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.

Christchurch - Past & Present #4 South from Cathedral Square

Looking south from Cathedral Square, from a spot close to front doors of the Cathedral... a century or so between views... (click on pics for larger view).

1906

circa 1910 and 2007

The Bank of New Zealand retains its location on the left corner, replacing its original building with a multiple storey structure. The United Service Hotel on the right corner was built in 1884-85, a fifth storey added in 1929 and was demolished 1990 to be replaced by the ANZ Bank building currently on the site. The trams were long gone, the last one running in 1954, but a few were brought back in 1995 as a lure for tourists on a short downtown circuit.

Southern view from Square, 2007 showing BNZ and ANZ buildings in wider view (top);
Restored tram streetcars (bottom), The Square, 2007.