Hydro – Dreams of the Sea Resort Life

Hydro Grand Hotel. Timaru. TePapa MA_I417454

​In the second instal­ment of a four-part series, Timaru Civic Trust mem­ber Roselyn Fauth looks back at the Hydro Grand Hotel, designed by archi­tect Her­bert Hall.
Last week we stood on Stafford St and looked up at the Ōrari Build­ings. To under­stand that 1925 corner, we can step back 13 years.

In 1912, the Hydro Grand Hotel opened on the corner of Stafford and Sefton streets.

Com­mis­sioned by Wil­liam Ken­neth Mac­don­ald, who also com­mis­sioned the Ōrari Build­ings, and designed by Hall and Marchant (Hall had also designed the Ōrari), it was con­ceived to be the east coast of the South Island’s sea­side resort.

Its style was Edwar­d­ian Baroque with Medi­ter­ranean influ­ence, sim­ilar to the grand hotels of Eng­lish coastal towns such as Brighton and Bournemouth.

Three storeys high, with a cir­cu­lar tower crowned by a domed cupola and view­ing bal­cony, it looked east, facing the view of the alps, the ocean and Car­oline Bay.

It was mod­ern for its time. It had an elec­tric lift, a mech­an­ical freight lift, and hot run­ning water.

The Hydro was named “Hydro” because of a planned hydro­ther­apy or salt water bathing facil­ity.

While it appears that the baths were not com­pleted, the build­ing com­ple­men­ted the sea­side infra­struc­ture devel­op­ing at the Bay.

Bathing sheds had been estab­lished from the 1890s, and ladies and men’s facil­it­ies were expan­ded by 1910, The Car­oline Bay Asso­ci­ation formed in 1911,

The Bay Car­ni­val star­ted in 1912, and by 1920 hot salt­water baths were near­ing com­ple­tion.

The Bay’s pub­lic amen­it­ies com­ple­men­ted the Hydro’s private ambi­tions, and helped to rein­force Timaru’s iden­tity as a coastal resort. By the late 1920s, excur­sion trains brought 25,000 vis­it­ors annu­ally.

Like the Ōrari Build­ings, the Hydro also occu­pied a tri­an­gu­lar site. Guests enjoyed open bal­conies. The ori­ginal ground floor included shops as well as din­ing and a bar.

The Hydro told a story about how Timaru saw itself in 1912. It was a town con­fid­ent enough to ima­gine vis­it­ors arriv­ing by rail and stay­ing by the sea. A town shap­ing its iden­tity around Car­oline Bay.

The build­ing remained part of the streets­cape for dec­ades. After storm dam­age in 1975, and years of decline, it was even­tu­ally demol­ished.

But in 1925, as Timaru developed its com­mer­cial heart of exchange, it also com­pleted something far more endur­ing.

Next week, we turn to the South Can­ter­bury War Memorial, also designed by Her­bert Hall.