Businessman leaves an art deco legacy BUILDING AS GUARDIAN
Specially created Ma¯ori motifs on the ceiling are a feature of this landmark Napier bank branch’s ‘stunning design’.
Well-known Marlborough businessman Graeme McLean has bought a Napier art deco landmark heritage building, ASB Bank, for close to $3 million, and intends to leave it as a legacy for his family.
The purchase of the category 1 historic building, built in 1932 following the 1931 earthquake in Napier, rekindles a link with the city and his family history.
McLean was raised and educated in the art deco town. ‘‘I want to make it the best-looking heritage building in Napier if I can. That’s the plan,’’ he said.
The 87-year-old building is one of more than 100 built in the art deco or the Spanish mission style after the big shake. It was put up for sale in August last year.
‘‘I feel very passionate about the actual design and heritage of the building. I think it’s so unique,’’ McLean said.
‘‘I like the unobtrusive colours of it, the stunning design and especially the craftsmanship that had to go in to building those buildings. You couldn’t repeat those today because the craftsmen are not here to do it.’’
McLean’s father was a signalman on the warship Diomede, based at Devonport in Auckland, when it was ordered to sail to Napier at its ‘‘best speed’’ to help with the earthquake relief effort.
His father, a resident of Napier, and other crew members found a city ‘‘absolutely devastated’’.
The building on the site in 1931 was the Bank of New Zealand branch that had collapsed in the earthquake and was further damaged by fire.
It took three days for its vaults to cool so searchers could see if money and documents were retrievable, McLean said. The branch was rebuilt and BNZ occupied it for many years until ASB took the lease.
‘A YOUNG GO-GETTER’
McLean’s business life has been varied. He entered commercial property selling in Auckland ‘‘as a young go-getter’’ and went on to own some commercial property, to co-own St Lukes Estate Wines and other vineyards in Marlborough, and to develop a large raspberry farm at West Melton, Canterbury.
In 2005 he led a group of Marlburians on an expedition to the Auckland Islands, 230 kilometres south of Stewart Island, looking at whether they could establish a crab fishery. They caught only three-quarters of a tonne on the voyage.
McLean has now sold most of his properties. ‘‘I consider I’m in the last chapter of my life.’’
He has grandchildren in Christchurch in their early 20s and he would like them to eventually run the building. He has set up a family trust to own it. ‘‘And I wish to see them keep it for a long, long time.’’
He said the building would remain a bank. ASB’s lease runs until 2023 with a six-year right of renewal. The extensive Ma¯ ori motifs on the building’s ceiling were unique, McLean was told by the Napier City Council’s heritage specialists.
The council’s website describes the art deco style as ‘‘stripped classical’’. The architects were Crichton, McKay & Haughton from Wellington.
Charles Ropitini, a Ma¯ ori historian and adviser to the council, said prominent Ma¯ ori politician and lawyer Sir A¯ pirana Ngata had a close association with the building and worked with BNZ on its rebuild.
He brought a team of 20 carvers from the Ohinemutu Carving School, which he set up, to produce hand-carved patterns for the moulded plaster ceilings.
The main pattern is kowhaiwhai in traditional red, white and black. Other motifs were of taiaha (spearheads) and darts. They depicted the bank’s role of guardianship and protection, he said.
McLean bought the building from Laws Investments. The owner was as passionate as he was about the building, McLean said.
‘‘That’s certainly borne out by the way in which he carried out any maintenance or repair work or strengthening,’’ he said.
‘‘He’s left no stone unturned to achieve perfection. I’d love to have met the man but unfortunately he passed away. It was valued just under $3 million and we paid close to that.’’
He is meeting with the council to talk about how to improve the building and what he is allowed to do considering the restrictions on category 1 buildings.
The sale included a smaller, separate building next to the bank that could be turned into an apartment on the first floor.
‘‘You’ve got to be careful you don’t get away from the original materials that are there. And you’ve got to be mindful that you don’t do something that is out of that era as well,’’ McLean said.
‘‘I want to make it the best-looking heritage building in Napier if I can. That’s the plan.’’ Graeme McLean, above