Taking a spin

From balls to birthday parties to ballet recitals, the Hastings Municipal Building and its Assembly Hall hold many memories for the people of the city

Blessings, speeches and ribbon cutting are the expected formalities when a building opens. But when the doors of the strengthened and revamped (Former) Hastings Municipal Buildings were officially reopened, the occasion called for something more – dancing.

The Category 1 historic place was closed in 2014 after being assessed as earthquake-prone and reopened in August this year after an extensive seismic upgrade and refurbishment.

As part of the reopening celebrations, a nationwide competition was run to unearth those who had danced in the building’s grand Assembly Hall between 1950 and 2014. The winners were then invited to be the first to try out its sprung dance floor at an event accompanied by the Hawke’s Bay Jazz Club Big Band.

The Municipal Building incorporates Hastings’ handsome former council chambers and offices, but the jewel in its crown is the Art Deco Assembly Hall. As Hawke’s Bay’s largest ballroom, it has hosted dazzling events, such as a ball to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and another in September 1956 to mark Hastings becoming a city, as well as countless weddings, dances, concerts, parties and other special occasions.

Hawke’s Bay historian Michael Fowler is working on a book about the Municipal Building, and as part of the opening weekend celebrations he gave a presentation of its history. Like many, he has personal connections to the space, including its historic ballroom.

“I remember attending fancy dress balls at the Assembly Hall. I hated dancing, so there’s a photo of me in my cowboy outfit – not smiling for the camera,” he laughs.

WORDS: CAITLIN SYKES • IMAGERY: HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL

LOCATION

Hastings is one of the two major urban areas in Hawke's Bay, on the east coast of the North Island.

Michael’s research into the Assembly Hall shows it has had various uses, which also reflect wider societal changes. It operated as an inhalation chamber during the 1918 influenza pandemic, for example, and hosted public lectures supporting the temperance movement in the 1920s and an inaugural Māori debutante ball in 1947.

One story of particular resonance shared by Michael in his presentation was about a ball held in July 1917 for returned Māori soldiers, who performed the same haka on its stage that they had delivered on the battlefield at Gallipoli.

“The people of Hastings, both Māori and Pākehā, have strong connections to the Assembly Hall because it’s associated with important memories like these, and often from when they were growing up,” says Michael.

As the name suggests, however, the building was designed (by architect AG Garnett) primarily for more administrative purposes; it was built in 1916 to provide new premises for the Hastings Borough Council, and it remained the council’s home for the next 60 years.

As noted in the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga website’s listing information, it was the council’s third home following its inauguration in 1886, and its second purpose-built facility. Along with the adjacent Category 1 (Former) Hastings Municipal Theatre (now the Toitoi Opera House), which opened in 1915, the construction of the Municipal Building demonstrated “a remarkable boldness on the part of the council and its ratepayers of what was then still a town”.

As well as being a longstanding home for local government, the building has a history of other uses. According to Hastings District Council information, the ground floor has been home to long-term retail outlets, and after the council moved to new premises in 1977, it was home to numerous organisations, including government departments.

In the early 2000s, following a major refurbishment of both the Municipal Building and Municipal Theatre, the buildings were combined into a multipurpose function and entertainment complex (with the ground floor continuing as a retail space).

However, when the buildings were found to be less than 34 percent of the New Building Standard – the level at which New Zealand buildings are considered earthquake-prone – the council made the call to close them. The Opera House was the first to reopen (in early 2020) while work continued on the Municipal Building.

Project architect Justin Matthews, of Matthews & Matthews Architects, notes a key aim was to allow light to enhance the building’s heritage features and bring life back into the space. A supper room and kitchen, which were later additions to the Assembly Hall, were removed, for example, and doors and windows were then reinstated on the ballroom’s south wall, allowing the return of more natural light. A key challenge was ensuring that such changes were fully integrated with the building’s new structural design.

Hastings District Council Corporate Group Manager Bruce Allan says that while the continued use of the opera house as a theatre was clear, the future use of the Municipal Building was hashed out over a longer period of community consultation.

“Ultimately, we identified the Municipal Building as an integral piece of what we now call Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre – which also encompasses the opera house and gives us a whole lot of functionality around hosting arts and events in our community.”

The key heritage spaces on the building’s first floor, such as the Assembly Hall and Shakespeare Room (formerly the council chambers) can now be hired and used for everything from balls and conferences to meetings and performances.

The building’s tradition of housing retail has continued, and Bruce says getting the right mix was also important to draw the community back into the building. It’s now home to hospitality venues, a contemporary art gallery and the Hastings i-SITE, which doubles as a box office for event ticketing.

“We’re really proud of the original architectural features of the building that have been returned, and also the work we’ve put in to creating a place that’s relevant for the community. We hope we’ve captured that in what we’ve done,” says Bruce.

Michael says the foresight shown by the city’s early leaders in commissioning something of the scale and quality of the Municipal Building at a time when Hastings was home to barely 8000 people is reflected in the recent work.

“It means that 100 years from now someone like me could be standing on the Assembly Hall stage giving another talk on the past century of the building and its role in the community,” he says. “That’s the vision.”

heritage.org.nz/the-list/ details/177