Toomath’s Buildings

• 1900
• Building constructed (00053:67:4131)
• 1942
• Damaged by Earthquake (00009:2143:50/1054/264)
• 1960
• Repairs to parapet (00058:134:C6374)
• 1970
• Shop alterations (00058:668:C30707)
• 1978
• Reinstatement following fire damage (00058:1137:C49124)
• 1987
• Upgraded existing cafe to form restaurant (00059:108:D6730)

• 1900
• Shop 43:
• 1905 - 1911
• Coogan & Sons, tailors (Stones 1905, 1910-11)
• 1915 - 1935
• Joseph McCabe, hairdresser (Stones 1915-16, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935)
• 1940 - 1968
• Francis Wilkinson, hairdresser (Stones 1940, 1945, Wises 1950-51, 1955, 1961-62, 1967-68)
• 1971 - 1985
• Greg's Food Bar (Wises 1971-72, 1975, 1980, 1985).
• 1990
• Not Listed
• unknown
• Shop 45:
• 1905
• A Robertson, dyer (Stones 1905)
• 1915 - 1916
• William Delaney, carpenter (Stones 1915-16)
• 1925
• Bitossi & Co, piano tuners (Stones 1925)
• 1930
• City Dining Room (Stones 1930)
• 1935
• Mrs Emmie Dye, tea rooms (Stones 1935)
• 1940
• Honoria Gilchrist, tea rooms (Stones 1940)
• 1945 - 1951
• B Barrowman, tea rooms & home made cakes (Stones 1945, Wises 1950-51)
• 1955 - 1962
• Te Aro Milk Bar (Wises 1955, 1961-62)
• 1967 - 1985
• Great Wall Cafe (Stones 1967-68, 1971-72, 1975, 1980, 1985)
• 1990
• Not Listed
• unknown
• Shop 47:
• 1910 - 1916
• Joseph Devlin, storekeeper (Stones 1910-11, 1915-16)
• 1920 - 1925
• McClure & Co, 2nd hand bookshop (Stones 1920,1925)
• 1930
• John Waddington, book exchange (Stones 1930)
• 1935 - 1951
• Janson Bros, grocers (Stones 1935, 1940, 1945, Wises 1950-51)
• 1961 - 1990
• Speed Equipment Ltd, motor accessories (Wises 1961-62, 1967-68, 1971-72, 1975, 1985, 1990)

Not assessed

This late Victorian commercial property has a distinctive composition of three individual buildings behind a unifying façade. The façade is arranged in three bays; the two side bays are symmetrical about the centre bay. Each bay has a shop-front at the ground floor (one quite original, one modified and one modern) and at the first floor three conjoined arched windows in the centre. The ground floor is arranged as a plinth to the upper and is rusticated. The upper façade is stepped to emphasise each of the three bays and is enlivened with simple mouldings, a string course at the springing of the windows and a detailed cornice. The side bays are surmounted by triangular pediments, the middle bay by a segmental pediment capped with a palmette acroterion.

The shop fronts have been modified over the years and sport unsympathetic accretions. The original verandah has been demolished and its loss as a unifying element detracts from the integrity of the facade.

This building is also notable for its largely original rear elevation, complete with windows, pitched corrugated iron roofs, chimneys and out-buildings. The rear of the building is visible from the car-park on Swan Lane, along with the back faces of the Berry and Lazule buildings. While the latter has recently been altered with a clumsy addition over the elegant original brick building, this group has a remarkable collection of old outbuildings and extensions and has had little change for many decades.

The construction is load-bearing brick masonry on concrete foundations and piles. Internal partitions, floor joists, and roof trusses are timber. The roof is clad in corrugated iron.

The building is flanked to the east by the modern ‘Freemason’s Building.’ This building is set back from the original street-edge/building-line by several metres, and this leaves part of the original flank wall of Toomath’s Building exposed. To the west Toomath’s Buildings is flanked by 141-143 Cuba Street: a 1913 Stripped Classical building which occupies a prominent position on the corner of Ghuznee and Cuba Streets. Once of the same scale, no. 141-143 now has a contemporary mansard-roofed addition taking it to three stories.

Ghuznee Street where it forms part of the Cuba Street Heritage Area comprises of a mix of buildings that range from single storey stables and ancillary buildings, two storied timber or masonry mixed use residential and commercial buildings, and three to four storey commercial buildings. The street includes many surviving original shop fronts. The modern buildings on south side of Ghuznee Street are set back from the original building line, most likely because of previous plans to widen Ghuznee Street.

• 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?

  This two-storey masonry building has architectural value for its carefully composed Edwardian Classical street façade which features an elaborately ornamented parapet, and it is also notable for the authenticity of its rear elevation.

• 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 Toomath’s Building is part of an unbroken ‘street-wall’ of heritage buildings that wraps around the Cuba/Ghuznee Street intersection and signals the ‘entrance’ to upper Cuba Street. This group is coherent in terms of height, elaborate facades (albeit in a range of architectural styles), age, history, materials and patterns of use.

• 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?

  This building, particularly the upper level, makes a valuable contribution to the townscape of Ghuznee Street, and to the Cuba Street Heritage Area.

• Association

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

  This building has historic value for its association with Edward Toomath, an early Wellington settler regarded for his contribution to education, and his estate.

  This building also has historic value for its association with William Crichton, a notable Wellington architect of the time.

• Association

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

  The building also has historic value for its association with the strong growth and development of Cuba Street during the Edwardian period, which resulted in the building of many fine commercial buildings.

• Archaeological

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

  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?

  This building is part of a group of late-Victorian and Edwardian commercial buildings which contribute to the sense of place and continuity of the Cuba Street Heritage Area.

• 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 façade of this building remains largely intact with a high level of original fabric, despite modifications to the ground floor shop fronts and the removal of the verandah. The rear elevation of the buildings, comprised of the residential units, has survived unmodified and is largely original.

• Local Regional National International

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

  The building is of local importance for its contribution to the Cuba Street Heritage Area.

• Representative

  Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

  The building is representative of the architecture and history found on Cuba Street.

Not assessed

• Cyclopedia Co. Ltd. “Crichton, William” The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: Wellington Provincial District. Wellington: The Cyclopedia Company Limited, 1897. Accessed May 18, 2012.
• Cyclopedia Co. Ltd, “Toomath, Edward” in The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: Wellington Provincial District (Wellington: The Cyclopedia Company Limited, 1897), accessed October 4, 2012.
• Davis & Company. Davis & Co (Wellington) fl 1878 :Photograph of Edward Toomath. Ref: PA2-0602. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
• Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 99, 29 April 1885.
• “Heritage building – 43-45 Ghuznee Street – Toomath’s Building.” 2003. 1041-06-CUB175, Wellington City Council Records.
• Historic Places Trust, “Crichton, McKay & Haughton”, Professional Biographies, accessed May 18, 2012.
• Kelly, Michael and Russell Murray, Cuba Street Heritage Area Report (Wellington City Council: Unpublished report, prepared for Plan Change 48, 2006).
• McSaveney, Eileen. “Historic earthquakes - The 1942 Wairarapa earthquakes”, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated March 2, 2009, accessed September 20, 2012.
• Wellington City Council, Cuba Street Heritage Area spreadsheet (block 4). (Wellington City Council: Unpublished report, prepared for Plan Change 48, 2006).
• Wellington City Council, “43-45 Ghuznee Street,” Wellington Heritage Building Inventory 2001: Non-Residential Buildings. (Wellington City Council, 2001), CUBA 42.

Not available

Not available