Wilkins and Field, Ironmongers, Manners St, Wellington, circa 1895

Wilkins & Field, Manners Street, Wellington.
litho by F W Niven & Co., Ballarat, Victoria, circa 1895

The ironmongers of Wilkins & Field located their New Zealand headquarters in Manners Street, Wellington in 1889. The business had started out in the early 1860s in Westport on the West Coast during the gold rush era under the ownership of Thomas Field. Around 1880 Field entered a partnership with W C Wilkins relocating the business to Nelson. Although Wilkins left the business because of ill health after just a few years, the firm continued to trade under the Wilkins & Field name.

The Wilkins & Field premises on Manners Street actually occupied the whole block bounded by the then named Manners, Farish, St Hill, and Customhouse streets, with a retail shop on the Manners street frontage with wholesale and manufacturing premises behind it. Some 50-60 employees were on the payroll in the mid 1890s.

The retail showroom premises were originally built to serve as an arcade but were modified by Wilkins & Field to provide some 20,000 square feet of retail space. The layout of the interior is shown below.

Interior of Wilkins & Field's retail showroom.
Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, 1897, p. 720.

The business manufactured spouting, ridging, wire mattresses, and prams, among other items, where it could compete with imported iron goods, acting as importer for many other items that it could then retail such as kitchenware, stoves, toys, firearms, and the like.

A representative range of items to be found at Wilkins & Field can be found in their classified ads run in the Evening Post during the 1890s:

Classified advertising in the Evening Post, 1895.
Source: Papers Past, Alexander Turnbull Library.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1897, reports that Wilkins & Field's business ranged throughout much of the country, although it appears much of the trade was concentrated in the lower North Island - as far as Taranaki, throughout Wellington province, and Hawkes Bay - and the upper South Island including Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland.

In April 1901 Wilkins & Field relinquished their business in Manners Street pending the retirement of Thomas Field. The premises were taken over by Craig & Co. importers by 1902.

Evening Post, 5 March, 1901.



Evening Post, 16 April, 1901.

Thus, as with so many owner-operated, family businesses lacking a line of succession or interest within the next generation, Wilkins & Field, despite a business history dating back as far as 1807 (see Evening Post business closure report above), disappeared from the Wellington landscape.

But do not despair, fair reader, for a remnant of Wilkins & Field lives on: a quick search online finds Wilkins & Field Ltd Mitre 10 at 232 Hardy Street in Nelson (though it may have been replaced by a MEGA Mitre 10 on Quarantine St). There is also a Wilkins & Field Mitre 10 in Motueka at 235 High Street.

The name lingers on in the hardware industry after more than a century since the Wellington closure.

Gone, but not quite forgotten.

Perretts Corner, Wellington, 2009

Perretts Corner Cafe on the site of Perrett's Chemist shop,
corner of Manners & Willis Street. All photos this page: copyright, Kuaka, 2009.

And so to Perrett's Corner, 2009.

Perrett's Corner - straight ahead.

The intersection has been transformed over the nearly 170 years since European paintings and photography began recording its image but it would still be recognizable to earlier Wellingtonians. They might well feel somewhat claustrophobic (of the outdoor variety) because of the vertical height to later buildings and the increase in both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The glass mirror facades might also be off-putting. At least some of the earlier images may have a wide-angle effect to them giving a false impression of spaciousness.

Perrett's Corner, 2009

Pollen House is to the immediate left of the photographer, off camera. Across Willis Street likes Dukes Arcade on the site of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel. Perrett's corner lies diagonally across the intersection from the camera position while the Hotel St George, now a residence hall of Victoria University, is at the right edge of the photo.

Perrett's Corner, looking up Manners St

with Willis Street running across the picture left to right, 2009

And so ends - or does it - this extended photo essay of one of Wellington's most well-known corners.

Duke of Edinburgh Hotel - Last Call - Perrett's Corner - Wellington - 1975

Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, corner of Willis and Manners Streets, 18 March 1975. The Roxy Theatre's arch entrance can be seen to the right of the Duke. Perrett's corner is offstage right across the street. Photo is taken with Hotel St George immediately to photographer's back.
Dominion Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Last call for the Duke of Edingburgh hotel came in 1973 when it served its last round having provided beverages to Wellingtonians for over a century.

In 1975 when these pictures were taken, the building's days were numbered and it was replaced by a low rise, two storey shopping arcade of small retail stores. The name lingers on in part in the arcade's present name: Duke's Arcade.

Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, corner of Willis and Manners Streets, 9 July 1975
Dominion Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Like rock group Splitz Enz - a handbill plastered over a Duke's window - the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel is no more. Perhaps these passerbys remember a time when they had a drink in the Edinburgh or, perhaps, they yearn for yet another shopping arcade.

Perrett's Corner, Wellington - 1960s

Perrett's Corner looking down Manners St, 4 October 1966
Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Traffic is not yet controlled by lights at Perrett's corner in this 1966 view, zebra crossings performing the task of getting pedestrians organised and slowing motorised transport.

The by now familiar electric trolley bus turns from Willis into Manners Street heading in an easterly direction. Perrett's is on the extreme far right of the intersection. The Duke of Edinburgh hotel with less than 7 years to go before "last round" is on the far left corner, the neon sign of the Roxy Theatre just past that (see previous post on the Roxy - successor to the Britannia).

After the Wrecking Ball Has Taken Its Toll - Majestic Theatre & Cabaret, Willis Street, Wellington 1988

Photo: William West. Circa 19 July 1988.

Dominion-Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Gone But Not Forgotten - the Majestic Theatre and Cabaret have been leveled without a trace. The Hotel St George stands in the left background, surveying a wasteland while the beleaguered Pollen House stands alone behind the crane minus its arm.

Photo: John Nicholson. circa 3 August 1988.
Dominion-Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Construction begins on the Majestic Centre complex, replacement to the art deco Majestic Theatre and Cabaret, Perrett's Corner is immediately behind the pile driver, the Hotel St George across the street to right, the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel on left corner has gone - demolished to make way for a low rise retail walk-through, while the Pollen House awaits its move.

Bearing the name only, the Majestic Centre, a $200 million office tower block, arises out of "the ashes". At 116 metres, it is currently Wellington's tallest building. At least the Preston building's facade (est. built 1910) is preserved. A small "at least".

The Majestic Centre. Photo taken 29 January 1991

Dominion-Post collection. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Majestic Theatre Willis Street Wellington #2

The Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Families wait for the curtain to rise on a screening of the film, Finian's Rainbow, at the Majestic Theatre on Willis Street on 7 December 1968.

Pass the Jaffas...

Majestic Theatre Willis Street Wellington #1

William Hall Raine Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

The Majestic Theatre and Cabaret located at 100 Willis Street, just a few doors north of Perrett's corner, was opened in 1930 for movies, dancing, and other public events such as fashion parades. Its art deco style complemented that of the Hotel St George at Perrett's intersection.

Photo: Gordon Burt. Alexander Turnbull Library

The spacious interior of the theatre with its simple lines and curves and tiled walls proved a popular place for generations of Wellington movie goers and audiences seeking live entertainment.

Photo: Greg King. The Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Sadly, the Majestic was deemed an earthquake risk in 1983 and both theatre and cabaret were demolished in 1987. It was replaced on the site by a mildly interesting 29 storey office tower, the Majestic Centre in the early 1990s.

New Zealand's First Clock - Manners Street, 1867

Freeman's Clockmaking store, 16 Manners Street, Wellington, chromolitho. circa 1895, with the first clock made in New Zealand.

New Zealand's first clock was manufactured on Manners Street, Wellington, and hung from the store frontage of a clock & watchmaker for many decades until 1935. The clock was made by Charles Campbell in 1867. The iron work for the clock was done by a Manners Street foundry.

The clock is shown on the store frontage of H J Freeman, in the chromolithographic print of 1895, located at 16 Manners Street. The street number seems to conflict with another source that suggests it was at 13 Manners Street. When the building was demolished in 1935, the clock was removed.

Does anyone know what happened to the clock?

Perrett's Corner Manners Street Wellington circa 1930s

Perrett's Intersection looking east from Boulcott Street
Alexander Turnbull Library

This view of Perrett's Corner intersection sees the Hotel St George completed so dates the picture to 1931 or after, with the Duke of Edinburgh hotel on the far left corner. A Hygenic Towel Supply truck is parked near Victor Brownson's jewellry and watch store on the near left corner of Willis and Boulcott streets.

In the enlarged image (click on image) can be seen a clock on a store front down Manners Street, admittedly a difficult item to spy - look at the lefthand tram then up a bit to left of it. Located at 13 Manners Street, the clock was the first made in New Zealand. It is the subject of a separate blog entry.

Probably taken from an elevated position in the Albert Hotel, in the year of its demolition, 1929, to make way for the Hotel St George, the photo below shows Willis Street looking north from Perrett's intersection. The Majestic Theatre is under construction - see top left corner - and would be completed in 1930. The St George was designed to complement the Majestic Theatre's art deco style. Brownson's jewellers and watch store is the left foreground occupying the corner of the American Dental Co of the early 1900s and which will become the site of the relocated Henry Pollen House in 1988.

Willis Street, 1929, from Perrett's Corner intersection
Alexander Turnbull Library

Hotel St George - Perrett's Corner Wellington 1930s

The Hotel St George, circa 1930s.
Alexander Turnbull Library

The Art Deco style Hotel St George was constructed on the site of the Albert Hotel, the former Old Identities Hotel on the corner of Boulcott and Willis Streets opposite Perrett's corner in Wellington. It opened for business in 1931.

For over 60 years the hotel served as a high class hotel hosting some of Wellington's most notable visitors including the Beatles in 1964.

Now subject to Heritage protection, architect William Prouse's design is described by the Wellington City Council's Heritage site as "a three-storey "base" with a curved corner, and two shafts above, rising to eight storeys, which are divided by a deep bay with perforated balconies. There is a conscious (but not over-defined) vertical emphasis to the building consistent with the Art Deco influence.... It must have seemed the very epitome of the modern hotel when it opened in 1930. The construction, too, was advanced, consisting of reinforced concrete, cast in situ, and floors of Winflor reinforced concrete block."

The hotel under construction in 1930. The building immediately to its right is the Wellington YWCA:

Hotel St George under construction in 1930
Photo: William Hall Raine. Alexander Turnbull Library

The Hotel St George begins to overshadow Perrett's corner in 1930 as well as the Wellington YWCA in the right edge of the picture.

Hotel St George begins to take up some of Perrett's afternoon sun, a precious commodity in Wellington. Alexander Turnbull Library

Today the St George is used as a student hostel by the Victoria University of Wellington.

Misadventure By Automobile - Perrett's Corner circa 1928

Evening Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

Misadventure by horseless carriage at Perrett's corner, circa 1928. The wreckage is at the Willis Street - Boulcott street corner with Perrett's corner the spot at which the photographer is positioned. One wonders what other tangles have occurred at this busy intersection between pedestrians, horse & cart, trams, cars, trucks, and buses.

The Old Identities Hotel, now the Albert Hotel, is lit up. In May 1929 it is demolished to make way for the new Hotel St George completed in 1931. The figures of the Old Identities of Wellington may be seen above the doors and windows.

Note the bricked or cobbled street that has replaced the dirt surface from the early 1900s.

Britannia - Roxy Theatre, Manners Street, Perrett's Corner

Britannia Theater, with arch entrance, opened Monday 15 December 1913.
M & M (Muir and Moodie?) postcard.

In the early 1900s, Manners Street became the home of the continuous movie palaces of Wellington with such names as People's Picture Palace and The New Theatre appearing while nearby Shortt's Continuous Theatre on Willis St and West's The King's Theatre provided added competition.

On 15 December 1913 the Britannia Theatre opened across the street & a few doors down from Perrett's corner. The first feature to be shown was Adrift on Life's Tide, a British film, starring Alma Taylor, Flora Morris, Harry Royston, and Harry Gilbey.

Evening Post, 15 December 1913, Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand.

A few days before the opening the Evening Post sent its reporter along to the theatre to inspect the premises. He was much impressed by the facilities, commenting upon the novelty of floor level lighting to guide patrons in the darkness. Click on the article to read:

Evening Post, 13 December 1913, Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand.



The Britannia pictured sometime in the first half of the 1930s. Photographer unidentified. Alexander Turnbull Library.

In 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression the Britannia was re-opened as the Roxy under new ownership.

Alexander Turnbull Library

The Roxy lived on until 1974 when it was closed in the face of competition from television and other newer entertainments. It was demolished the same year to make way for a new high rise office tower.

A late night crowd leaves the Roxy after a festival of horror films on 31 July 1971 according to the notes with this photo, though the posters above the door advertise Frontier Uprising and MASH.

Ghoulish good times...

Evening Post collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

London Dental Institute - Manners Street - Perretts Corner 1908

The London Dental Institute occupied the first floor above Perrett's chemist at the corner of Manners and Willis streets in the early 1900s.

Evening Post, 25 August 1908, Papers Past, Alexander Turnbull Library

Kitty-corner, as the Americans say, or diagonally across the intersection from Perretts, the American Dental Institute operated commercial premises.

No account seems to survive of how the competition played out between these two brands - one appealing to the New Zealander colonists sentimental attachment to "Home" and loyalty to the British Empire; the other, presumably, to the latest in artificial dental aids and care from a rising industrial power.

Perrett's Chemists - Perrett's Corner, Manners Street, Wellington

Typical Chemist Shop in New Zealand, early 1900s. An unidentified chemists shop in Christchurch, NZ, Perrett's chemist shop would have looked similar with chemical compounds arrayed in neatly labeled bottles and most merchandise on the retailer's side of the counter.
Photo: Steffano Webb, Alexander Turnbull Library, ref.

Claude H Perrett and his brother Edwin established their chemist shop and mail order business at the corner of Manners and Willis streets some time after Turner's chemists vacated the premises. They had moved down to Wellington from Wanganui. Newspaper advertising of their various patent remedies - or what today we might refer to as quack medicines - appears in The Evening Post as early as 12 August 1908.

Soon the corner became known as Perrett's corner - and remained so long after the business was sold in 1964 and the building demolished in 1971. Indeed, although housed in a new building on the site, Perretts Corner lives on in the name of a cafe, Perretts Corner Cafe, at the spot.

Evening Post, 1909, Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand

Wellington's population flocked by - and out of towners mailed in orders based on the mail catalogues the Perretts mailed around the country - to get such tonics as Vitalis, Guderin, and Microbin that would reinvigorate them, cure them of hysteria, fainting spells, and nervousness, or simply ensure good dental hygiene.

Evening Post, 1908, Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand

Evening Post, 1913, Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand

Manners Street - Perrett's Corner - 1905

Willis Street at Manners Street, looking north circa 1905.

The car had not yet arrived in such numbers to stage a takeover of Wellington streets by 1905. This view - looking north on Willis Street with Manners Street to the right - shows horsepower providing the main source of transport power in early 1905 (based on the postmark on the postcard, though the view itself may have been taken a few years earlier).

Perrett's chemist stands to the immediate right of the women crossing the street with a pram (short for perambulator or baby carriage) and close to the photographer's position. Perhaps the women have just purchased one of Mr Perrett's potions to cure their ailments or to restore their nerves.

A hansom cab stand existed just around the corner to the left on Boulcott street as pictured in the view below. Electric trams introduced to Wellington streets in 1904 were more affordable to the average citizen and a number of routes ran down Manners Street on to Willis Street. With the extension of tram service to outer parts of the city, faster subdivision for housing proceeded during the 1900s.

Hansom cab on Boulcott Street with the Manners Street, Perrett's corner intersection in the middle background, circa 1913.

The streets were not yet paved so in the summer Wellington's residents coped with the dust, horse manure, and flies as best they could. It was not unknown for horses to die on the streets on occasion requiring their owners or the council to remove them. In the winter, the rain turned the streets into mud baths with potholes and ruts thrown in for good measure.

Manners Street - Perrett's Corner - 1910s

Now "Perrett's Corner: Manners - Willis - Boulcott Streets intersection in the 1910s.
Source: AlexanderTurnbull Library

Although some sources suggest C H Perrett's chemist shop business was established in 1914, the above picture is dated by the Alexander Turnbull Library as circa 1905. Electric trams were introduced in Wellington in 1904 so these pictures are certainly after 1904. Perrett's chemist shop was in operation by early August 1908 because advertisements were appearing in the Evening Post offering various remedies to the public.

The building occupied by the Perrett Brothers was designed by the architect Thomas Turnbull in the 1870s. Turnbull, a Scot who had emigrated to New Zealand from San Francisco after the 1868 earthquake, was a strong advocate of improving earthquake resistance of masonry buildings by the use of tensile reinforcing and iron supports. The Harding, then Perrett, building was a three story masonry building instead of the typical two story wooden building in Wellington in the 1870s. Its architecture would have been familiar to San Franciscans. More about Turnbull at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

A similar view of Perrett's corner with streetcar & street vendor in view. Photo by Joseph Zachariah, well-known Wellington photographer of his day and well respected among New Zealand photo historians today.


Evening Post, 27 May 1908. Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand.

Turner's Chemist, Manners Street Corner, 1898-1900s

Evening Post, 3 March 1898, Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand.

D L Turner announced the opening of his new premises - a chemist shop at the corner of Manners and Willis streets, Wellington - in the Evening Post of 3 March 1898.

In the picture postcard below, circa the mid 1900s, Turner's store sign can be seen.

Dr Harding's 3 storey building of the early 1870s has been modified by converting the bricked wall ground floor to a retail frontage that Mr Turner occupied in early 1898.

The electric tram suggests the picture dates from after 1904 when the electrics were introduced. The Duke of Edinburgh hotel on the left is now a significant three story masonry structure replacing the two storey affair of the 1870s.

Turner's Corner, Manners Street, Wellington, circa 1905.

It's unclear when Turner vacated the premises but by August 1908 Claude H Perrett was operating his chemist shop at the location.

Manners Street, Wellington - Ward Reception Parade, 1895

Joseph Ward, New Zealand's Colonial Treasurer in Seddon's Liberal Government of the 1890s, was dispatched to London to raise loan funds to finance land reform involving the closer settlement of farm land. The first loan of 1.5 million pounds floated in early 1895 at three percent interest was oversubscribed to the tune of 5.9 million pounds.

Upon his return to Wellington, Ward was honoured for raising so much money so cheaply by what was called the "Ward Reception" on 10 July 1895.

The idea of a reception generated public controversy for its alleged political partisanship in the months preceding Ward's return.

The Evening Post, no friend of the Seddon government, rather snippily reported the Ward Reception in Wellington and its correspondents to the letters to the editor pointed out that the funds expended on the reception and procession would be better spent providing aid to the poor and unemployed.

After noting that government offices were closed for the day and most warehouse and retail stores were closed at noon, the Evening Post reported in its edition that evening the SS Hinemoa carrying the Wards berthed at noon alongside Jervois Quay.

Sir Walter Buller for the Ward Reception Committee welcomed Ward who in turn replied expressing his gratitude. The Evening Post allowed that "a few cheers were then given".

"Ward Reception" car, Wellington, Ca 1890s. Tyree Bros., photo. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Photo is probably of what the Evening Post reports as a "floral display on a lorry, with a motto in white letters on a red ground - "A Hearty Welcome Home" ", a banner to that effect showing in the photo. It is likely taken on Jervois Quay as a tank locomotive can be seen in front of the shed on right near the bandstand or gazebo.

View of Manners Street, south from Perrett's Corner, Ca 1890s.
Tyree Bros., photo. Alexander Turnbull Library

View of Ward's Reception, Manners Street, Wellington, south from Perrett's corner, Ca 1890s.
Tyree Bros., photo. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Following Ward's reply, a procession of carriages was formed accompanied by the Garrison and Jupp bands, a floral float, fire engines, and members of the Tailors and Bakers Unions bearing their banners. The Evening Post observed that "in the streets were many spectators, but little enthusiasm was shown."

The procession, "not so long as had been expected," according to the Post, proceeded up Cuba Street to Manners Street, turned right, proceeded to Willis Street thence Lambton and Thorndon Quays to the Thorndon Esplanade where Seddon and the Wards each planted a pohutukawa tree as part of the reception and Arbor day.

Old Identities Hotel - Perrett's Corner - Manners Street, Wellington

Old Identities (Albert) Hotel, on the corner of Boulcott and Willis Streets, Wellington
photo: Tyree Brothers, circa 1900. Alexander Turnbull Library

The Old Identities (Albert) Hotel, technically neither on Perrett's corner nor Manners Street but on the the southwest corner of Willis and Boulcott streets facing Perrett's. It was on the site later occupied by the Hotel St George from the early 1930s.

John Plimmer built the hotel in 1879, dedicating it to "the old identities" of the city and colony.

A sculptured head of an old identity sits above each window, looking down on those passing through Perrett's corner. On the skyline to the left, on the hotel roof, can be seen a statue of Edward Gibbon Wakefield instrumental in the establishment of the New Zealand Company that organised the European settlement of Wellington and other cities in New Zealand in the 1850s.

The Old Identities hotel was demolished in 1929 to make way for the new Hotel St George. Some of the sculptured heads of the old identities are today held by Te Papa, the national museum.

Manners Street, Wellington - 1880

Intersection of Willis, Manners and Boulcott Streets, Wellington, showing the Old Identities Hotel and the house/surgery of Doctor Harding, Alexander Turnbull Library

The recently completed 1878 surgery and home of Dr Robert Harding stands on what is to later become known as Perrett's Corner at the intersection of Manners, Willis, and Boulcott streets, Wellington. Harding's building would be converted into a pharmacy by the early 1900s.

Street lights have arrived in Wellington, presumably fueled by gas, and one occupies the near left corner. No tram tracks as yet, the tram's arrival is still a decade or more away.

What lies behind the photographer? A view from a hundred metres or so behind the first photographer up Boulcott Street looking back down to Perrett's corner and Manners Street.

Boulcott Street, Wellington, [1880?], Alexander Turnbull Library

St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church is in the right near foreground while the building with the central tower in the centre of the photo is what will become the YWCA building.