Geometric on the Bay

The 1931 Napier earthquake devastated the Hawkes Bay region, but two years later Napier was rebuilt and an Art Deco masterpiece. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Rebecca Lancashire pays a visit and “wanders the city looking up at whimsical pastel-painted facades: sunbursts, zigzags, Mayan and Egyptian-inspired designs.” In the “excellent local museum”, she reads clippings from old newspapers, and in the Weekly News a witness recalls: “It all seems like a blurred cinematograph film of wrecked buildings, crying children, smoke, piles of bricks, bandaged heads, hurrying motor-cars, despair and isolation.” This a far cry from the modern Napier, which is recommended for the architecture, wineries and artisan produce.