Wright Stephenson

This is 39 Maclaggan Street

No need to spend time guessing the purpose of this building as it is clearly displayed along side the name of the company.

If your have read the National Mortgage and Agency entry then you have already come across Wright Stephenson as they eventually merged with NMA.

The company was founded in 1861 3 years prior to NMA and again like them was founded out of London. It grew to be a significant stock and station agency as well as an exporter of NZ produce principally to England.

The name in part carries on in the form of PGG Wrightson

The following photos provide a glimpse into the building when it was working in its intended role. It has now been converted into retail space.

Horse Sales 1890

Skin and Hide Sale 1902

Another Wright Stephenson building but this time in Lawrence

Donald Stuart

This is 82 Bond Street

The current inhabitants certainly take the prize for the most creative use of a previous name, given that this building now contains artists’ studios and a small art gallery.


Donald Stuart is a name that should be more famous in Dunedin as the man that among other things founded the University of Otago; however this is not the same Donald Stuart but a name sake.

This Donald Stuart was a Tea merchant, (the other one was a Minister) and apart from that a keen rubgy man it seems. This is taken from the NZ Truth newspaper 7 June 1928.



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The 1905 Dave Gallahers team mentioned in the article is of course "The Originals" the first All Black team (and the tour that gave them that name). It is not surprising that he was a little ticked off about missing out on selection for that team.

Don's name lives on in Otago rugby circles as there is a Donal Stuart Memorial Sheild which is played for each time Otago and Southland play each other.

On the LM Wright & Company Web Site (http://www.lmwright.co.nz/company.htm ) they note that the founder Leonard Wright worked for Donald Stuart upon arriving in New Zealand at the tender age of 19 before establishing his own tea business two years later. That company LM Wright & Co is currently run by Alistair Wright the son of Leonard.

The companies’ office shows Donald Stuart Limited founded in 1914 still alive (if not that active as far as I can tell) and majority owned by Owen Wright (with Alistair having a very minor shareholding). So it appears that in the fullness of time the Wright family has come to own the company that gave Leonard his start in the business.

Otago Daily Times Store

This is 47 Cresswell Street

The building is a lot larger that then picture suggests but I liked this photo.

The Evening Star Store (the ex Massey-Harris Store in the last entry) is across the road form this building as it runs from Willis St through to Cresswell Street. Apart from both of these companies being Newspapers the other connection is that they are now both owned by Allied Press and while the Evening Star has been reduced to a twice weekly community give away newspaper the Otago Daily Times is still going strong as a daily paper.
A short history of the newspaper is to be found on their web site here  http://www.alliedpress.co.nz/history.php

These stores were (and probably still are) for storing bulk newsprint which as a large and heavy commodity was likely shipped in, hence the location handy to the wharfs. I think these days it arrives by rail.

Massey-Harris Co Ltd

This is 60 Willis Street

And despite what it says now it was the Massey-Harris Co Ltd Store, the Massey-Harris part has been chipped off leaving only the Store part cast in stone, however if you look closely in this photo which is the other end of the building you can make out the original inscription

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Massey-Harris is now what we know as Massey Ferguson most famous these days for farm equipment, however I did find this on my travels

From the Otago Witness 1907

So I will leave it to you to decide if this store was full of bicycles or farm equipment

Pagonis

This is 191 Princes Street

With an uncommon name like Pagonis you would think it would be easy to track something down on this but alas no to date all I know is that the full name of the firm was A & G Pagonis Limited and the company later changed its name to Waldorf Milk Bar Limited.

So I am left to assume it was a Milk Bar at some stage.

I did find a Wellington based D Pagonis who was moving his Black and White Milk bar from Willis to Cuba Street. With such an uncommon name (in NZ) you would have to suspect that these folk were related and it seems involved in the family business of Milk Bars.

As the concept of a Milk Bar has now disappeared into history, it was pretty much what it says and in todays terms is a cafe

This picture paints a thousand words

'The Golden Gate Milk Bar', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/golden-gate-milk-bar, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 6-Jul-2009

Thomson Bridger and Co Ltd

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This is 216 Princes Street

The extract below taken from the Cyclopedia of NZ to be found here http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc04Cycl-t1-body1-d2-d36-d13.html tells the tale.

Thomson, Bridger and Co., Ltd. , (James Cox Thomson and Walter Gow, Managing Directors), Ironmongers, Hardware, and Timber Merchants, and Woodware Manufacturers: Wholesale and Retail establishment, 144 Princess Street; Factory and Iron Yard. 54–62 Bond Street, Dunedin. P.O. Box. 119. Branch at Dee Street, Invercargill.
The large business conducted by this firm was established in the early sixties by Messrs Guthrie and Larnach, and was afterwards conducted by the Dunedin Iron and Woodware Company, Limited, till 1887, when the extensive premises in Princes Street South, which at that time were being used by the company for the conduct of their manufacturing and general trade, were totally destroyed by fire. It was soon after that disastrous event that Messrs Thomson. Bridger and Co. became purchasers.
In 1894 Mr. Bridger died, and Mr. Gow, who was formerly manager of Messrs Briscoe and Co.'s Dunedin house, joined the firm in April, 1898. In the following year, having purchased the stock of Messrs Walter Guthrie and Co., Limited, from the liquidators of that business, a branch was established in Invercargill, under the management of Mr. James Allan, one of the partners.
The firm was turned into a limited liability company in 1902, with Messrs Thomson and Gow, as managing directors, and Mr. James Allan continuing the management of the Invercargill branch. Messrs Thomson, Bridger and Co., Limited, are direct importers of all classes of ironmongery and hardware, and their business extends throughout the colony. The Princes Street premises are used for offices and wholesale and retail departments. There are two large double-fronted shops with plate-glass windows, one entrance having been closed to make additional window space for displaying stock. The wholesale department is on the first and second floors and in the cellar.
The iron yard is in Bond Street, where iron, steel, and other metals, and heavy goods are stocked, and where the firm manufactures spouting, ridging, and fencing standards. The timber yards and woodware factory are also in Bond Street; and the factory is provided with up-to-date plant for sawing, planing, and moulding, bending, and turning, and other appliances for conducting the manufacture of all cases of woodware, including door sashes and all kinds of joinery, also rims, spokes, naves, felloes, shafts, dairy plant and machinery, churns, butter workers, cheese and milk vats, tallow cases, butter cases, kegs, etc., etc.

249 Cumberland Street

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This is 249 Cumberland Street

Strictly speaking this doesn't fit my crieteria ( I am begining to suspect there will be a few of these) as there is no name on the building, however there is the flag which makes a bit of a statement.

The flag depicted is the Royal Standard and judging by the size of the harp and the likely age of the building it is probalby the Royal Standard of Queen Victoria. (the standards of all the monarchs up to and including Queen Elizabeth have been virtually identical save for some stylistic changes)

The reason I find this interesting is potentially not just any one can use this image as per this entry on the Flags of the World web site.

"The propriety of flying the Royal Standard became an issue when preparations for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Queen's accession were planed in 1897. Those who asked the Home Office for permission to fly the Royal Standard, were told that only Her Majesty, members of the Royal Family and certain Public Departments were entitled to fly the Royal Standard, but no action was taken against those who flew it without requesting permission.

David Prothero, 11 April 2007"

So who or what was in this building that they felt they had the right to not only use the royal standard but cast it into the fabric of the building. As it doesn't appear to be a grand enough building for anything particularly royal perhaps it is a simple as it was built by a zealous royalist.
 
As always information from someone more knowledgable than me would be appreciated.

Bezett and Sons Butchers

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This is 214 Main South Road Green Island

I believe the Bezett in the title was Ted Bezett and the son would be Brian Bezett, there may have been more than one son originally but I believe in the end it was just Brian running the family business. On the other hand given that Ted had 7 sons he may just have been being hopeful when he named the business.

This business was probably run originally as a sole trader by Ted and was incorporated in 1967 (potentially by Brian) and finally ceased trading in 2001, a likely victim of the trend towards supermarket meat counters rather than specialist butchers. Ironically the sign Super Value in the window is an advert for the supermarket which is next door.

The Bezett name is still prominent in Dunedin with John Bezett (one of the & Sons) being a long standing city councillor.

W Gregg and Company Ltd

This is Riego Street, Dunedin

As can be seen this building has seen better days and appears to be unused except perhaps for storage, it is however the corner building of a much larger site still occupied by Greggs and in production producing coffee.

A short history is to be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg's_(New_Zealand) which tells us that Greggs was established in 1861.
Another article on Greggs here http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc04Cycl-t1-body1-d2-d43-d9.html from the Cyclopedia of New Zealand published in 1905 amused me somewhat with this reference "Messrs W. Gregg and Co. make it a standing rule that not one ounce of anything adulterated leaves any of their factories" It then goes on to observe later in the article that the company has a "chicory farm of fifty-six acres, and drying kiln are situated on Inchclutha" In case you not already aware chicory is a coffee substitue and while it may have been sold as such I suspect (without knowing I admit) that it was added to the coffee potentially to make it more affordable.

The cyclopedia article also makes reference to the business being in Rattray Street, and "at Pelichet Bay, convenient to rail and wharf" this last reference is the current site which has the main address of Forth Street these days and the name Pelichet Bay is no longer in usage as it refers to what is now Logan Park which was filled in and reclaimed.

There is also a link between one of our earlier entries The Malt Extract Company, where Greggs was a substaintial shareholder from 1965 until 1990 when it sold out of this business.

Progress Printing

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This is 118 Albany Street

And that is about all I can tell you about this one. There is a company registered as Progress Print operating in Dunedin trading under the name of Speed Print, which sounds promising except that it was only registered in 1996.
Sadly the print industry is littered with companys that have gone into liquidation and so potentially this slightly altered version of the name is the pheonix that rose from Progress Printing (with the ing) ashes.

The other mention of  Progress Printing I have found is related to a Wellington company but this company also seems to have been a short lived affair before it changed its name, so it seem unlikely it was around long enough to acquire a Dunedin operation much less put its name on a building.

So without some help from you out there this will remain a mystry for now.

The bar that inhabits the building now is very popular with staff and students alike from the university across the road.

Federated Farmers

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This is 27 St Andrew Street

While a little hard to see in the picture it proudly proclaims the building as Federated Farmers and an impressive enough building it is to my eyes. Why the Federation abadond this building in favour of Harvest Court which is to be found about half a block away on 218 George Street, which they owned at one point and given the name of the building may well have had built is unknown to me. They now own neither building which probably reflects a different style of operating given that Federated Farmers is still very much alive and ticking.

Federated Farmers is the current incarnation of The New Zealand Farmers Union which was formed on 1 September 1899 at Kaitaia, Northland. Apart from a historic fact it is ironic to note that Federated Farmers dominante position as represenative of farmers in NZ is under attack by a group called Farmers of New Zealand Inc. Ironic as this group also hails from Northland. If you look at this newsletter of theirs from 2008 http://www.newzealandfarmers.com/files/FONZ%20Jan%2008%20Newsletter.pdf (page 3) they are also claiming the same  heritage that Federated Farmers do, due to the Northland link.