Napier, the town rebuilt in Art Deco after the earthquake

At about a quarter to eleven on the morning of 3 February 1931, a powerful earthquake struck Hawke's Bay, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. In Napier and the neighbouring town of Hastings, buildings collapsed in the shaking, and fires broke out that burned for days, destroying much of what had survived. More than two hundred and fifty people were killed. It remains the deadliest natural disaster in New Zealand's history.

The earthquake also changed the land itself. The ground around Napier was lifted by up to a couple of metres, and a large shallow lagoon behind the town drained, creating thousands of hectares of new land. Much of it was later used for farms, suburbs and the local airport.

Rebuilding in style

The town had to be rebuilt quickly, and cheaply, in the depths of the Great Depression. The architects of the time, mostly local, turned to the styles that were then modern: Art Deco, with its geometric decoration, zigzags, sunbursts and stylised plants; Spanish Mission, with its stucco and tiled roofs; and the stripped classical style. Buildings were made of reinforced concrete, which would better withstand future earthquakes, and they were built to a relatively consistent height and scale.

The result, completed within a few years, is a town centre of remarkable unity, largely built between 1931 and the mid-1930s. Its shops, banks, offices and theatres are decorated with the motifs of the age, some of them incorporating Māori patterns into the Art Deco design, a distinctly local touch. In the decades after the war, many of these buildings were taken for granted, and some were lost. From the 1980s, a campaign to protect them led to their restoration. Napier is now celebrated as one of the most complete collections of Art Deco architecture anywhere.

Seeing Napier

The town centre is compact and best seen on foot. Guided walks, some led by volunteers in period costume, explain the buildings and their history, and vintage cars are used for tours. Among the finest buildings are the Daily Telegraph Building, with its stylised fountains and zigzags, and, in the suburb of Ahuriri, the former National Tobacco Company building, with its curving entrance decorated with roses and grapevines. Along the seafront, Marine Parade is lined with tall Norfolk Island pines, gardens and a sound shell, and the bronze statue of Pania of the Reef, from a Māori legend, stands by the sea.

Each February, the town holds an Art Deco festival, when residents and visitors dress in the fashions of the 1920s and 1930s, vintage cars fill the streets, and there are dances, picnics and parades.

Along the seafront, Marine Parade runs for several kilometres beside the shingle beach, lined with tall Norfolk Island pines, gardens and the town's colonnades. A bronze statue on the parade portrays Pania of the Reef, a figure of Māori legend, a sea maiden who left the ocean for the love of a mortal man. In the port suburb of Ahuriri, the former National Tobacco Company building, finished in 1933, is famous for its ornate entrance, with roses and vines in plaster and leaded glass, one of the finest single doorways in the country.

Hawke's Bay

The region around Napier is one of New Zealand's main wine-growing areas, known especially for its red wines, and its vineyards and cellar doors are easy to visit from the town. The coast south of Napier leads to Cape Kidnappers, named by Captain Cook after an incident in 1769 involving a member of his crew, and home to one of the largest mainland gannet colonies in the world, reached on foot along the beach at low tide or by tractor tour. Te Mata Peak, above the village of Havelock North, gives a wide view over the bay and the plains.

Just You's seventeen-night New Zealand tour for solo travellers includes Napier with Auckland, Rotorua, Waitomo and Wellington, and the South Island, from Christchurch and Arthur's Pass to Franz Josef Glacier, Queenstown, Milford Sound and Te Anau.

Just You's twenty-two-night version with a Cook Islands add-on includes Napier and the glow-worm caves of Waitomo, along with Lake Tekapo in the South Island, and then adds the Cook Islands.

Hawke's Bay is one of the sunniest parts of New Zealand, and Napier is pleasant for most of the year, though best in the southern summer.