House

Crossroads Gallery, Leatherworks

280 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington
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Image: Charles Collins, 2014

Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2014

Cityview GIS 2012
Cityview GIS 2012
Photo showing 1920s shopfront (Image: WCC Heritage Inventory 1995)
Photo showing 1920s shopfront (Image: WCC Heritage Inventory 1995)
Map

  • Constructed

    1885 - 1886

  • Heritage Area

    Cuba Street Heritage Area

  • Architect(s)

    Unknown

  • Builder(s)

    Unknown

  • The building is comprised of an 1885/1886 cottage with a 1924 shop front. The later c.2000 alterations to the shopfront (including the modern verandah & terrace, and infill of the shop windows) detract from the aesthetic value of the simple, well proportioned Stripped Classical Cuba Street façade. 

    The building has local/regional significance for connection to the Prouse family, who were early settlers and active in the timber milling industry in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Levin & Horowhenua. 
    The building contributes to the Cuba Street Heritage Area streetscape

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  • close History

    • This building was constructed in 1885 – 86 as a house for Richard Prouse. Prouse appears to have occupied the house until 1892, when it was let to a series of tenants. Richard Prouse (1829 – 94) was an early Wellington settler who arrived in Wellington aged 10 years on the Duke of Roxburgh in 1840. He settled and established a sawmill business in Wainuiomata, and later in Whiteman’s Valley, Silverstream. When he retired in the mid to late 1880s he moved to Wellington where he lived until his death in 1894. Richard Prouse lends his name to the ‘Richard Prouse Park’ sports fields in Wainuiomata.

      Prouse descendents include two sons who established Prouse Brothers sawmills in Levin and a large joinery factory/timber yard in Wellington, and John Prouse a ‘well known baritone’. The architect William John Prouse (1878-1956) was also a member of the extended family. Prouse Bros timber joinery catalogues survive and show that the business operated on a similar scale to Odlin’s, another well known local timber merchant.

      The property was owned by Prouse from 1885-1894 and was passed to his daughter FL Prouse after his death. From street directories it would appear that she did not live in the house. Fanny Prouse ‘in turn sold the property to Amen Romanos in 1923 who added the shop front in 1924. Romanos was Lebanese, and, in the backyard there was once a Lebanese Cedar tree which was bought as a seedling from his home and planted to remind him of the ‘old land’.’

      The most numerous Middle Eastern early settlers to New Zealand came from Lebanon in the 1890s. Many Lebanese men worked as peddlers selling ‘fancy goods from door to door’ (particularly in Dunedin and Otago) and many families used the earnings from ‘hawking’ to establish businesses, particularly clothes stores. In the 1890s there was an attempt to stop migration from Lebanon to New Zealand and to prevent Lebanese people from peddling goods. By 1900 an English language test was required for immigrants – this made it harder for Lebanese people to immigrate.

      Wairarapa Daily Times wrote that an Amin [or Amen] Romanos was married in 1915 in Syria, divorced in 1919 in Masterton and worked as a ‘Syrian Hawker’. The Romanos family appear to have occupied the house from 1930 to 1975, and the shop was let to various commercial tenants from 1935.

      The building was modified in c.2000, the shop front was altered and the balcony/verandah added. 


    • Modifications close
      • 1884 - 1885
      • constructed
      • 1924
      • Shop front added
      • 2000
      • (assumed shop front altered, verandah/balcony added
    • Occupation History close
      • 1891 - 1892
      • Richard Prouse (Stones1891-92),
      • 1895 - 1896
      • Robert Patterson, commercial agent (Stones1895-96),
      • 1900
      • Charles Smith, labourer (Stones1900),
      • 1905
      • John Waterhouse, labourer (Stones1905),
      • 1910 - 1911
      • George Knapp, messenger (Stones1910-11),
      • 1915 - 1916
      • Mrs Ellen Wilson, Robert Kyle, fireman (Stones1915-16),
      • 1920
      • Ernest Whiterod, storeman (Stones1920),
      • 1925
      • Mrs L.S Robson, dressmaker (Stones1925),
      • 1930 - 1945
      • Amen Romanos, traveller (280a (Stones1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, Wises1950-51, 1955),
      • 1961 - 1975
      • Peter Romanos (Stones1961-62, 1967-68, 1971-72, 1975, not listed 1980,
      • 1985 - 1990
      • Leatherworks (Wises1985, 1990).
      • 1935
      • 280 (shop separate from dwelling c.1935):
      • 1935
      • Clifford Vercoe, hairdresser (Stones1935),
      • 1940 - 1955
      • Charles Collins, hairdresser (Stones1940, 1945, Wises1950-51, 1955),
      • 1971 - 1972
      • Crossroads Gallery (Wises1971-72).
      • unknown
      • Listed with 282 after this.
  • close Architectural Information
    • Building Classification(s) close

      Not assessed

    • Architecture close

      The building is a late Victorian house with a later (1924) shop-front addition. The Cuba Street façade is a simplified version of Stripped Classical style and features an arched parapet and simple cornice. There are timber casement windows with a lead light detail to top lights at the façade. The building has a later (circa 2000) verandah and balcony addition, and the shop front has been in-filled and timber door and windows added. The c.2000 additions are poorly articulated and detract from the aesthetic value of the building, and the wider Cuba Street streetscape.

    • Materials close

      Rendered brick shop-front with timber framed cottage behind. The specification for the shop-front includes concrete piles, reinforced beams, timber floor & partitions, English Bond brickwork. The original specification includes an ‘iron veranda’ which (if it was constructed) has since been removed. Information from WCC archives indicates that the 1924 shop front addition included tiles to be installed to the ‘front and sides under shop front.’ And that new windows were added to the house.

    • Setting close

      Block 7 Cuba Street Conservation Area.

      The block is comprised of mostly two storied buildings with the exception of a three storied property on the Webb Street corner. The new motorway extension cuts through Cuba Street at Karo Drive. Adjoining buildings are the 1906 classical Edwardian Moran building to the north, and an 1869 cottage with a later 1930s shop front to the south. Block 7 comprises a mix of buildings in residential and commercial use that include.

  • close Cultural Value

    The building is comprised of an 1885/1886 cottage with a 1924 shop front. The later c.2000 alterations to the shopfront (including the modern verandah & terrace, and infill of the shop windows) detract from the aesthetic value of the simple, well proportioned Stripped Classical Cuba Street façade.

    The building has local/regional significance for connection to the Prouse family, who were early settlers and active in the timber milling industry in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Levin & Horowhenua.

    The building contributes to the Cuba Street Heritage Area streetscape.

    • Aesthetic Value close

      • 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 building comprises of an 1885/1886 cottage with a 1924 shop front. The later c.2000 alterations to the shopfront (including the modern verandah & terrace, and infill of the shop windows) detract from the aesthetic value of the simple, well proportioned Stripped Classical Cuba Street façade.

      • 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 façade is a simple version of classical architecture. The scale (two storeys), materials (rendered brickwork), design style (stripped classical), and siting (the façade forms part of the street-edge) all contribute to the character of the mixed group of small scale mixed use commercial and residential that form Block 7 of the Cuba Street Conservation Area. Recent addition of the veranda, central door and flanking windows to ground floor and the removal of the 1920s shop window detract from the streetscape of shop fronts at Block 7.

    • Historic Value close

      • Association

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

        The building has some local/regional significance for connections to Prouse family who were early settlers and active in the timber milling industry in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Levin/Horowhenua.

      • Association

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

        The building has some local significance for its connections to Lebanese community, although this has somewhat diminished by the removal of the Cedar of Lebanon tree that once graced the rear courtyard garden.

    • Scientific Value close

      • Archaeological

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

        Pre 1900 building and Central City NZAA R27/270

      • Technological

        Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

        It is possible that the building has some technological value particularly for any internal the decorative timberwork. This is because the cottage is associated with Prouse Brothers timber merchants who supplied timber mouldings and trim throughout the Wellington Region.

    • Social Value close

      • 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 simple rendered brick shop front forms part of a streetscape of Edwardian buildings within the Cuba Street Heritage Area.

      • Sentiment Connection

        Is the item a focus of community sentiment and connection?

        The symbolic planting of the Cedar of Lebanon may have once been significant to the local Lebanese community, however, it is likely that this tree has since been removed.

    • Level of Cultural Heritage Significance close

      • Local Regional National International

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

        Local significance as part of a fine group of Edwardian shops, commercial and residential premises that comprise Block 7 of the Cuba Street Heritage Area.

        Local/Regional significance for connections to early settler family / timber milling industry in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Levin/Horowhenua.

        Local significance for connections to Lebanese community

    • Local / Regional / National / International Importance close

      Not assessed

  • close Site Detail

    • District Plan Number

      16/ 92.4

    • Legal Description

      280 Cuba Street / Pt. Sec 99 T.O.W

    • Heritage New Zealand Listed

      Cuba Street Historic Area

    • Archaeological Site

      Pre 1900 building & Central City NZAA R27/270

    • Current Uses

      unknown

    • Former Uses

      unknown

    • Has building been funded

      No

    • Funding Amount

      Not applicable

    • Earthquake Prone Status

      124 Notice

  • close Additional Information

Last updated: 10/17/2017 3:55:53 AM