it has always been used as a fruiterers. In fact, when it was finally sold, in 1965, it was bought by Wah Wing Wong, a fruiterer, who had his business in the building.

141 The Parade

This single-storey building was erected by and for John Odlin and Co. in 1906, as part of a group of five shops and / or dwellings. The property, like 131, 135 and 139a, was retained as an investment by Odlins until the mid-1960s, but unlike the others it began life as a house. Before World War One, Island Bay's first resident doctor, Dr Deamer, lived here. In 1915 a shopfront was added to it. In 1961 it was converted into two flats. In 1984 the building was rather dramatically altered, with a considerable amount of demolition and a second shop added to the building. As a result, its current exterior appearance bears no resemblance to its Edwardian origins.

This building has had a great many occupants in its time, with few lasting any great period. One of the longest occupants was Fred Jones, a bootmaker, who occupied the building for some 20 years from 1920. It has been a bookstore and in the 1950s and 60s it was a home cookery shop. Since 1985 it has been the home of the Island Bay Pharmacy.

145 / 147 The Parade

145 This semi-detached building was erected in 1922 for J. Odlin and Co. and built by Herbert Pillar, a long-time Odlin associate who built a number of buildings for the company. The estimated cost was £2,500. It appears to have been purpose-built for baker Bernard Kelly, who bought the property that same year and had a bakehouse constructed at the rear. In 1944 he sold the property to civil servant John Pound, and the building became a confectioners. Later, it was a dairy, hardware store, video shop and charcoal chicken eatery. Today it is occupied by a restaurant.

147 In 1922, the year 145/147 was built for J. Odlin and Co.147 was bought by Aloysius Dallow, who then opened a bookstore. He died in 1931, but the business continued as a stationers until in the late 1970s it became a clothes shop. It was later a police station and an arts and crafts store.

151 The Parade

This was the first of the commercial buildings built by J. Odlin and Co. in this part of The Parade. Completed in 1905, this building was owned by Odlins as an investment property until the mid-1960s, during which time it was used, among other things, as a confectionery store, land agents and beauty salon. The property was bought, in 1981, by stationers William and Leslie Far, who remain the building's owners.

151 The Parade

This building was constructed for Harold Hanson, a draper, in 1928. Hanson bought the land in 1923 from contractor Charles Johnston and street directories suggest that this was the first building on the site. Hanson, who had a drapery store in 135 The Parade, died in 1968 and the property was managed by New Zealand Insurance, as executors, until 1981. The building was occupied, firstly, by William Crane's confectionery business, then the intriguing Citizens Service Stress Ltd., before it spent a decade or more from the late 1940s as the Island Bay Post Office. Then it was occupied, from 1953 onwards, by the medical practice of Lester Suckling, who converted the shop to a consulting room. After 1990 the rear of the property was subdivided off and a new building constructed behind. Since the 1970s occupants of the building have included a garden centre, paint shop, drapery and a restaurant.

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