WHANGANUI DISTRICT HERITAGE INVENTORY
Register Item No: 308
Type: Building
Site: Pre-1900 Archaeological Interest
Name: PURDY’S BUILDING
Location: 135 (B26.7) and 137-137A (B26.6) Victoria Avenue, Whanganui
Legal Description: Pt Sections 206/207, Town of Wanganui; DP 6230 & Lot 1, DP 13186
Current Details: Owner: [Contact Whanganui District Council for details]
Occupiers: Purdy’s Gift Shop, Ab Fab Flowers, Silvesters Bags, Ashley Jay Shoes
Original Owner: Mrs Robert Earle
Date: 1901
Architect/Designer: Alfred Atkins
Builder:
Status: District Plan Class: Class B, façade above verandah, 2013
Thematic Context: Industry/Commerce
Significance: Context/Streetscape (Purdy’s shop only)
Integrity: Purdy’s shop façade is intact; the other two shops in the building have been altered
unsympathetically.
Photo Reference:
WDC File Ref: Heritage/Inventory/B26 6m & B26 7m
See page 3 for historic photographs
Date: September 2004 & 2009
Purdy’s Gift Shop (left) retains its 1901 façade built for Mrs Robert Earle. On the right, the middle gable
has been removed and the other gable and upper façade was reclad in 1979.
Heritage Inventory 308 PURDY'S BUILDING 135 and 137-137A Victoria AvenuePage 1 zxy225
History:
Of the site:
The land was owned by Dr Robert Earle and his wife, Elizabeth. In 1883, the Earles lived in this part of the
Avenue; they moved to Wicksteed Street in January 1885 when they purchased Freeman R Jackson’s house
(now known as the Craig House). The Earles retained ownership of their Avenue and Guyton Street
sections, numbers 202-211/212, and gradually rebuilt on their land, starting in 1901 with this building.
Of the building:
Alfred Atkins’ tender notice in the Wanganui Herald on 15 Feb 1901 for shops and offices, Victoria
Avenue, with a closing date of 20 February almost certainly applies to this building. The building permit
was issued to Mrs Earle on 21 Feb 1901 for a new building, Victoria Avenue, three shops with brick and
concrete foundations. No builder is named in the building permit.
By late June 1901 the building is complete and tenants start to move into the shops. In all newspaper
reports of the new tenants, the building is noted as having “three fine shops” opposite the Presbyterian
Church and mention is made in the Wanganui Herald on 23 July that there is a trend for business along the
Avenue to develop in the direction of Guyton Street, with a number of new buildings in progress or
completed. However, few other references have been found to other new buildings in this part of the
Avenue at this time, although there are a few less significant buildings that were certainly built between the
late 1890s and 1908.
The new shops were first occupied by Trussell & Co, cabinetmakers; James McNaught, a tailor
(probably in upstairs rooms); George Hean, the chemist and Wilkie & Co, ladies outfitters. By 1908,
Trussell’s have moved out and Frederick Symes occupies no. 151 (now 135). George Hean’s chemist shop
is not named on the 1908 insurance map, but he is still listed in the 1914 Wise’s Directory.
By 1929, no. 135 (now Purdy’s, B26.7) is divided and occupied by JF Curtis, an optician, and London
Town Drapery. William Robinson moves Londontown down the Avenue in 1935 and by 1941 Adams
Bruce, pastrycooks, occupy the shop with Fred Maeder, hairdresser and beauty salon, next door (and
probably in upstairs rooms). The Continental Gift Shop has moved in by 1955, and this part of the building
has remained a gift shop ever since. Maeder’s beauty salon was still in business in the 1970s, then
Toyworld moved into their premises. Ab Fab Flowers now occupies this part of the shop.
Next door, no. 137 (B26.6) became the Crown Depot run by Misses E & B Allan in 1924, and then
Armitage’s Value House took over this shop by the early 1940s. General Machinery moved here in 1951
and remained until the 1970s. This shop is now occupied by Silvesters Bags, who appear to have moved in
during the late 1980s/early 1990s. General Machinery made numerous alterations to the shop, including
altering the roof trusses in 1954, which may have been when the front gable was removed and the façade
covered up. The façade cladding was certainly in place by the early 1970s as shown in a photograph at the
Alexander Turnbull Library.
The last shop, no 137A (part B26.6), was Mr Wright’s butcher’s shop by 1918. He appears to stay on
the premises until 1960 at least, then it becomes the Savoy Tearooms and later Scarpas in the 1970s.
Harrison’s Shoes moved in c1976 when they altered the shop front. The upper façade was reclad in 1979.
This shop is now occupied by Ashley Jay shoes.
Description:
Two-storey building with brick side walls and wooden back and front elevations, roofed with corrugated
iron. One brick wall divides Purdy’s shop from the rest of the building. Originally the building had three
identical front gables, two of these had four windows on each upper façade and the third just two windows.
Today, only Purdy’s upper façade retains its windows as well as its pedimented parapet and side columns.
The middle shop had its gable removed first and the façade clad to cover all the windows; the last shop
retains its gable and two windows under the cladding put on in 1979. The shop fronts have all been
changed from the originals.
Condition:
The Avenue façade of Purdy’s building has been repainted recently and is in good condition, as is the roof.
The shoe shop could benefit from having its cladding removed, if the original façade is still intact
underneath.
Heritage Inventory 308 PURDY'S BUILDING 135 and 137-137A Victoria AvenuePage 2 zxy225
Resources Consulted:
Wanganui District Council Building files: for 135, 137 and 137A Victoria Avenue: papers from 1933 for
no. 135 (rear addition to shop in wood & brick); from 1918 for no. 137A (back verandah for Wright’s
butcher shop). Includes 1979 façade renovations for no. 137A and numerous alterations to 137 for General
Machinery 1951-1970. In 1954 the roof trusses were altered for General Machinery, which may have been
when the gable was removed and the façade covered over.
Wanganui Borough Council Register of Building Permits, Archives Ref AAF 174:1 – 21 Feb 1901, permit
issued to Mrs Earle for new building, Victoria Ave, 3 shops, brick/concrete foundations.
Wanganui Borough Council 1908 Insurance Assessment Plan – shows building with brick side walls,
wooden back and front; occupiers Symes, Tremewan, Davis & Wilkie & Co. Wooden shed at back of no.
137.
Wanganui Herald 15 Feb 1901 – Tender notice: Shops and offices, Victoria Avenue. A Atkins, architect
Wanganui Herald 28 June 1901 – news items that Wilkie & Co of the LOE have moved into one of the
newly erected three shops opposite the Presbyterian Church.
Wanganui Herald 23 July 1901 – Business Notes: news that GW Hean, chemist has moved into on of the
three fine shops situated opposite the Presbyterian Church.
Wanganui Herald 27 July 1901 – news that J Trussell & Co have moved into one of the three fine new
shops opposite the Presbyterian Church.
1883 HI Jones Wanganui Almanack.
Wise’s Directories for 1903, 1914, 1929, 1941, 1955 and 1959/60.
Alexander Turnbull Library photograph, PA12-0096-3 – shows this part of Victoria Avenue in the 1970s
when the one-way system was in place. Shows no. 137 with its façade already altered and no. 137A with its
original gable and parapets.
Comments on Significance:
Context/Streetscape
Purdy’s shop has one of the few remaining early Edwardian wooden facades in the Avenue, complete with
its pedimented parapet and decorated side columns, and thus contributes to the variety of the streetscape in
this part of Victoria Avenue. It is also a good example of a commercial building designed by Alfred
Atkins, one of Wanganui’s premier architects at the time.
Recommendations:
List in District Plan Heritage Inventory for its contribution to the streetscape.
Date: April 2009
Research by: Wendy Pettigrew
Pre 1908 ATL photograph of Victoria Avenue
showing this building when first erected. Davies
Chemist sign can be seen above one of the shops.
WA Price Postcard collection ½-000653-G.
In the 1950s, ML Lampe photo from Memories
of Old Wanganui vol 2, Hanton & Anderson 1996.
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