Wharepai Hotel, c.1894-1971 (Place)

SummaryThe Wharepai Hotel, later known as the Wharepai Private Hotel, stood at the corner of Cameron Road and Hamilton Street, opposite Tauranga Domain. Built around 1894 as the home of David and Kataraina Asher, it was operating as a boarding house by the early 20th century. The name Wharepai (“good house”) was also adopted for the Domain’s southern field.

The hotel was a two-storey timber building with weatherboard cladding, a hipped corrugated-iron roof, and two prominent chimneys. Its most striking feature was the verandah and upper balcony running along the street frontage, detailed with timber posts, simple brackets, and balustrades. Contemporary photographs show sash windows and a picket-fenced garden with mature trees that partly screened the house from Cameron Road.

A pencil sketch made on 24 May 1971, just before demolition, records the internal layout: four fireplaces on the ground floor, four large rooms with a hall and smaller chamber, and a kitchen with a lean-to dining room at the rear. Upstairs were five bedrooms but no bathroom, with stairs positioned at the back.

During the 1930s and 1940s the Wharepai was widely advertised as a private hotel “opposite the Domain,” offering tennis courts and accommodation under proprietors such as Miss Moffatt and Mrs N. Ham. From 1942 until 1965 it was managed by Mrs Dorothy Clough, and for decades the property remained a familiar landmark on the Domain’s edge. By the late 1960s it had become rundown. Demolition began on 24 May 1971, was photographed in June, and concluded with a controlled burn on 12 July 1971SourcesTauranga Heritage Collection object 0447/08Wharepai Hotel: Tauranga Historical Society Blog April 2020Historic Tauranga: Footprints in Te PapaTaonga Tu Proposal: Te Papa Historic Area, Tauranga.Sad to see her go - after 77 years » BOPT Times 1971, June 10

Photographs

Our People (authority)

Sketch by Thelma Smith prior to demolition (photo 25-1925)

Usage

Kaitiakitanga StatementWe ask that, in addition to normal copyright and privacy considerations, users of our heritage resources uphold the mana and dignity of the people, communities and places depicted within.CopyrightTe Ao Mārama - Tauranga City LibrariesLicenseCC BY 4.0AcknowledgementTe Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Wharepai Hotel, c.1894-1971 (Place)

Known Date/s

Date Built1894Date Demolished1971

Location

Map Address92, Hamilton Street, Tauranga, Tauranga, 3110, New ZealandLocationCorner of Cameron Road and Hamilton Street, overlooking the DomainLatitude/Longitude^[1]

Admin

AuthorTe Ao Mārama - Tauranga City LibrariesType of ContributionLibrary authorityTaxonomyStories | Places

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Wharepai Hotel, c.1894-1971 (Place)