That most public of art

The prettiest buildings in Taranaki are the churches

Whiteley Memorial Church

St George's Anglican Church, Patea

The Mayfair, Devon Street

Hunter Shaw Building, Patea

Collier building, Devon Street

St Andrew's Church

St Mary's Church

TSB Showplace, Devon Street

Ryder Hall, New Plymouth Boys' High

Pukekura Park kiosk

St Joseph's Church

Launching a feature on Taranaki's nicest and nastiest buildings was always going to be problematic.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder was one weary cliche trotted out. And when unaesthetic buildings begging to be on the ugly list were suggested, some replied they performed a function or were architecturally designed and thus a goodie, not a baddie.

Still, the Taranaki Daily News pushed on. Compiling a list of the region's stunners and shockers was something we reckoned we - and the public - could have fun with.

And it was a chance for reflection. Visitors judge us on appearances and while the sea, the mountain and the bush beautify our region, our buildings add to and detract from our look.

Furthermore, buildings constructed in the past 30 years are open to more debate. The vast majority of beautiful buildings our experts nominated were elderly specimens, constructed more than 50 years ago. Today's constructions might be considered less permanent, less elegant and far less likely to engender pride. Or perhaps it is just a matter of time. Will Puke Ariki grow in our affection? Will Huatoki Plaza inspire enthusiasm in years to come?

When it came to the crunch, churches frequently topped everyone's beautiful list.

Taranaki's most beautiful buildings

St Mary's Church, Whiteley Memorial Church, St Andrew's Church, St Joseph's Church, St George's Anglican Church, (Patea), St John's Church, Kaimata, Hunter Shaw Building (Patea), Wishing Well florists (Hawera), Ballentynes store, (Hawera), Pukekura Park kiosk, TSB Showplace, Devon Street, Collier building, Devon Street, Ryder Hall, New Plymouth Boys' High, The Mayfair, Devon Street

Honourable mention:

White Hart building, Post office building (Hawera), The Mill (New Plymouth), The ASB Bank, New Plymouth, St Aubyn office building

Retired architect and former Witt tutor Brian Chong says St Mary's, the country's oldest stone church, has the whole package.

"The buildings that I think are beautiful are built from the heart and with passion. St Mary's Church is the number one. It's built from natural materials with a lot of feeling and hard work."

South Taranaki's charmers include Victorian and colonial structures such as the town's courthouse, its library and some of its banks. A small stand-out specimen typifying old-world charm is 77 Princes Street, currently occupied by Wishing Well Flowers.

One of the loveliest examples of colonial architecture, reckons Mr Cullen, is St George's Anglican Church in Patea. A deep A-frame roof marks the building out, as do its stained-glass windows and bell tower.

Patea's second prime pick is the Hunter Shaw building, the 80-year-old red brick edifice on the main street.Designed by renowned architect William Gummer, it began life as a library and reading room. It was built in the much admired Georgian style, with shutters and a clock tower, and modelled on the award-winning Remuera library.
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In Hawera, the High Street building once called Patterson's building is also a stunner, but because of Art Deco features, not Victorian. Curved exterior walls and coloured geometric windows create a streamlined look.

"Inside, it has a wonderful quality of light and space," says Mr Cullen, referring to the store's mezzaine floor, central staircase and Art Deco detailing. Ballentynes now occupies it.

Significant mention also goes to the Hawera post office building. Advertising across its top detracts from its intended look, but when built, it encapsulated the International style of architecture, prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s, though it was built later than that. A solid upper wall contrasts with a recessed glass frontage and with a green faux marble wall.

"It's a rare modern building in Hawera, although the style sits uncomfortably with 19th-century buildings around it," Mr Cullen says.

New Plymouth architect Ian Pritchard, who wrote a book on pioneering architect Frank Messenger, struggles to reel off more than a handful of memorable buildings. His favourites include modern buildings: St Joseph's Church in Powderham Street, Ryder Hall at New Plymouth Boys' High School and the Whiteley Methodist church. The New Plymouth fire station would once have rated highly - sadly, he says, a coat of paint ruined its original appearance. Designed in concrete block, its grey exterior took cognisance of St Andrew's church opposite, also a stone building.

"The acknowledgement of that has gone. Whoever did it should be taken outside and shot. It was a beautiful building that has been destroyed."

Likewise, the Pukekura park kiosk. One of the hundreds of Taranaki buildings designed by Messenger, the upgrade transformed interior beauty into blandness. "It had wonderful dark panelling inside . . . its soul has been ripped out."

But St John's Church at Kaimata, a roughcast structure, remains a much admired pick for Mr Pritchard.

"It's a honey. It was built as a memorial by Albert Burwell to his wife and to give thanks to the end of World War II. It's gorgeous," he says.

And the Colliers building, opposite Mr Pritchard's Devon Street office, is also lovely because of its lean, well- proportioned look.

He's not so complimentary about the city's newest buildings.

"There's nothing built in the last decade you would say is a beautiful building because the test is: does it evoke an emotional response, does it stir the soul? I can't think of any built recently that do that."

One of the best buildings - largely for its well-arranged, workable inside - is the TSB Showplace, says Paul Goldsmith, well-known local architect and one of those responsible for designing Puke Ariki. Its original features, such as a grand opera house ceiling, were retained. It's atmospheric and "proud", Mr Goldsmith says.

"I think you need to look inside a building as well as out. The inside of the civic chambers [the New Plymouth District Council] is better than the outside."

Mr Goldsmith puts groups of buildings and areas of town on his list of lovelies. Devon Street has got "leaner, meaner, tighter and groovier". Council work begun in the last decade to link the mountain, the sea and the town is proving successful.

"In 10 years' time, these corridors from mountain to sea will be fantastic," he says, pointing out that it's only in the past 20 years that town planners have begun to consider links between outdoor spaces and buildings.

New Plymouth businessman and spirited CBD campaigner Richie Shearer says beauty, as well as being subjective, also relates to a building's design, how it sits in the environment and its longevity. Clusters of buildings tend to earn his respect.

"In a city context, it's how a whole group of buildings make you feel." King Street is one such example, as is nearby Queen Street with its old-timers: The White Hart, the clock tower, the former Public Trust building, Govett-Brewster art gallery, the former New Plymouth club and St Aubyn Chambers (now apartments).

"It's because Queen Street is one of our most original streets. It's a shame we have not been as proactive as other cities in retaining our old buildings or put design protocols in place," says Mr Shearer, a founding member of the since abandoned New Plymouth District Council urban design group whose work lead to the development of the Huatoki Plaza.

As to individual structures, Mr Shearer favours pink-toned Mayfair in Devon Street, the Collier building, the Mill (looking better since its grey paint job) and the ASB bank. Outside the CBD, Mr Shearer names a small building on St Aubyn Street opposite the Devonport Flats.

"The scale is great and it has a glass front that relates well to the street."

And while public toilets may only briefly attract our thoughts and presence, Mr Shearer thinks recent additions deserve admiration.

"They seem to blend in. When you think about the toilets on the foreshore, you don't notice them. They could have looked like a skyline garage, but they're attractive."



Its grounds also add to its aesthetic appeal, he says. Historic trees loom up above significant gravestones: Marsland Hill and its environs add to the serenity. Second equal on Mr Chong's list are New Plymouth central city churches St Andrew's and Whiteley Memorial Church. St Andrew's rates for its exterior stonework and well-proportioned spire, Whiteley Memorial for its soaring roof. But Mr Chong admits bias: he worked on the Methodist church, designed by architects Harvey and Bowering, in conjunction with Auckland Abbot Hole and Annabell. Opened in 1963, the church in 2007 earnt a New Zealand Institute of Architects award for enduring architecture, and last year it was among several Taranaki landmarks profiled in a weighty book on New Zealand's modern architecture.

"The minister at the time, Reverend Greenslade, wanted a church which went up very high and gave that lofty feeling. It was very controversial, but the thing about churches is they serve many purposes, from birth and death to baptisms and marriages. You feel emotional whether you are strongly religious or not."

Pukekura Park's tea house earnt a fourth placing on Mr Chong's list, despite the fact the new paint job is a glaring white. Shape as well as location were the reasons.

"You go past the cricket ground, you see the trees, the band rotunda and the Victoria water fountain before you come across the tea house and the red bridge. Immediately you feel you're in another world."

The word "beautiful" tends to encompass old or pretty places, points out Hawera architect Clive Cullen, when asked for his eyesore and eye-candy collection..

"It has a connotation that does not necessarily sit with what modern buildings are."