WHANGANUI DISTRICT HERITAGE INVENTORY
Register Item No: 392
Type: Building
Site & Building: Pre-1900 Archaeological Interest
Name: METROPOLITAN HOTEL
Location: 6-8 St Hill St (cnr Taupo Quay), Whanganui
Legal Description: Sec 43 & Pt Sec 44 Town of Wanganui (and ROWs over S43 & Pt S44)
Current Details: Owner: [Contact Whanganui District Council for details]
Occupier: Ground Floor: Carpet Barn; Upper floor flat(s) vacant/tenanted
Original Owner: John Brennan
Date: 1896
Architect/Designer: Theodore B Jacobsen
Builder: R Davis
Status: District Plan Class: Class B, 2013, in Old Town Conservation Area.
Thematic Context: Social, Industry/Commerce, Whanganui River
Significance: Historic, Architectural, Context
Integrity: Altered unsympathetically, inside and out. Recent façade alterations reversible.
Photo Reference:
WDC File Ref: Heritage/Inventory/B6 14m (and others)
See p5 for additional photograph(s)
Date: Dec 2003 & March 2005
Part of the old Metropolitan Hotel was repainted in 2005, emphasising its architectural features
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History:
Of the site:
Located opposite the original Town Wharf, the site was occupied by a number of buildings from as early as
the 1840s. Taylor & Watt owned the land in 1880; their store and yard was located next door.
Of the building:
Erected in 1896 by John Brennan, who had been an hotelier in Wanganui since 1878. He owned the
Custom House Hotel in Nixon Street from 1879 to 1896, and had previously run hotels on the West Coast
and in Otago. Containing 36 bedrooms and located opposite the Railway Station, the “Metropolitan” was
built to serve Wanganui’s growing tourist industry. In 1891, Alexander Hatrick started his river boat
service to Pipiriki, enabling tourists to explore the Whanganui River which was advertised and known as
“The Rhine of New Zealand.”
The hotel’s opening was celebrated at a formal Banquet just before Christmas 1896, with Freeman R
Jackson in the chair, supported by Mr & Mrs Brennan as well as several notable Wanganui gentlemen,
including Alexander Hatrick. On that occasion, The Yeoman reported: “The hotel is now replete with every
modern comfort, and from its commanding position and the accommodation afforded, it is sure in the very
near future to be the most popular house of call on the coast.”
Subcontractors involved in the construction and fitting out of the Metropolitan were:
R & E Tingey (painting and decorating); D May (gas-fitting and plumbing), J Brown and A McFarlane
(bricklaying and plastering respectively); Wanganui Sash and Door Factory for all timber, windows and
doors; E Moult of Wanganui (upstairs furnishings) and Messrs Scoullar & Chisholm of Wellington
(downstairs furnishings).
Although Brennan had ceased to be licensee by 1899, the Brennan family and his estate continued to own
The Metropolitan. Licensees after Brennan were: 1899 Mrs Ann Kirkwood; 1901 Mrs Reid; 1902 W M
Tuck; 1903 Alfred Mitchell; 1905 Benjamin Bennett; 1907 Henry Hallett Mace; 1908 John Howard; 1910
Thomas H Nixon; 1916 John Hannan; 1919 W H Wilson. By 1929, T Vangaoni was the licensee and in
1941 it was Wm Jack. Mr C Dustin took over the license from S H Cave in 1948 and was still there when a
fire on 21 December 1949 destroyed the front upper storey and the staircase of the hotel. Fortunately, John
Brennan had equipped his hotel with fire escapes so no lives were lost in this fire. The Wanganui
Chronicle reported on 22 Dec 1949 that the loss of accommodation during the holiday season “will be
serious for Wanganui.” The hotel was fully booked for the coming months with participants in the
forthcoming national rowing and softball championships. Extensive renovations and improvements had
recently been carried out in the hotel; after the fire, the front upper storey was demolished and a new
frontage erected to the remaining upper wings. Access to the upper storeys was now confined to external
staircases. The Metropolitan continued to operate as a pub for a while, although it no longer
accommodated guests.
In 1951, the building was purchased by J J McCaskey, a sports clothing manufacturer from Wellington who
had set up a factory in Wanganui in 1944 and was already operating out of a neighbouring building in
Taupo Quay. A letter dated 5 July 1951 from McCaskey’s Wanganui branch manager, S R McCallum, to
the City Council’s Building Controller, indicates that they planned to use part of the downstairs for a
cutting room and the balance for a warehouse. McCallum comments “Originally the building was very
soundly built and very heavy timbers were used in its construction”. McCaskey’s applied to convert the
remaining upstairs portion of the building into three flats, accessed by external staircases. They considered
that this would be “a contribution toward solving the city’s housing problem.” McCaskey’s also repaired
the fire damage and reduced part of the original front ground floor ceiling height from a 14ft 4in stud to 9ft.
They provided a low parapet around the front of the building where the gutted part of the second storey had
been removed.
McCaskey’s leased the building to the Police Department in 1954, who undertook extensive internal
alterations to enable the building to serve as Wanganui’s Central Police Station until Feb 1963 when their
new Bell Street Premises were completed. It was the Police Department’s alterations, designed by the
Ministry of Works Architectural Department, that resulted in the ground floor interior of the building losing
almost all its character. Cells were built at the rear of the building; walls were removed and new partitions
erected to provide appropriate office accommodation for the police.
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McCaskey’s returned to the building in 1963, when they made a new doorway out of an existing window
on the Taupo Quay façade of the building. In 1968, McCaskey’s was sold to Eide & Co, who owned the
building until 1995 when it was sold to the Twiss family.
In the late 1970s, the Wanganui Commercial Travellers’ Club made further alterations to part of the ground
floor to provide lounges and a snooker room. By 1981, the building was effectively partitioned on the
ground floor. The television service company, Tisco, had moved into the Taupo Quay side of the ground
floor and by 1989 the Marriage Council Library Service occupied the St Hill Street side.
By the early 1990s, “Clowns” had occupied the corner offices when Harcourt’s Real Estate (the Twiss
family) purchased the building and undertook further internal alterations. Sportz Shed occupied the Taupo
Quay side of the building by 1994, when “display windows” were installed by modifying the façade on
both the Taupo Quay and St Hill Street sides. The provision of these four new windows constructed under
existing windows meant that the character of both facades was altered drastically. This work should have
been subject to application to the NZ Historic Places Trust under the Historic Places Act 1993, as the
building was a pre 1900 structure. No such application was made.
Phoenix Computers then occupied the St Hill Street side of the building from 2000 to c2003; an appliance
repair company took over the Taupo Quay side for a year until moving out in 2003.
The upstairs flats are still occupied, having been tenanted since 1951 when McCaskey’s converted the two
wings for this purpose.
Oct 2003: Application submitted to demolish the building and construct a new building on the site. This
was defended by NZ Historic Places Trust and others at a subsequent hearing and the application declined.
Description:
Built as a two-storey timber framed and weatherboarded structure on concrete foundations, today the
building has two-storeys on part of the site, the front upper storey having been demolished after the 1949
fire. A masonry firewall on part of the right wing was probably installed when a previous building
occupied the site next door. The upper roofs are corrugated iron; the newer roof at the front treated as if a
flat roof.
The rear of the building is divided into two wings with a centre courtyard. The east wing housed the
hotel dining room, kitchen, yard and laundry while the west wing (on St Hill Street) contained private bars
and storage. The lounge, public bar and other offices were contained in the front of the building, with a
spiral staircase ascending to the second floor which contained 36 bedrooms, two of which were bridal
suites with their own sitting rooms.
The exterior of the building, despite the demolition of part of the second storey and the installation of the
modern “display windows”, still exhibits its original fine classical detailing. The Yeoman, 7 Nov 1896,
described the building as being an imposing building, of Corinthian design, with a general appearance that
“is really artistic.” The two main doorways were described as having “Gothic hoods and mock bronzed
iron friezes” while the cornices were “massive and handsome, with cantilever brackets and bed moulds”.
The remaining upper storey façade on St Hill Street has pilasters with Corinthian tops dividing the sets of
double-hung windows. The rear façades are much more utilitarian in design, with plain windows and
wooden eye-brow covers that are more residential in style.
The building originally had parapets surmounted by pedestals and balustrades, which can be seen above
other buildings in some photographs of the area. A promenade on the upper front of the building was
designed to give visitors a “magnificent view of the wharves, river and surroundings” as reported in The
Yeoman, 7 Nov 1896.
Very little of the interior remains, although two of the cast iron Corinthian columns are still in situ, as is
some of the panelling in the dining room. Kauri appears to have been used extensively in the building.
The Yeoman’s 7 Nov 1896 description also noted that “the building is undoubtedly the best of its kind in
Wanganui and is a welcome addition to some of the fine newly erected structures.”
Condition:
The building itself is sound, having been well-built and then restored after the fire. However, the interior
alterations have created a warren of partitions and various occupiers have contributed to the mish-mash of
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rooms and features. The windows that were cut into to create the “display windows” could be restored, as
could the original doorways where these have been boarded up. Sufficient reference material is available in
plans and photographs to assist with such restoration work. The condition of the upstairs flats is not known
as these have not been inspected. It was also not possible to inspect part of the ground floor on the St Hill
Street side which originally housed the private bars of the hotel.
(Historic Places Trust Wanganui Branch inspected the building on 27 Nov 2003.)
Resources Consulted:
Wanganui District Council Building Files (for 6-8 St Hill Street and 68-70 Taupo Quay) – papers from
1951 only. Of particular relevance: McCaskey’s letter (5 July 1951) re alterations to the building, with a
copy of the hotel ground floor plan and plan of the St Hill St and Taupo Quay facades; Aug 1954 plans
prepared by F Gordon Wilson, MOW Architectural Division to provide accommodation for the Police
Station, showing existing and new floor plans; 1998 LIM Report which includes a copy of the Certificate of
Title first issued 28 Sep 1897 to John Brennan; 1994 application to install display windows (Jamie O’Leary
Builders).
The Yeoman, 7 Nov 1896 – article describing “Mr J Brennan’s New Hotel” which had just been completed.
The Yeoman, 26 Dec 1896 – article describing the Opening Banquet for the Metropolitan Hotel.
The Yeoman, 2 Jan 1897 – weekly news item notes The Metropolitan already attracting customers.
Wanganui Chronicle, 22 Dec 1949 – article on Metropolitan Hotel fire, which helpfully noted it was built
“about 52 years ago”.
Midweek 18 Sep 1991 – article about Harcourts in the building.
Midweek 23 Aug 1995 – article about McCaskey’s.
1990 Heritage Study Register Item No 6/4 (includes photograph before display windows installed).
Wise’s Directories:, 1903, 1929, 1941, 1955, 1957
1908 Wanganui Borough Insurance Assessment Plan.
WDC Valuation Rolls Database 1863-1922.
Wanganui Star Almanack, 1902 and 1908.
1880 Plan of Wanganui, showing section owners.
Comments on Significance:
Historic
This is the only pre-1900 timber hotel in the Old Town which retains its façade. The Provincial, also built
in 1896 by the same architect, has been altered recently, although its first floor retains its character. The
style of the Metropolitan is much grander than the Provincial, as it was built to provide accommodation of a
superior nature. The Rutland Hotel was rebuilt in 1907 and the Federal (1904) and Fosters (rebuilt 1924)
are masonry and concrete buildings respectively.
The hotel was built to serve Wanganui’s river boat tourist industry which began in the 1890s and brought
many visitors to Wanganui through to the late 1920s.
Architectural
The building’s classical style of architecture is unusual in comparison with the remaining Old Town
wooden buildings. The grand doorways in particular marked the building out as being one of importance.
While the façade has been altered, it is capable of restoration and makes an important contribution to the
mixture of architectural styles that make up the Old Town townscape.
Context
This is a significant corner building on the edge of the Old Town. Corner sites are particularly important in
the townscape, being visual links with the other buildings in each block.
The Metropolitan Hotel building complements and links with other 1890s buildings in this Taupo Quay
block of the Old Town.
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Recommendations:
Date: 8 January 2004 (revised March 2005) Research by: Wendy Pettigrew
View of the whole building taken in December 2003, prior to repainting.
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Whanganui Regional Museum photo Ref B/H/57 (reference copy above) taken in 1907 shows hotel as
built with full second storey and extensive parapets
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