Bay Harbour: August 23, 2023

Bay Harbour News Wednesday August 23 2023
16
TREASURES FROM THE PAST
The first Mitre Hotel at the bottom of Canterbury Street, 1865. Te Ūaka The Lyttelton Museum ref.14625.23 https://www.teuaka.org.nz/onlinecollection/1135456
Right – looking down Norwich Quay, early 1900s. Te Ūaka The Lyttelton Museum ref.539.1 https://www.teuaka.org.nz/online-collection/532401
The demise of the mighty Mitre
OVER RECENT weeks, residents
of Ōhinehou Lyttelton
have been observing Frews
Contracting’s ‘bite by bite’ demolition
of the historic Mitre Hotel
on Norwich Quay with mixed
responses.
In recognition of the significance
of the building, it seems
fitting to highlight this very early
1865 image of the original Mitre
Hotel, named, along with the
Quay it flanked, after the Anglican
Bishopric of Norwich.
The dark, two-storey timber
building visible in the centre
of the image is the first Mitre
Hotel, an initiative by Major
Alfred Hornbrook to replace the
unlicensed temporary premises,
which he had been operating
there alongside a boatbuilder and
sailmaker.
Ideally situated near the waterfront
and at the base of the Bridle
Path, it became an important
refreshment and meeting spot
for new migrants in the wave
of the Canterbury Association’s
planned settlement, which began
in earnest with the arrival of
‘The First Four Ships’ in 1850.
The large three-storey stone
structure flanking the waterfront
is the 1864 Hargreaves building,
adjacent to Heywood’s Store.
The 1861 Lyttelton Methodist
(or Wesleyan) Church is visible
above the roofline of the Mitre
Hotel. Sheet piling evident
in front of that structure was
intended to protect the foreshore.
The image itself appears to be
taken from the vantage point
of the ‘Government Jetty’ (also
known as Thomas’ Jetty), the
first to be built in this location.
In April 1850, Canterbury
Association founder John Robert
Godley admired the Mitre Hotel
on his arrival in Lyttelton and
was impressed by it and other facilities
in the fledgling European
settlement.
Integral to the port’s activities,
ship’s labourers or ‘lumpers’
would wait at the Mitre to be
hired and paid. Land and property
sales, postal services, public
meetings, company and society
AGMs, inquests and all manner
of events were held within its
walls, including a dinner to celebrate
Queen Victoria’s birthday
in 1851. The Lyttelton Times was
regularly sprinkled with reports
of licensing breaches by publicans
or barmaids and incidents
of a more or less serious nature,
some but not all involving ‘intoxicating
liquor’.
In 1870 Lyttelton’s ‘Great Fire’
decimated most of the central
and commercial heart of the
township. Savvy action by the
Mitre’s publican in rallying seamen
to create a bucket brigade,
using beer from the hotel’s barrels
to douse the Mitre’s shingled
roof, saved the building from
the ashen fate of many others.
Ironically, just five years later, in
August 1875 the first Mitre Hotel
was totally lost to fire.
A new hotel designed by
architect and engineer John
Sigismund Jacobsen used
native timbers with a gracious
recessed second storey balcony,
curved parapet and substantial
entrance opening onto Norwich
Quay. Proprietor RJ Henry
proudly advertised “first-class
accommodation at moderate
prices” and “every modern
convenience”.
Our second photograph shows
this fine building at the turn of
the century. Amongst numerous
other goings-on, in 1910
Captain Scott’s farewell dinner
was held in the ballroom, prior
to his departure on the British
Antarctic Expedition aboard the
Terra Nova, which would end so
tragically.
Sadly, the second Mitre also
fell victim to fire. Primarily
fuelled by coal, Lyttelton’s airspace
was a distinctly smoggy
one in those days, and fireplace
and chimney fires were common.
It is likely those causes
were behind a fire in 1925, which
caused extensive damage to the
timber building. Repairs were
still being undertaken when the
building was completely gutted
in yet another conflagration in
March 1926.
As a consequence of this fire,
the Licensing Board requested
a change in materials for the
third Mitre Hotel. Built in
1926 for licensee Charles Percy
Cameron (the Cameron family
having owned the hotel since the
late 1870s), it was a substantial
structure of brick and reinforced
concrete, intended to withstand
fire. The new hotel’s open
balcony, curved parapet and
imposing entrance referenced its
timber predecessor, albeit with
an art deco flavour not seen in
the pre-war period of the earlier
building.
The non timber construction
served its purpose in the face
of Lyttelton’s second great fire
of Christmas Eve 1942, which
began in Rhinds Grain Store
along Norwich Quay. This time,
although some neighbouring
buildings were total losses,
the impact on the Mitre was
restricted to shattered windows,
scorched walls and some internal
damage.
The Mitre continued to
provide public house facilities
and first floor accommodation
right through to the1960s. In
the 1970s the New Zealand
Breweries (later Lion Nathan)
took over ownership, and a
distinctive brown ale beer bottle
adorned with a bishop’s mitre
hat came into use; no doubt a
sought-after collection item for
those inclined to such pursuits.
Purchased by the current owners
in 2005 and badly damaged in
the earthquakes of 2010 and
2011, the building was deemed
uneconomic to repair; despite
efforts it did not attract heritage
funding for the significant costs
of repair.
Love it or loathe it, the
demolition of the Mitre marks
a significant loss of what little
remains of colonial architecture
in Ōhinehou Lyttelton. That
the current Mitre has ‘hung on’
so long is probably testament
to its monolithic construction.
Its demise means the British
Hotel on the corner of Oxford
St and Norwich Quay has the
poignant honour of being the
only remaining traditional hotel
building in Lyttelton. The Mitre
Hotel site remains important as
Canterbury’s first commercial
and licensed premises and for
playing host as watering hole,
accommodation provider and
local community gathering spot
for over 150 years.
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