Truly amazing that while New Zealand is about nature, and the beautiful landscape, by quite a surprise there is a town Napier, that is truly Art Deco style!

Here’s typical scenery in New Zealand. Just incredible!

And then you have this Art Deco town, Napier.

1925

Originating in Europe, in the early 20th century the Art Deco style became widely known following the great Exposition de Arts Moderness Decoratifs et Industriels held in Paris in 1925 and from which its name was ultimately derived.

1931

The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47 am on Tuesday 3 February 1931 devastating the Hawke's Bay region. It remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster.

Nowhere else can you see such a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and above all Art Deco, the style of the 20th Century - in such a concentrated area.

Napier's Art Deco is unique, with Maori motifs and the buildings of Louis Hay, admirer of the great Frank Lloyd Wright.

Enhanced by palms and the angular Norfolk Island pines which are its trademark, and surrounded by fertile fruit and grape growing plains, dramatic hills and the shores of the South Pacific, beautiful Napier is the centre of the Hawke's Bay region…also good white wine! :)