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Argosy Aerial - Hume Pipe Company factory premises

Description: This aerial shows the Hume Pipe Company factory, owned by Hume Industries (NZ) Limited, in the middle of the photograph, just past the railway lines. A section of Keith Street is visible in the lower lefthand corner of the image. Between Keith Street and the railway line is an unidentified industrial facility. Kelvin Grove Road runs from the upper left to the top of the photograph. Branching off Kelvin Grove Road is a new residential development, including the partially completed Karamea Crescent, Anakiwa Street and Mahia Place.

Argosy Studio (Argosy Industrial Photos) was a photography business owned and operated between 1950 and 1980 by Joe Greening (formerly employed by Elmar Studios). Originally located in Broadway, Argosy later moved to Cuba Street on the corner with Lombard Street.

As well as commissioned work (such as photographing the old railyards or aerial shots for the Council) Greening was known to operate as a street photographer, capturing the likenesses of passersby, offering his card with the negative number so they could buy the image if they wished. Many of these images will be in family photo albums.

A fire in 1965 destroyed many negatives in Argosy's collection but this image was one of the 400 or so survivors. Greening donated many of these surviving images to the Ian Matheson City Archives in 1989 before retiring to Kaitaia. He died in 2001.