A Link in the Golden Mile
The history of Manners Street, Wellington

A succession of Wellington streets – Lambton Quay, Willis Street, Manners Street and Courtenay Place traverse central Wellington city from north-west to south-east. Together these streets make up what is locally known as the "Golden Mile", a continuous shopping precinct stretching from Parliament Buildings in Thorndon, south and east to Courtenay Place in Te Aro. The districts of Thorndon and Te Aro are two historic Wellington inner-city suburbs, existing since the foundation of the city in 1840 and once known as the Thorndon Ward and Te Aro Ward. Joining these two suburbs is one of the original east-west thoroughfares of Wellington City, a road named Manners Street. As was common during the early planning and development phase of the city, many streets and landmarks were named for members of the New Zealand Company or their associates and members of their families. Lambton Quay, Willis Street, Somes Island, Point Jerningham and Point Halswell, for instance, were all named for early Wellington identities while two of the highest peaks in the surrounding landscape were named for those recognised at eht pinnacle of the British Empire at that time - Queen Victoria (Mount Victoria) and her consort Prince Albert (Mount Albert). In this same vein, Manners Street was named for a director of the New Zealand Company, Frederick James Tollemache, whose father was Sir William Manners otherwise known as Sir William Manners Tollemache, a surname he adopted from his mother, Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart.

Looking west up Manners Street, Wellington, towards the Willis Street intersection. Reference: 1/1-000731-G. Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Taken in 1864 this picture shows a rather muddy view of upper Manners Street looking towards the Willis Street/Boulcott Street intersection. Of interest are the chickens running free and the two horse-drawn carts "parked" outside the Criterion Family Hotel, forerunner of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel and Dukes Arcade. Across Willis Street to the left is the beautifully built Union Bank of Australia and beside it, on the right, is the Queens Head Hotel, future location of the St George Hotel. To the extreme top left may be seen the flag pole on Flagstaff Hill, a defensive site established following the Wairau Massacre of 1843. After this event the citizens of Wellington, fear an attack by local Maori, went into defencive mode relying on warning flags should Maori attack. A different flagstaff stands on the location today.

In those early days, before reclamation pushed the shoreline further out into the harbour, Manners Street was only a few steps from the water’s edge, becoming an important thoroughfare to the several wharves that lined the Te Aro waterfront. The contours of Manners Street, originally matching the shoreline, remain as they have for the past 170 years and the location and names of many of its original side-roads have remained unchanged. Indeed many of these side-roads are a history lesson in themselves. For instance St Hill Street is named for Henry St Hill, an early pioneer by the ship Adelaide; Lombard and Cornhill Streets are named for London streets bearing the same name; Cuba Street is named, of course, for the New Zealand Company exploration ship Cuba; Luke's Lane is named for Captain Luke the owner of a small engineering firm (S. Luke & Sons) existing on the site and Taranaki Street, named for what was once known as Taranaki Pa (since known as Te Aro Pa) and which once stood on that spot near the original coastline. The Manners Street roadway today is narrower, its footpaths are broader and the buildings, of course, have changed but some are remembered in the names of present-day locations, names which were bequeathed to them by the structures once standing there. Perrett's Corner, now the location of the Perretts Corner Cafe, was once the site of a chemist shop owned by Claude H Perrett and his brother Edwin. Many of us with long memories still refer to this location as Perrett's Corner, more perhaps as a geographical location than for its historical significance although, come to think about it, perhaps for both reasons. On the opposite side of the road we have The Duke, or Dukes Arcade as it is popularly known, again named for a location with historical significance. In 1870 this corner was the site of the of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel which lends its name to the present-day site after the building was demolished 100 years later in the early 1970's. Next door to the hotel was the Britannia Theatre, built in 1913, and renamed Roxy in 1935. The Roxy cinema was the location of the first continuous-screened movies in Wellington between 1935 and 1975. Other shops and outlets have been and gone over the years, swallowed up in the panoply of change that is the progress of history. The Criterion Cafe, The Lamphouse, The Princess Theatre, The Peoples Picture Palace and many more shops, restaurants, cafes, cinemas, beauty salons, theatres and pubs have graced this section of Wellington's Golden Mile.

Manners Street, Wellington, photographed by Sydney Charles Smith, circa 1908-1909. Reference: PAColl-6529-1. Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. The image above was taken one hundred years ago and in it we see much of what we would expect to see in a similar image today (see below); streets and pavements, people, public transport, shops, buildings and overhead cables. Has much really changed?

Manners Street before the changes of late 2010 where pedestrians still wait to cross the road, buses replace the trams of yesteryear and cars replace the sedate and quiet (but often smelly) horse and cart. A boulevard of trees replaces the lampposts but overhead power cables are still very much in evidence and shop-fronts still line both sides of the street. In essence very little seems to have changed. Photograph copyright Peter Wells 2010.

In those early days, before reclamation pushed the shoreline further out into the harbour, Manners Street was only a few steps from the water’s edge, becoming an important thoroughfare to the several wharves that lined the Te Aro waterfront. The contours of Manners Street, originally matching the shoreline, remain as they have for the past 170 years and the location and names of many of its original side-roads have remained unchanged. Indeed many of these side-roads are a history lesson in themselves. For instance St Hill Street is named for Henry St Hill, an early pioneer by the ship Adelaide; Lombard and Cornhill Streets are named for London streets bearing the same name; Cuba Street is named, of course, for the New Zealand Company exploration ship Cuba; Luke's Lane is named for Captain Luke the owner of a small engineering firm (S. Luke & Sons) existing on the site and Taranaki Street, named for what was once known as Taranaki Pa (since known as Te Aro Pa) and which once stood on that spot near the original coastline. The Manners Street roadway today is narrower, its footpaths are broader and the buildings, of course, have changed but some are remembered in the names of present-day locations, names which were bequeathed to them by the structures once standing there. Perrett's Corner, now the location of the Perretts Corner Cafe, was once the site of a chemist shop owned by Claude H Perrett and his brother Edwin. Many of us with long memories still refer to this location as Perrett's Corner, more perhaps as a geographical location than for its historical significance although, come to think about it, perhaps for both reasons. On the opposite side of the road we have The Duke, or Dukes Arcade as it is popularly known, again named for a location with historical significance. In 1870 this corner was the site of the of the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel which lends its name to the present-day site after the building was demolished 100 years later in the early 1970's. Next door to the hotel was the Britannia Theatre, built in 1913, and renamed Roxy in 1935. The Roxy cinema was the location of the first continuous-screened movies in Wellington between 1935 and 1975. Other shops and outlets have been and gone over the years, swallowed up in the panoply of change that is the progress of history. The Criterion Cafe, The Lamphouse, The Princess Theatre, The Peoples Picture Palace and many more shops, restaurants, cafes, cinemas, beauty salons, theatres and pubs have graced this section of Wellington's Golden Mile.

Manners Street, Wellington, after the Wairarapa earthquake of 24 June 1942. Reference: E-Science-Earthquakes 1940s and 1950s-04 Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Imagine the chaos should this sort of thing should happen today. As a main artery between east and west Wellington, the closure of Manners Street would have a major impact on access to and from the eastern and southern suburbs. The damaged building is near to where the present-day Jam Cafe is located between the former Telecom building and the ASB Bank.

In Manners Street and throughout some of the surrounding streets of Te Aro an infamous affair took place on the evening of April 3rd 1943, an affair which has gone down in Wellington folklore and in the history of the 2nd Division, United States Marines. The "Battle of Manners Street", as it has become known, was a major brawl which took place between soldiers of the US Marines, stationed in Wellington, and soldiers of the New Zealand Army, many of whom had recently returned from battle in Europe or North Africa. The Allied Services Club was located in Manners Street on the site of the present day Post Office opposite McDonalds. Catering to all servicemen in Wellington at the time their clientele was always a mixture of American Marines, US Army servicemen and New Zealand soldiers and merchant seamen, perhaps a volatile mix at the best of times as many Kiwi soldiers believed their American allies to be, in the tradition of the time, "oversexed, overpaid, and over here". While no single reason has ever been given for the origin of the altercation, many explanations have been offered and doubtless there was blame and insult on both sides. Nevertheless the fight began and soon spilled out onto Manners Street and rapidly spread to nearby Cuba Street, Willis Street and Lambton Quay. The Marines, as was their tradition, removed their belts and used them with their solid buckles as a weapon gaining, no doubt, some measure of advantage over the Kiwis. Continuing for about four hours the "battle" eventually wound up due to a combination of military police, fatigue and concern by the Americans that they would miss the last train to their camp at Paekakariki. Reports of deaths from the fight are false and many aspects were greatly exaggerated although contemporary media reports of the incident were censored due to the war. In speaking with my Mother about her memories of the events of that time, she largely dismissed the melodrama saying instead that there were "Some bloody noses and bruises". Mum had a way of getting to the nub of the matter with things.

Te Aro, Wellington, circa 1868, with Willis Street in the foreground. Reference: PSColl-6592-1 Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. This image clearly shows how close Manners Street once was to the harbour. Willis Street runs diagonally across the picture intersecting Manners Street and Boulcott Street on the right and Bond Street (formerly known as Customs Street, or Old Custom House Street, as it was named for the first bonded customs store in Wellington) on the left. The wharves of Te Aro, owned by various businesses along the waterfront, are shown projecting out into the sea. Manners Street itself seems to be lined by a mixture of residential and commercial buildings.

From harbour-side road to inner-city artery Manners Street appears to have undergone significant change over the years. Little, however, about the original route of the road has changed as it still follows the same route it has always done. From Willis Street to Courtenay Place the course of Manners Street was mapped, as many streets within the original city were, by the contours of coastline, hillside, swamp and rolling plain. Side roads have been added and removed, but not very often; pedestrian malls and footpaths have been created, widened, built up and demolished all, it would seem, at the whim of Wellington’s city fathers; the direction of vehicular traffic has been changed from two-way to one-way, briefly during the lifetime of Manners [pedestrian] Mall, to no-way and now back to two-way. For the past 170 years pedestrians, horses, horse-drawn carts, omnibuses, tramcars, buses, trucks, motorbikes and motorcars [not to mention pedestrians] have travelled both eastwards and westwards along Manners Street, ensuring its place is preserved as an important thoroughfare for the commerce and commercial communication of the city. A glimpse of the historic photographs will show that it is the buildings lining this street which have imposed the greatest change to its surroundings. Wooden structures have disappeared to be replaced by shiny glass & steel, small buildings became much larger ones and commercial structures gradually replaced residential ones. Manners Street remains, however, as it has always done.

Overlooking Te Aro Flat, Wellington, circa 1860, showing Manners Street through the centre. Reference: 1-2-021186-F Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. This image is similar to the one above but taken from a higher vantage point. It shows the curve of Manners Street which was once the beachfront and further east where it blends into Courtenay Place. This area of Wellington, known as Te Aro Flats was once swamp but was raised by the 1855 earthquake to become dry land.  The wharves of Te Aro, owned by various businesses along the waterfront, are shown projecting out into the sea now also dry land due to the extensive reclamation undertaken along the Wellington waterfront.

In 2010 Manners Street (including Manners Mall) was “modified” by the local council to transform it from a one way bus and motor vehicle thoroughfare to a two way bus-only route incorporating it, they believed, more fully into the Golden Mile. Unfortunately the change-over resulted in at least 7 pedestrian vs bus accidents and, in the author’s memory, one death when pedestrians, familiar as they were with previous one-way traffic, forgot to look both ways before crossing the road. Such misunderstandings and accidents have thankfully ceased but our councillors are now planning another route change in which they will remove bus traffic from Manners Street and the Golden Mile all together and re-route it outside the limits of the CBD. What price progress?

A composite map based on a “Google Maps” image showing the Wellington district of Te Aro, the course of Manners Street and key landmarks in the area. The curve in the road from the Willis Street junction (top left end of red line) to where it becomes Courtenay Place follows the original curve of the shoreline. From here towards the sea is all reclaimed land which, you can see, has been put to good and effective use. © Google Maps

© Peter Wells, Wellington, New Zealand