Cuba Street Wellington
By Helen Frances
Cuba Street is one of the arteries of Wellington’s CBD. The area pulses to a more bohemian beat than neighbouring Willis and Manners Streets, or Courtenay Place, and at full moon the upper reaches pound to the rhythm of drummers at a local bar.
Tattooists, buskers, the occasional street vendor and zany boutiques vie there for a living and bring a picturesque element to the street.
The blue sky and sun of a fine Wellington day are perfectly framed by the older Edwardian and Italianate “character” buildings that line the street. People look relaxed, strolling along the warm brick paving in Cuba Mall. Children play on the slide next to the sugar bucket fountain or dabble in the water while regular sloshing from the fountain’s buckets punctuates the chat and clatter of bars and cafes.
A quirky fawn wearing sunglasses in the window of Hunters and Collectors pre-loved clothing shop catches the eye. The outer, upper levels of the brick building built in 1908, need a scrub up but inside the freshly painted, pressed-tin ceilings look smart.
Further on, Ziggurat Fashion Exchange displays a gorgeous range of contemporary label, classic and vintage clothing and Carly Harris’s clothing shop in The Vic building with its Art Deco, sunburst façade, is as usual something of an Aladdin’s cave.
There are a number of other boutiques that design and make their own distinctive styles. The street has undergone changes over the years. A few decades ago Cuba Street was the only place you could buy salami, olives and gherkins, and a little Greek sweet shop sold home made, melt in the mouth Turkish Delight. Carmen, the diva of Wellington night life, used to sail up and down the street in her own inimitable version of wearable art, a massive black wig sprouting from her head, false eye lashes, bright pink lips and a floral frock.
Cuba Street is cosmopolitan on a small scale with the occasional Anglo-Saxon take on spelling. For example the Pattiserie sign above Dorothy’s is spelt with two t’s, rather than the standard one, but their hand made chocolates are tasty – the result of Dutch, French and Kiwi teamwork. Floriditas, the cafe opposite, also has a continental feel while cafe/restaurants, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Cordoba and Fidel’s (as in Castro) add a Latin flavour.
The name, Cuba, has apparently nothing to do with the Spanish speaking country of which Castro is president. Cuba Street derives its name from the second of eight New Zealand Company ships, which brought a survey party from England in 1839 to speculate for land, an activity that would have more in common with Spanish conquistadors than communist cooperatives. At present bulldozers are ploughing through a trench for a bypass road that has been the source of controversy since 1994 when it was proposed to replace a more expensive motorway extension mooted in 1963.
Cuba Street and other Wellington residents, businesses, and lobby groups fought hard to save the unique character of the area and many of the heritage buildings have been retained or moved a few metres to make way for the road. A bright yellow box that was, until recently, the anarchist Freedom Shop has been kept. The historic, one roomed shop was built in 1896 for Kate Tonks, a local businesswoman who raised five children after husband Henry died in 1885. Kate also built an estimated five houses in Tonks Grove, which later became Tonks Avenue.
Some of the houses were built from packing cases used by early settlers to ship out their belongings. Others, called the "masters’ houses" were made of more solid native timber such as kauri and rimu. Nineteen of these buildings are being restored to their original state inside and out with the benefits of modem technology and restoration expertise. While it has destroyed much of the older character of the area, the roading project has dug up more of its history which will be signposted and of interest both to locals and visitors.
