The building at 278 Willis Street was originally sited at the corner of Willis and Abel Smith Street, but was relocated as part of the NZTA Wellington Inner City Bypass works in 2005 – 2006. Rate books indicate that this building was constructed at 286 Willis Street in 1890 or early 1891. The property, at that time, extended from Abel Smith Street to approximately 272 Willis Street and was owned by Andrew Young (1833?-1895).
Young was born in County Tyrone in Ireland, and travelled to Melbourne where he was employed by Cobb & Co. as a coach driver on the route to Geelong and later Ballarat. Cobb & Co. sent him to Otago in 1863 and he later formed a partnership with W.H. Sheppard to run a coach line from Christchurch to Hokitika. Sheppard and Young came to Wellington in 1868 and ran a bi-weekly service between Wellington and Wanganui, this later expanded with routes to New Plymouth, between Wellington and the Hawkes Bay, and from Thames to Tauranga. He was a City Councillor for four years and came within 3 votes of winning the mayoralty of Wellington.
Young subdivided his site in 1893 and sold his large timber house, (relocated to 130A Abel Smith Street as part of the construction of the inner-city Bypass in 2006), to Richard Middleton Simpson of Phoenix Insurance Ltd. He also sold Lot 1 to Emma Amelia Mason, and Lots 3 & 5 to Louis Peter Christenson (or Christeson). Lots 2 & 4 including the building at 286 (now 278) Willis were transferred to The Wellington Trust, Loan and Investment Company, which already held two un-discharged mortgages on the land before it was subdivided.
No. 286 (now 278) Willis Street was sold in 1901 to Fanny Ramsay Lewis, the widow of painter Leonard Avery Lewis whose work is held by Glasgow Museums. The Lewis estate sold the property to Johan Lindberg in 1906, and Lindberg also purchased the two adjoining properties at 282 and 284 Willis Street (now 274 & 276 Willis Street).
The building was a chemist’s shop from early in its history and served the nearby medical precinct that developed in upper Willis Street in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Chemist Robert Burn occupied the shop by 1894, and he was followed by chemists George Wilton (who later established a chain of shops), Arthur Hobson, Tristan Emmanuel and, finally, Arthur Young who left the shop in the early 1920s. Thereafter, the retail areas were occupied by a variety of small businesses - fruiterers, tobacconists etc - while the accommodation upstairs was divided into small flats.
In 1937 the Public Trustee granted a lease to George Lamb and the ground floor was converted to a butcher’s shop and it retained that use off and on for the next 54 years. It was probably during its conversion to a butcher’s shop that the tiled mural was installed on the building’s front facade. Among the butcheries in the building were Boyds Quality Butchers and McKnight Meats. The building, along with its neighbours at 282 and 284 Willis Street (now 274 & 276 Willis Street) were sold to Eileen Fitchett in 1972. The land at 286 Willis street had been identified as on the route of the Ngauranga to the Basin Reserve section of the motorway in 1969, and this may have prompted the sale of the land by the Public Trustee.
In 1981, the National Roads Board acquired ownership of the building for the proposed motorway extension along with the buildings at 272, 278, 282, and 284 Willis Street. In 1991, Fraser McInnes and business partners acquired the lease of the building, extended it at the rear, and opened a cafe and bar/ performance venue. Bar Bodega (the name generally given to the whole building) and Cafe Bodega became a well known entertainment venue and eating establishment respectively, with the former an early leader in the sale of craft beer. The venue was always considered a temporary one as it seemed likely that the building would be demolished, but the bar lingered on until 2003, when the proprietors finally moved to new premises on Ghuznee Street. In the meantime, strong opposition to the bypass, particularly to the destruction of heritage buildings, led to the roading project being appealed to the Environment Court and then to the High Court. The final appeal was dismissed in December 2003.
The approved project included the relocation and “preservation” of thirteen heritage properties including the five on Willis Street. Transit New Zealand (later the NZTA) prepared the Willis Street properties for relocation in 2005. No. 272 Willis Street was moved to 130 Abel Smith Street (frontage to Youngs Avenue), 278 Willis Street was moved to 130A Abel Smith Street (frontage to Youngs Avenue), 282 and 284 Willis Street were moved to 274 and 276 Willis Street. No. 286 Willis Street was prepared for relocation, and the rear (1990s) extension was demolished, before it was moved to a site at 278 Willis Street.
This site at 278 Willis Street has significance itself for its connection to an historic 1880s house that occupied it until 2005, when it was relocated to 130A Abel Smith Street.
The process of relocation of the Willis Street properties included repairs and redecoration of the building exteriors and this work was completed by 2009. In 2010 NZTA sold most of the properties that it had acquired for the construction of Karo Drive, with the exception of the former Stagecraft Theatre (relocated to 15 Kensington Street) and 278 Willis Street. These two properties were offered for tender, received low bids, and were remarketed. 278 Willis Street is currently vacant (2012).
