Savoy building quest begins
AS something of a Dunedin ‘‘institution’’ for more than 100 years, the Savoy/Haynes building in Princes StMoray Pl has witnessed a lot of changes, both in the surrounding inner city and also within its many walls.
Today, at the request of a Wash reader, Natalie Wilson, we begin a search for details of those comings and goings, especially in the 1960s and 1970s.
Natalie writes: ‘‘Hi Dave. Am wondering whether I could put out a call for memories/stories/ memorabilia about the Savoy/ Haynes building. I realise you have touched on the subject but I feel there is more to uncover.
‘‘I have been compiling material about this building, and the old Criterion Hotel which previously occupied the site, for a few years now. Some of what I have found is displayed on the walls of Etrusco restaurant.
‘‘I am keen to put together an oral history repository related to this building and the businesses and people connected with it. I would then put it into somewhere like the McNab Collection. This site, occupied since 1862, has been an important part of Dunedin history.’’
As Natalie mentioned, The Wash did previously publish some historic details of the Savoy when we did a popular series on ‘‘dining out’’ in Dunedin in FebruaryMarch last year looking back at the history of the city’s cafes and restaurants.
Some of that material was provided by Natalie, who tells me she has already compiled two large panels of photographs with some text, one of the old
Criterion and one of the Haynes/ Savoy building.
‘‘This was done in 2014 as a birthday gift to the Gianones (Fred and Meegan, owners of Etrusco at the Savoy), who were celebrating 20 years in business, and 100 years of the building.
‘‘I would love to fill in the 1960s and 1970s period of the building
. . . I have also found quite a bit on the downstairs area now occupied by Pequeno but was the original stables for the Criterion. I think it was a night club/venue in the 1970s?
‘‘Any photos, memorabilia etc which I could copy would be much appreciated.’’
To help jog readers’ memories of the Savoy, I have done some digging through the ODT’s archives and was instantly struck by the number of times the building had hit our headlines, especially on the front page.
Here is a summary of those:
P1, 24.1.1962 — ‘‘Offer for Savoy was withdrawn’’.
P1, 31.5.63 — ‘‘Savoy sold to K.O. Ramsay’’.
P1, 19.5.65 — ‘‘Savoy sold to J. Dymand’’.
P1, 10.10.1967 — ‘‘Fire at Savoy’’.
P11, 11.10.67 — ‘‘Fire caused $75,000 damage’’.
P1, 19.1.70 — ‘‘Big fire at Savoy’’.
P11, 23.7.70 — ‘‘Savoy may close down’’.
P3, 14.4.70 — ‘‘Restaurant offered for sale by receiver’’.
P1, 26.6.75 — ‘‘Public urged to help save restaurant’’.
P1, 9.8.75 — ‘‘Savoy saved’’. Working backwards from that headline list, the latter recorded how Stewart Clark, a Dunedin businessman and managing director of city bakery Jays Ltd, had bought the Savoy in August 1975.
The restaurant had been in receivership since early in 1974 when the last owner, George Cook, a former United States Navy chef from Operation Deep Freeze had run into financial trouble.
The page 1 story two months earlier described how the future of Dunedin’s oldest restaurant ‘‘may depend on the imagination and generosity of the people of the city’’, describing how difficult it had been for the receivers to find a willing buyer for the 63yearold business.
Negotiations with several wouldbe owners had fallen through, prompting the manager, Peter Carter, to comment: ‘‘I think people have been put off by the somewhat chequered career of the Savoy.’’
So, there you go Wash readers, another challenge to your memory banks. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Flying boat memories
Recent discussions about Sunderland flying boats visiting Dunedin and Otago continue to interest readers. Nick Loughnan, of Galloway, emailed these memories:
‘‘I’ve long been fascinated with these aircraft as my mother had spent several years during the late 1940s among the first group of hostesses on the TEAL (later Air New Zealand) flying boat service between Auckland and Sydney. The Sunderlands had been modified by then and renamed Sandringhams. They were slow and cumbersome aircraft without a pressurised cabin, so had to fly under 10,000ft [3048m]. The Tasman crossings could take anywhere between 5 and 11 hours, and the engines were underpowered for the task.
‘‘She had many stories of those flights. The engines used to frequently overheat, and then develop oil leaks. Part of her ‘job description’ was to watch for these leaks and inform the flight engineer if they got too bad. In December 1947, they encountered a fierce storm in the Tasman and one engine began overheating badly to the point where it had to be shut down.
‘‘They elected to turn back to Sydney but were losing altitude, when the captain gave orders for all luggage to be thrown overboard. So Mum with her team of hostesses had to open the cargohold doors and throw out all the suitcases and mail. It saved the day as they came to within 100ft of the water before they slowly managed to climb their way safely back to Sydney Harbour. The Sandringham fleet was grounded soon after this episode, and eventually replaced by Solents.
‘‘She wasn’t the least bit flummoxed by the ordeal, and her biggest regret from that flight was having to throw out boxes of nylon stockings. These fashionable items were not readily available in New Zealand after the war, and demand was keen enough for her to buy up large in Sydney and help supply the demand for them in Auckland.’’