An opportunity to flaunt the winter raiment of the 1930s Art Deco era comes with Winter Art Deco in Napier this weekend. Photo / NZME
An opportunity to flaunt the winter raiment of the 1930s Art Deco era comes with Winter Art Deco in Napier this weekend. Photo / NZME
Two Winter Art Deco events scheduled for the new Art Deco Centre being established at the former Women’s Rest rooms in Napier’s Memorial Square have been moved because the facilities are not yet ready.
It was a close call in hoping the renovation of the premises would be completed intime for the three-day festival starting on Friday. Art Deco Trust general manager Jeremy Smith conceded it had been a bit “optimistic”.
“But we are only a couple of weeks away,” he said, confirming the trust expects to start moving out of its current site on the corner of Tennyson and Herschell Sts to relocate by the end of July, and be settled in for an official opening planned for late August.
The Women’s Rest, first opened in 1926, was closed to the public in 2013 because of seismic concerns.
Shifted are Saturday daytime events the Fashion Flaunt, now to be held at Napier Stage and Gather, a hire venue at 126 Tennyson St, and the 40th anniversary showing of festival-inspiring documentary The Newest City on the Globe, now to be at the soon-to-be-vacated No 7 Tennyson St site.
The vagaries of winter weather seem to be controlling interest in the weekend, with national weather agency MetService having a “heavy rain watch” in place for Napier and areas north from 4pm Thursday to 6am Friday, easing to mainly fine weather over the next three days, but with temperatures not exceeding 14C.
Smith said interest was picking up, but tickets were still available for the festival’s feature paid-entry event, the Grand Winter Ball on Friday at the Napier War Memorial Centre, and other events.
There’s a possibly intriguing event in the paid-entry, adults-only Beers, Bars and Brothels at the Art Deco Centre Tennyson-Herscell site, from 3.30pm on both Friday and Saturday.
The Napier War Memorial Women's Rest rooms, opened in 1926, a survivor of the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake, closed since 2013 after failing earthquake risk assessment, is now being renovated to reopen as the Art Deco Centre by the end of July, but not in time for Winter Art Deco. Photo / Doug Laing
It will be a nostalgic exploration of social Napier in the 1930s, for which the programme says: “Discover the intriguing tales of not only the bars but also the vibrant world of brothels that thrived in the shadows.”
Numerous dining, musical and festive options are on the programme, along with exhibitions and a large number of tours in the city, by bus, vintage cars, and walking.
Smith said that, while not as big as the Art Deco Festival held in the summer (next on February 19-22, 2026), Winter Art Deco was an opportunity to display the “fine” examples of winter clothing from the Art Deco era.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.
