The Borough Council bought this site in 1889. The present building was designed by James Walker and Lloyd C. Love, built by L. McMillan & Co. Ltd. at a cost of £300,000, and was opened on 4 November 1965.
The building’s exterior was designed to b...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 476-482 Main Street, Palmerston North
Date: June 2020
Architect Joshua Charlesworth, of Wellington, designed Palmerston North’s former Chief Post Office. James Trevor & Sons, of Wellington, erected the building in brick with cement render, after a tender of £5,254. Its foundation stone was laid by Po...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 473-483 Main Street
Date: June 2020
Ernest Larcomb probably designed this building as it backs onto another Larcomb-designed building at 264 Cuba Street – both owned by Thomas Kerslake.
This brick building’s original façade included twin pediments - one above each of its two shops,...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 164-165 The Square
Date: June 2020
Edmund de Jersey Clere designed this shop for jeweller Patrick Francis (‘Frank’) O’Connor, of the firm Messrs O’Connor & Tydeman in 1923. O’Connor and his former business partner, Mr F. Tydeman, had founded a jewellery and watchmaking business in ...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 138 The Square
Date: June 2020
Charles Macintosh Ross purchased the ‘Bon Marche’ business on this site in 1883. In 1924 plans were made to purchase adjoining land and to erect this building. Wellington firm McMillan Bros. won the job at £27,746.
Arthur Robert Allen and Herbert...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 4 The Square
Date: June 2020
The Hepworth/Steeles building was erected in early 1917 for Herbert Hepworth, a pharmacist. Designed by Thorrold-Jaggard and erected at a cost of £1,504, the two-storied building included the shop, a dispensary, an office, large workroom and bottl...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 137 The Square
Date: June 2020
This building replaced William Park’s bookshop, which burnt down on 16 March 1928. Thorrold-Jaggard designed it in April 1928 for Mrs Emma Childs. Then of Lyall Bay, she was the widow of Tom Childs, former licencee of the nearby Commercial Hotel. ...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 36 The Square, Palmerston North
Date: June 2020
Designed by the city firm J Rex Roberts & Partners, the first stage (overlooking the Square) of the seven-storey Colonial Mutual Life Building opened in late July 1978. The second stage (adjoining Cuba Street) was then still under construction. Br...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 145-148 The Square,
Date: June 2020
This building, which was designed by architectural firm Penty & Lawrence, (Francis Penty and Charles Alexander Lawrence) was erected in 1912, to replace the Union Bank of Australia (built 1881) which had burnt down on 16 September 1910.
The new b...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 1-3 The Square
Date: June 2020
Arthur Robert Allen and his then business partner, Herbert Leslie Hickson, designed this building for Frederick Mowlem in November 1924. Allen and Hickson had designed one long building to stretch between Cuba Street and The Square, however, only ...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 161-163 The Square
Date: June 2020
Designed by Christchurch architect, Joseph Clarkson Maddison, this highly decorated ‘Second Empire’ building is the only example of the style in Palmerston North. ‘Empire’ in this context refers to the French Empire of Napoleon III.
The four-stor...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 41-44 The Square, Palmerston North
Date: June 2020
Two unidentified engineers in the City Engineer’s Office are credited with the actual design of this building. Erected in brick and concrete with the exterior plastered in a “delicate shade of green,” the Art Deco style building has a band of bas ...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: The Square, Palmerston North
Date: June 2020
Oscar Jorgensen designed this steel-framed brick and concrete building in July 1929 for Frederick Bryant. Built by Trevor Bros. Ltd. at a cost of £11,100, it replaced one of the city’s oldest buildings. Its frontages overlooked both The Square and...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 85-88 the Square
Date: June 2020
The Civic Administration Building, which dominates central Palmerston North, is the result of an architectural competition held in 1971 that was jointly won by Wellington architects Maurice B. Patience and his son John B. Patience (Maurice Patienc...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: The Square
Date: June 2020
Wellington firm Mitchell & Mitchell and Partners designed this building. This five storey office block was erected for the Mutual Life and Citizens Assurance Company. Aside from the various towers and church spires, this building was perhaps the c...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 149-152 The Square
Date: June 2020
The UFSD Building was built by F. Jackson & Sons (at a cost of £5,141) to Arthur Robert Allen’s design. As well as the two main floors, it also has a basement and a second floor meeting room on the roof that was formerly the UFSD boardroom. A larg...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 153-154 The Square
Date: June 2020
This section of Church Street and The Square was once known as ‘The Strand’, and that was the source of the building’s name.
Robin Hood designed the Strand Building for the firm Strand Buildings Ltd. in March 1930. The successful tenderer for the...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 69-72 The Square
Date: June 2020
The Civic Building was designed by Thorrold-Jaggard as part of the Waldegrave Estate. Tenders for the reinforced concrete building were called in March 1935, and it was duly erected between the Kosy Theatre and the Post Office, by Messrs Dickel & ...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 113 The Square
Date: June 2020
The Imperial Chambers was designed by Thorrold-Jaggard as part of the Waldegrave Estate. Tenders were called in April 1937 to erect the reinforced concrete and brick building - the successful tenderer being Messrs Arnold & Matthews, at a cost of £...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 117-120 The Square
Date: June 2020
John James Waldegrave arrived from England in 1855. The family settled in Palmerston North in 1872, where he established the first and second Royal Hotels in the Square. John Waldegrave, who had purchased this site in 1873, died in 1891. The Walde...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 125 The Square
Date: June 2020
William Coombs bought the site of this building in about 1881. Following his death in 1907, the land was transferred to his widow, Alice Coombs (1857-1940). C. Tilleard Natusch & Sons’ received the contract to design this building.
Wellington con...
Creator: Ian Matheson City Archives
Place: 10-15 The Square
Date: June 2020