Promenade

Description

Photo caption – “MARINE PARADE   NAPIER”

Tea rooms and Marine Parade Private Hotel on left; newly-built colonnade on right

The Colonnade was erected in 1937 to form an enclosure in front of the Soundshell.
The landscape group of Soundshell, Colonnade, Veronica Sunbay, Skating Ring and the gardens form the only public memorial in Napier commemorating the 1931 earthquake. So it is very fitting that these structures are built above a foundation of rubble removed from the devastated town centre and deposited on the beach in 1931-32.
Providing the equivalent of a town square, the area framed within the Colonnade is a popular area for events that include open-air concerts. Vintage cars park up here during Art Deco Weekend, attracting a steady stream of admirers.
Designed by Napier architect J T Watson, The Colonnade and Sound Shell were projects undertaken by the Thirty Thousand Club.

The northern-most entry is the Robert C Wright Arch. The inscription above the name reads: “The pathway to power lies through service”
The middle entry is the New Napier Arch. The inscription above the name reads: “Courage is the thing: all goes if courage goes”
The southern entry is the Harold Latham Arch. The inscription above the name reads: “Without vision the people perish”