Judy and Graham Sutherland of Napier reliving some of the past in the first dance in the refurbished Assembly Hall. Photo / Ian Cooper
Judy and Graham Sutherland of Napier reliving some of the past in the first dance in the refurbished Assembly Hall. Photo / Ian Cooper
The start of a new era after eight years of turmoil for the focal point of performing arts and civic events in Hastings has been celebrated with a weekend of events to mark the opening of the Hastings Municipal Building.
Part of the rebranded Toitoi Hawke's Bay Arts and EventsCentre, the building and adjacent Opera House were shut down suddenly in 2014 after failing to meet building standards as ageing structures throughout the country were put under the microscope following the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, which attracted over 650,000 insurance claims and became globally one of the biggest-ever insurance costs.
It left the Hastings District Council with decisions to make over whether to demolish buildings which had dominated the eastern end of the CBD and the sector of Hasting St between Heretaunga St East and Eastbourne St East for the last century.
Originally opened in 1915, the Opera House was extensively damaged in the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake but survived with major repairs and then major restoration in the 1990s, followed by the latest closure of six years before it reopened in 2020.
The Hastings Municipal Building reopening with kaumātua Jerry Hapuku (foreground left) in the Assembly Hall pohiri on Saturday. Photo / Ian Cooper
The Municipal Buildings opened in 1916 and were for 60 years the home of the Hastings Borough Council, later a city council and from which the district council emerged 33 years ago, including the former Havelock North Borough and a large portion of the Hawke's Bay County.
The weekend celebrations comprised a mid-morning Saturday pohiri, open-day tours and activities on Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday evening's nostalgic "last dance, first dance", marking part of the Assembly Ballroom's most popular uses for balls and soirees.
Some of the history of the Municipal Buildings and Assembly Hall was recounted by Hawke's Bay historian Michael Fowler on Sunday.
Dance performer and choreographer Nerida Cortese introducing children to dance during a Saturday-afternoon prelude to things to come in the Assembly Hall. Photo / Ian Cooper
The precinct now includes ground-floor shops which started opening a month ago as the construction-site fencing came down to expose the results of the transformation.
