Napier - Art Deco Walk

After the earthquake in 1931 the town was rapidly rebuilt, largely in the art-deco and Spanish-mission styles then in fashion in the United States. The result was a unique assemblage of buildings in these styles (now protected as national monuments), comparable only with the Art Deco District of Miami. The Napier architect Louis Hay, who played a major part in the rebuilding of the town, was strongly influenced by the American architects Henry H Richardson, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan. Among the first buildings erected after the earthquake were the Masonic Hall (1932 by WJ Prouse of Wellington) and the Criterion Hotel (by EA Williams).