Hope Gibbons Building

• 1928
• Reinstate roof damaged by fire (00056:59:B5683)
• unknown
• Caretakers quarters on roof (00056:62:B5945)
• 1940
• Reinstate building (00056:244:B20354)
• 1950
• Lift motor room (00056:380:B29222)
• unknown
• Loading deck (00056:388:B29880)
• 1953
• Reinstate fire damage (00056:457:B34703)
• 1956
• Extend lift to pent house (00056:533:B39475)
• 1960
• Building alterations (00058:148:C7018)
• 1970
• Entrance renovation (00058:699:C31917)
• 1972
• Upgrade lift (00058:773:C34849)
• unknown
• Mezzanine floor (00058:818:C36661)
• unknown
• Building alterations – entrance (00058:822:C36823)
• 1977
• Fire reinstatement, level 4 (00058:1100:C47572)
• unknown
• Fire reinstatement, 4th floor (00058:1104:C47743)
• 1982
• Additions and alterations 7th floor (00058:0:C59688)
• 1984
• Canopy (00058:0:C65465)
• 1997
• Gymnasium (00078:713:37701)
• 2004
• Restaurant additions and alterations (00078:2253:114631)
• 2007
• Refurbishment of bars, basement and ground floor (00078:2637:168629)
• 2013
• Consent for seismic upgrade SR280942

• 1916
• J.B Clarkson Ltd (Company renamed Hope Gibbons Ltd. In 1920)

Not assessed

1916 building

The early part of the Hope Gibbons building is the five storey portion facing onto Inglewood Place. It has tall rusticated columns rising through the three middle floors with the windows recessed, and a plain cornice separating off the top storey. While the walls are masonry, the floors are timber supported on cast iron columns and beams. New steel bracing now strengthens the original structure.

1925 – 26 building

The main part of the building, forming the corner of Inglewood Place and Dixon Street, follows Louis Sullivan’s prescription for the Chicago skyscraper: it has a marked base, shaft, and crowning element. It is very much a transitional building, Stripped Classical in style, a well-proportioned eight-storey structure which has been successfully adapted to new uses over the years. The construction is reinforced concrete, with metal window joinery.

The base of the building is rusticated, with arched piers framing windows and doors. The ‘shaft’ of the building is very plain in style, rising another five storeys, with regular square-headed windows.

A simple cornice separates the shaft from the two-storey ‘crown.’ The crown features a giant order of Corinthian columns framing a shallow window bay in the centre of the Dixon Street facade. This is very much a stripped version of the classical temple front but it works effectively in visual terms. The building is capped by a pronounced cornice, with a small attic storey above embellished with egg-and-dart moulding.

The buildings have had few intrusive modern alterations and additions. The building was originally designed without a verandah and the modern glazed canopy is a modern element that provides some amenity value to pedestrians but has no heritage value. The replacement aluminium windows on the 1925-26 building are an unsympathetic alteration to an otherwise fine heritage building.

1916 building

Masonry

Timber floors supported on cast iron columns and beams

Strengthened by steel bracing

1925-26 addition

Reinforced concrete

Metal window joinery

The Hope Gibbons Building is located on the corner of Dixon Street and Taranaki Street. It overlooks the intersection with Manners Street, Dixon Street, Taranaki Street and Courtenay Place. This wide and open intersection offers uninterrupted views of both the eastern and northern elevations of the building. To the west the building is separated from a muli-storey building of equal height by a four storey intermediary building. The height of the building means that it can be seen in a clear line of sight from as far as the far end of Courtenay Place and the Manners Street and Victoria Street intersection.

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  The Hope Gibbons Building was built in two parts, the first in 1916 and the second in 1925-26; both are good representative examples of Stripped Classical commercial architecture. The 1916 building is notable for the simplicity of its decorative scheme and the elegance of its proportions. The 1925-26 building is notable for its Chicago-style design with rusticated ‘base’, simple five-storey ‘shaft’ and elaborate two-storey entablature.

• Group

  Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

  The building’s heritage value benefits from its association of other industry-related structures in the Te Aro area, including the CMC Building, the Ford Workshops in Ebor Street and Manthel Motors.

• Townscape

  Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

  The building has townscape value for its prominent location at the corner of Dixon and Taranaki Street.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important historic event, theme, pattern, phase, or activity?

  The building has a historic association with the New Zealand Government.  It was the site of the historic 1952 Hope Gibbons building fire which destroyed many government documents and resulted in the passing of the Archives Act in 1957. The building was also initially used by the government for office space during the First World War.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  The building is associated with the Gibbons family, who founded Hope Gibbons Limited, a company which acquired businesses in the motor and brewing industries. The building has been occupied by the Gibbons family for over six generations.

• Archaeological

  Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

  There was pre-1900 human activity on this site. Although some of the sites have been altered by rebuilding or landscaping or sub-divisional change, there is archaeological value in the immediate surrounds. The building is located in the Central City archaeological site reference NZAA R27/270.

• Identity Sense Of Place Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  The buildings have had few intrusive modern alterations or additions over the past 80+ years and contribute to the sense of place and continuity of Dixon and Taranaki Streets.

• Sentiment Connection

  Is the item a focus of community sentiment and connection?

  The building will have sentimental value for members of the Gibbons family.

• Symbolic Commemorative Traditional Spiritual

  Does the item have symbolic, commemorative, traditional, spiritual or other cultural value for the community who has used and continues to use it?

  The building has symbolic value to the Gibbons family as it represents the success of their company.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  The building has retained a significant amount of its exterior fabric therefore it has authenticity.

• Importance

  Is the item important for any of the above characteristics at a local, regional, national, or international level?

  Because it acts as a landmark on the corner of Dixon and Taranaki Streets, as well as for historic association with the Gibbons family and the Wellington automotive industry, the building is important on a regional level.

Not assessed

• ‘Functions and Scope of National Archives.’ From An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 22-Apr-09. Accessed 7 August 2012.
• Hope Gibbons Trust. ‘History of Hope Gibbons Ltd.’
• New Zealand Architectural and Building Review. August 1926.
• New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Professional Biographies. ‘Joseph McClatchie Dawson.’ Accessed 7 August 2012.
• Walsh, Kristine. ‘Heroines help save NZ history.’ Gisborne Herald. 5 January, 2008. Accessed 7 August 2012.
• Wellington City Council, ‘7-11 Dixon Street,’ Wellington Heritage Building Inventory 2001: Non-Residential Buildings. (Wellington City Council, 2001), DIXO1.
• Archives: ‘Dixon Street, building,’ 04 May 1925, 00055:46:A4345Criteria for assessing cultural heritage significance

• Inventory Report
• 1925 specifications and plans

Not available