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NATIONAL
NATIONAL Rainbow List Project underway
Work has begun to recognise the LGBTTFQI+ stories of many of our listed sites, starting with 288 Cuba Street, once the home of Carmen’s Curios.
WRITER: Kerryn Pollock
In the early 1970s, transgender icon Carmen Rupe (1936–2011) ran a shop from a building in central Wellington. She described 288 Cuba Street as a “fascinating old house…and such an attractive building which I considered completely ideal for my type of curio outlet.” Carmen’s Curios, inspired by her long-held love of curiosities, sold antiques and second-hand goods and was one of many businesses the entrepreneurial diva ran in the city, where she was something of a local celebrity. The building on Cuba Street was entered onto the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero (the List) in 1991, but until this year the listing was silent on the Carmen connection. Now, thanks to our Rainbow List Project, the prosaically named Commercial/Retail Building, List No. 5348’s significance to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex + (LGBTTFQI+) communities has been recognised. Many of the buildings that housed Carmen’s other businesses, such as Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge at 86 Vivian Street and The Balcony nightclub at 57A Victoria Street, have been demolished, leaving the curio shop as a rare survivor of her vivid presence in Wellington. The Rainbow List Project aims to improve the List’s diversity by recognising sites of significance to Aotearoa New Zealand’s LGBTTFQI+ communities. To date we have focused on upgrading the information on places already listed, like Carmen’s Curios, so their list entry appropriately reflects the LGBTTFQI+ aspect of their heritage significance. Other places upgraded as part of this project are the Thistle Inn, List No. 1439, St Andrew’s on the Terrace, List No. 3571, Lilburn House, List No.7645, all in Wellington, and Rewi Alley’s House, List No. 5448, in Taranaki. n
Carmen Rupe at Carmen's Curios, Wellington. Carmen (Carmen Rupe), 1936-2011: Photographs. Ref: PAColl-9445-10. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. / records/38002217