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Corner of Dee and Esk Streets looking North

 Digital Image
Identifier: D27520001_108
Corner of Dee and Esk Streets looking North
Corner of Dee and Esk Streets looking North

Dates

  • c.1890

Summary

East side of Dee Street, between Esk and Don. Block IX, sections 1 and 22.

Featuring (from Don Street): McLeod Bros, drapers; Smith and Smith, drapers; Thorn & Stead, bootmakers; Frank Steans, hairdresser (where the candy pole is outside); Leviathan Gifts (Wesney Brothers, ex Louis Rodgers); Imperial Hotel (Proprietor H. Sproull), Hatch & Co. Chemists, Wm Organ and Co, butchers, Matheson and Co. grocers; David Fairweather, bootmaker; Janet Webster, fruiterer; Benjamin Ibbotson, bootmaker, Trew & Hall, ironmongers; horse-drawn tram (introduced to Invercargill in 1881) and pedestrians.

Conditions Governing Use

This item has no known copyright restrictions. Please acknowledge Invercargill City Libraries and Archives, Ref: A0105 S27520001_108, when re-using this image.

Biographical / Historical

The 330-feet stone, Italian-styled Dee Street block was designed by local architect F.W. Burwell during the late 1870s for local businessmen L. Rodgers and W. Langlands. The main section was two stories high, with three story corner sections, and design features included square towers, campanile roofs, lunettes, coupled columns, vases and balustrades.

The horse-drawn tram, shown to the left of the image, was a common feature on Invercargill streets from 1881 – 1908. This particular tram may have been the No. 1, built by Starbucks and Company of Birkenhead, England.

History of some of the occupants, starting at far left:

The three-storey building on the Don Street corner was completed in 1885 and was occupied by the McLeod Bros’ Caledonian Warehouse. W. Lewis & Co bought them out in 1889 when they went bankrupt (Southland Times, 11 January 1889, p.3). Lewis traded out of the building until 1892, when the building was occupied by Parfitt & Co, (Southland Times, 21 September 1892, p.3).

William Francis Smith and Annie Smith had previously traded in Esk Street (Waterloo Warehouse) as Smith and Smith, occupied the new space on the second and third floor of the building in 1885. Their business went bankrupt in 1887.

Frank Steans opened his hairdressing salon in at the front of Henry Wignall’s Otago Restaurant. Wignall sold out to Mrs Cameron in 1883 and left Invercargill. It was renamed Cameron’s Temperance Restaurant and Boarding-house. She was burnt out in the Dee Street fire of May 1884. Cameron moved to Esk Street. The shop was taken over in 1886 by Frank Thorn and John Stead, bootmakers in partnership under the title of the Universal Boot Shop, until 1890 when Stead moved down the block to the Paragon Bootshop on his own account.

The Imperial Hotel opened in January 1, 1879, proprietor H. J. Sproule. Built on the site of the City Hotel, it was described as “lofty and commodious”, with 30 rooms, plus a dining-room, billiard-room, sitting-rooms and bar. The Imperial closed in 1906, and its premises were refurbished for business use.

Matheson and Co. merchants founded in 1863 by former gold-miner Donald Lachlan Matheson. The business, beginning as “Matheson and Cameron”, then “Matheson and Co.”, and finally “Matheson’s”, operated stores throughout Southland, selling general merchandise, until approximately 1930.

David Fairweather opened his Paragon Bootshop in 1889. He moved to Tay Street premises in 1890 (Southland Times,18 March 1890, p3) and his Dee Street shop taken over by J. Stead, late of Thorn & Stead who had their business partnership further along in this block.

Bernard Ibbotson opened his Standard Bootshop in 1887. He left Invercargill in 1892 due to ill health and died in Christchurch in 1914 (Elizabeth Ibbotson’s Obituary, Southland Times 30 June 1924, p.4).

Gregg & Co, seedman moved to beside Trew & Hall in 1882 (Southland Times, 7 August 1882, p.1). Previously they were at the northern end of the block beside Kingsland’s Boot Shop.

George Trew & William Horatio Hall went into partnership after the Ekensteen & Hall partnership was dissolved, and in 1878, built the large three-storey building, Trew & Hall Ironmongers, on the corner of Esk and Dee Street. See Photo S27520001_102 which shows the construction phase.

See bibliography for other sources

Extent

1 digital object (From album of 114 photographs) : TIFF file.

Existence and Location of Copies

To obtain a high resolution copy of this image please contact the Archive.

Bibliography

‘Fares Please: the horse, steam and cab trams of New Zealand’ by Graham Stewart, REF: LC 388.46 STE

Southland Times, 17 January 1879

Physical Description

Gelatin silver photoprint.

Dimensions

H 149mm x W 200mm

Repository Details

Part of the Invercargill City Libraries and Archives Repository

Contact:
50 Dee Street
Invercargill Southland 9810 New Zealand