History
Sargood, Son and Ewen
Wellington Woollen
Bells Motor Works
Litchfield Shirts
His Lordships
Sargood, Son & Ewen Warehouse
92 Lichfield St
Architect: Lloyd Tayler and Fitts (Melbourne).
The building was purpose built for the Christchurch branch of Sargood, Son & Ewen – “warehousemen and importers". It was designed by one of the best-known Melbourne architectural firms at the time, Lloyd Tayler and Fitts.
A family firm, Sargood’s was founded in Melbourne by Frederick Sargood as a receiving depot for imported British merchandise. The fact that a large, international business was developing a presence in Christchurch was seen as a sign of the city’s growing maturity. The Sargoods were a family with style. Their architecturally designed warehouses were symbolic of the flair with which the business was run. The Lichfield St building was intended to express the importance of the business, and as such, oozed grandeur and monumentality. The use of an architect was in itself an important stage in New Zealand’s history, reflecting the transition from the temporary owner/builder designed structures of early colonialism, to the permanent, architecturally designed buildings of an established country.
Sargood’s was always a business with strong family participation and Frederick’s sons, grandsons and great grandsons were all involved. Several members of the family were knighted for services to various communities.
The New Zealand connection was initiated by Frederick’s grandson Percy Rolfe Sargood.
The business expanded rapidly, setting up shop in Dunedin in 1863 and Auckland in 1883.
Percy Sargood started one of New Zealand’s first Provident Funds for his workers. He was also a patron of the arts, donating the Dunedin Art Gallery to the city in memory of his son who was killed at Gallipoli during World War I.
Christchurch was the third branch to be opened in New Zealand in 1893. The store was a showpiece for a wealthy, established firm that wanted to be known for the quality of its architecture. Lloyd Tayler was the perfect man to design a building that would make such a statement. Tayler, one of the best-known architects working in Melbourne at the time, was well known for his “uncompromising honesty of design”. He designed the warehouse to hold an extensive range of imported goods including drapery, cloths, tobacco, chemist items, perfumes, cutlery, sports equipment and clothing “of all descriptions”.
The Christchurch store serviced the whole of Canterbury as well as the Chatham Islands and the West Coast.
Extensions were made to the building in 1901 and 1924 by local architects Robert and Edward England. Originally the building was crowned by a decorative gable and parapet with a central entablature. The central gable emphasized the height of the building and gave it a gothic touch. The gable was removed during modifications following earthquakes in 1931, 1954 and 1955.
Sargood’s traded continuously in the building until 1973, a total of 80 years.
Sir Percy purchased part of Wanaka Station in 1912, where his grandson – Rolfe Mills – established the Rippon Vineyard.
Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company Building
96 Lichfield St
Architect: William Gummer
The former Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company building was designed by prominent architect William Henry Gummer in 1919. Arguably New Zealand’s most famous architect in the first half of the twentieth century, Gummer also designed the Auckland Railway Station, the Dominion Museum and Christchurch’s Bridge of Remembrance.
Trained in Auckland, Gummer had just returned from studying and working in the US and the UK when he designed the building. It was while studying overseas that Gummer picked up the modernist and classical influences that would be so central to his designs.
Gummer’s skilled manipulation of stripped classical forms, limited range of high-quality materials and structural innovation set new standards for commercial architecture in New Zealand. The construction of the building in 1919 would have been startlingly modern. There is perhaps no earlier example of this kind of commercial architecture in New Zealand.
Gummer was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand institute of Architects in 1914, and was president of the institute from 1933-34. He was later elected a life member.
92 Lichfield Street today
The Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company began life in Petone in 1896. The company manufactured knitted and woollen goods for the New Zealand market. It began trading in Christchurch in 1907 and the construction of the building in 1919 reflected the growth of the wool industry in New Zealand.
The building was uncompromisingly modern due to its structural system of internal reinforced concrete columns, enabling the extensive use of glass on the first and second floors of the Lichfield St façade.
Gummer employed high-quality materials for the principal façade, including bronze for decorative elements and Nelson marble for cladding.
The building was not flashy in its design and the paring back of decoration foreshadows the introduction of Modernist architecture to New Zealand. A significant example of Gummer’s commercial architecture, this building gave the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company a progressive and distinctive image, as well as a facility that met practical requirements.
Bell’s Motor Works
110 Lichfield St,
Architect: Luttrell Brothers
Bell’s Motor Works two-storey, symmetrical building was built in 1920. Designed by Alfred and Sidney Luttrell – the city’s leading architects between 1902 and 1932 – the building is a reserved example of the brothers’ later commercial style.Alfred and Sydney Luttrell established what was to become one of New Zealand's foremost Edwardian architectural practices when they came to Christchurch from Tasmania in 1902 after winning the competition for the design of the White Hart Hotel (now demolished) in High St.
While modest when compared to some of the brothers’ other designs, the Bell’s Motor Works building was not without architectural pretensions, including the central bay of the façade being given prominence and a suspended verandah over the footpath. The brothers continued with the Chicago skyscraper idiom they had introduced to Christchurch with the Lyttelton Times building, designed in 1902, and extensions to Warner’s Hotel in 1917.
The Theatre Royal in Gloucester St is perhaps one of the most striking examples of the brothers’ work remaining. Swathed in ornate Victorian decoration (instead of the bolder Edwardian or American style generally favoured by the brothers) it differed from their contemporary work.
In around 30 years of practice in Christchurch, the Luttrell brothers' skill and versatility made an impact on the architecture of Christchurch that remains an important and visible contribution to the city’s architectural heritage.
The building was purpose-built for Bell’s Motor Works, a company established in 1898 selling motorbikes and cycles. Bell’s was the local agent for AJS and Indian motorcycles as well as Humber and Robin Hood cycles. At the time Humber was one of the top quality English cycles, a market position it shared with Raleigh.Due to import restrictions, Bell’s also built its own push bikes from imported parts. New push bikes and motorbikes were delivered to the proud customer on an ex-army Indian modified with a flat-deck sidecar.
The building sat between Lichfield St and Plimsel’s Ln (now Struther’s Ln). The shop front was on Lichfield St while a large sliding door on Plimsel’s Ln provided vehicle access to the workshop in the rear.
The business was owned by Charlie Bell, who, even as an elderly man, would come in and work a full day, five days a week. Charlie eventually handed the business over to his son Pat, who also ran a wholesale cycle business, Cycle and Motor Supplies, from the first floor of the building. Charlie Bell was renowned for being a man that never wasted anything. This is perhaps how the business managed to survive two World Wars and a depression. If he saw a washer lying on the floor of the workshop, he would pick it up and put it back on the workbench.
Pat Bell's AJS motorbikePat Bell, on the other hand, was known as a man with a zest for life
who always had an AJS competition bike. Pat got the first 7R AJS in the South Island in 1948 and converted it for use on the road. He lived on Rossal St and his big thrill each day was on his way to and from work, where on Hellmore’s Lane the bridge over the Avon River provided a suitable gradient to get the whole bike airborne.Delivery trucks came up the back alley and reversed into the workshop. Depending on which business the stock was for, the crates were either unloaded on the floor or winched up to the second story through a large double trapdoor set in
the ceiling.
After Bell’s closed in 1960, the business became Gilbeck Motorcycles, and then a nightclub called The Plainsman where Ray Columbus and the Invaders played a regular set.
Bell's Motor Works is now home to His Lordship's Café and bar.
Lichfield Shirts
179 and 181 Tuam St
Lichfield NZ Ltd was founded in Christchurch in 1917 by Messrs Harry Aston and Bert Govan.Using old equipment, the company – originally called the Kaiapoi Woollen Co Ltd – began making shirts for the armed forces during World War I. When production peaked, the company was employing 350 full-time staff in three factories at Lichfield, Kaiapoi and Lyttelton, and many more in contract cutting and trimming.
Lichfield NZ Ltd’s first building on Tuam St was opened in 1932. The original landlord was Mr. Henry Shacklock who made his money through stoves. Lichfield NZ Ltd leased the premises with the option to buy. The five storey addition next door was completed in 1954.
Bert’s son Lawrie began working for the business after leaving high school. In 1937 he was moved into the warehouse, and at nineteen was given his own sales area with a company car, a 1937 Chevrolet. His district was north of Wellington on the east coast as far north as Ruatoria, and then extended to include the same area to the west. In 1939 he drove 50,000 miles on shingle roads.
During the war, Lawrie served in Egypt and Italy as a gunner and wireless operator in the 18th Armoured Regiment in Sherman Tanks.Lawrie went on to become the Director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand but continued to give first priority to his work for Lichfield NZ Ltd.
In 1984, Lawrie was knighted for his services to industry and commerce in New Zealand.
Manufacture ceased in 1989 when the company began importing all its stock.
His Lordship's Lane
His Lordship’s Lane now connects Lichfield St to Struther’s Lane and SOL Square.
The site was originally the premises of His Lordship’s Larder, an eatery and hotel that served early Christchurch. In 1880 a wine and beer license was granted to WH Messenger on the condition that as little prominence as possible be given to the alcohol sales.
Plans for a new hotel were granted by the licensing committee in 1902.
Two minutes walk from the railway station, His Lordship’s Larder claimed in its advertising to be “known throughout the Canterbury district its cleanliness, reasonable charges and good management”.
The business billed itself as paying special attention to luncheons and stated that “In no part of the world can one find such a liberal Bill of Fare prepared by one of the best chefs in the colonies, equal to any first-class hotel.”
With meals costing one shilling, His Lordship’s Larder billed itself as a “Home away from Home” for those arriving from the Old Country.
The business went through a number of owners, eventually developing into His Lordship’s Hotel before being sold.
His Lordship's Hotel was destroyed by fire in 2000.
His Lordship’s Café and Bar now sits alongside the laneway, a tribute to a Canterbury business that may be gone but will not be forgotten.
