63 and free

February 3rd, 1931 broke as a beautiful, sunny day in Napier. Kids were headed back to school after a long summer vacation. The long north-south oriented sand spit that had been packed the day before was largely empty. The huge, shallow lagoon behind the spit (Ahuriri lagoon) that had been used for canoe races the day before was calm and peaceful.

The world changed at 10:47 am, when an earthquake of equal strength to the one that leveled San Francisco earlier that century (~7.8 on the Richter scale) tore into this little corner of paradise. The first shock lasted a full minute, toppling or damaging every building. It then stopped for 30 seconds, and unfortunately the survivors crept out…then it started again for another minute, finishing the job. For the next 2 days, some 400+ aftershocks hit, fires raged and people tried to survive.

It is called “The day that changed the Bay”. Literally, because the land was upthrust 8′, draining the lagoon and destroying the city, and figuratively; in damage and human cost (257+ dead) and thousands wounded.

The photos give one a small sense of what happened. This was before:

The event and the aftermath:

Thousands were evacuated, but many stayed. The decision was made to rebuild here; to not abandon the area.

This was the depression, so Napier had no shortage of workers…

Four years later, the Kiwis had rebuilt the city.

Impressive spirit to say the least.

As luck would have it, this rebuilding of an entire city occurred during the immense popularity of the “Arts Décoratifs” architectural style (from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris), aka “Art Deco”.

So, you guessed it: Napier is an Art Deco paradise. The architecture is fabulous and they have an “Art Deco” festival where everyone dresses up in their 1920’s and 30’s costumes and parties like the Stampede in Calgary! Old cars and pram races. Flappers and “The Charleston”.

We went on a walking tour. It was amazing.

They almost tore down all the Art Deco buildings in the early 80’s, before coming to their senses. This is a city frozen in time. If you love Art Deco, put Napier on your bucket list.