More Info →Looking Up Broadway Avenue

This photograph was taken from the the roof or top storey of the four-storied Roscos Department Store. On the horizon is the spire of St Patricks' (1925); on the corner of Palmerston North and The Square (far right) is the Bank of Australasia (now the ANZ), a two-storey brick structure built before 1925. The building opposite it with the mock domed clock tower is the wooden Collinson and Cunningham (standing 1911-1964). The light coloured buildings to the left of C&C were demolished in 1932. The 1915 Bank of New Zealand building is prominent on the corner of Rangitikei Street. It was expanded and defaced in the early sixties. On the other side of the intersection stands the brick building which served as the Clarendon Hotel from 1904-1927 and thereafter as a block of shops - primarily Goldfinch and Cousin's menswear business. In 1931, after the Napier earthquake, the top storey was hurriedly demolished as a potential risk (as was the Grand Hotel tower). This photograph must therefore have been taken in the winter (note the trees and coats) of 1928, 1929 or 1930. This building no longer exists and the site is occupied by the Commercial Union and Westside Buildings that contains @ The Hub (a student hostel) and the Rangitikei Convenience Store. For later views of Broadway Avenue see 2014n_sq220_008639 and 2014P_Sq276_008921.