The Hannah's building is a commercial building in

Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coas ...

, on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. Completed in 1928, the building was designed by Wellington architect Henry Johns. In 1989, the Hannah's building was granted historic place category 2 status by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

Context

Irish immigrant

Robert Hannah Robert Hannah (born 7 August 1985) is a Swedish Liberal politician and member of the Riksdag for Gothenburg Municipality since 2014. In the 2014 election he was number 5 on the Liberal list but selected for the only Liberal seat through pers ...

established his bootmaking business in Charleston in 1868, but moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

as gold production declined, opening his first footwear store on

Lambton Quay Lambton Quay (once known as The Beach) is the heart of the central business district of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Originally, as the name implies, it was the high-water line of the foreshore, and sometimes the sea would roll ...

in 1874. The business grew, and R. Hannah and Company opened their first Greymouth shop on Mawhera Quay in 1887. By 1900, the company had 10 stores across the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

Architecture

In the 1920s, the retail centre of Greymouth was gradually moving from Mawhera Quay to Mackay Street, and in 1926, plans were drawn up by Wellington architect Henry Johns for a new two-storey building for R. Hannah and Company, on the corner of Mackay and Tainui Streets. Johns had previously designed a new four-storey plastered brick factory for Hannah's in Wellington, completed in 1923. The Greymouth building would be one of Johns' later commissions, as he died in 1928. The new Hannah's building in Greymouth included two shops, and was constructed with plastered double-brick walls, concrete piles, and a corrugated iron roof. Tenders for its construction closed in September 1926, and construction was completed by 1928. The exterior of the building has a pared-back neoclassical style, with three bays of triple-light windows surmounted by curved

pediments Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pediment ...

, each flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s, on the two street facades, and

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s framing the top and bottom of the building's

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

Current status

In 1989, the Hannah's building received historic place category 2 classification by the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

(now Heritage New Zealand). An outlet for the Hannah's footwear chain still occupies part of the ground floor.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{Grey District 1920s architecture in New Zealand Greymouth Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in the West Coast, New Zealand Commercial buildings completed in 1928

Context

Architecture

Current status

See also

Notes

References