Art Deco Napier: Styles of the Thirties

"Art Deco Napier: Styles of the Thirties" is the story of how Napier, New Zealand became a world center for Art Deco architecture after the city was ravaged by an earthquake and fires in 1931. Napier's reconstruction coincided with the heyday of Art Deco as an architectural influence, and the resulting collection of public and private buildings has brought international recognition and many thousands of visitors to the city. Peter Shaw, one of New Zealand's best known architectural historians, outlines how architects developed Napier's unique character through the difficult years of the Great Depression. His text is illustrated with the superb photography of Peter Hallett, whose work captures the bold outlines of concrete, stucco, wrought iron, and bas-reliefs used so distinctively in Napier. In this enlarged fifth edition of "Art Deco Napier: Styles of the Thirties" both the text and photographs have been revised to reflect the ongoing restoration of Napier's remarkable Art Deco townscape.