The Naval & Family Hotel

On my way home from work this afternoon, I had to stop at the intersection of Karangahape Road and Pitt Street. Diagonally across the intersection from where I waited on my bike was this hotel. I have later looked on a NZ Heritage site for the following information.

Prior to the founding of colonial Auckland in 1840, a track known as Te Ara o Karangahape was used by Maori food gathering parties travelling between the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours. Karangahape Road was created in the 1840s, soon after colonisation. The Karangahape ridge marked the formal southern extent of Auckland township in the nineteenth century. The Naval and Family Hotel was constructed in 1895-1896 on the intersection of Karangahape Road and Pitt Street.

The Naval Hotel, a Georgian-style timber public house built on this site in 1862, was the first licensed premises to be established on Karangahape Road. Within five years, the Naval Hotel was just one of several licensed premises on the thoroughfare; it was destroyed by fire in 1894. The current hotel was erected (1895-1896) in a highly decorative style characteristic of the late-Victorian era. The overall design was more Italianate than that originally conceived. The main facades have round-headed windows on the two upper storeys and the building has a complex, multi-gabled roof. The three main gable ends and adjoining pilasters are topped by decorative orbs. The corner of the building is tapered to address the street junction and incorporates a gabled parapet bearing the name 'The Naval and Family Hotel'.

The building has remained in use as public house, with the main change from the 1890s being the gradual decrease and then closure of the guest accommodation by the end of the 1970s.

The Naval and Family Hotel is architecturally significant as an example of a late-Victorian corner hotel and as a possible example of the work of prolific Auckland architect Arthur Wilson. The strong visual qualities derive from its ornate exterior and corner location within the Karangahape Road streetscape, making it a local landmark. The Naval and Family Hotel has historical significance as a licensed premises building in continuous use for more than a century, and as a place continually occupied by a hostelry for more than 150 years.