Queen Street in Richmond

Queen Street is the long street that runs through the heart of Richmond, from the foothills in the east, to the Waimea River in the west. As the commercial centre of Richmond, Queen Street has naturally seen many changes over the decades. Countless businesses have come and gone, but some of the buildings constructed to house them have had a lasting presence.

The Henley Store

2 Salisbury Road, northeast corner of Queen Street and Salisbury Road, Richmond. 1910 to the present

The Henley Store was originally built in 1910-11 by Herbert Lusty and his apprentice Wilfred Busch for Herbert’s brother Francis (Frank) Lusty Jr..  The general store and tearooms was a family affair with Frank’s wife, daughter and other family members assisting in the business. The store served the families in the Upper Queen Street Henley area, and was an important meeting place for that zone.¹

Herbert Newport took over the business in 1920, and ran it until his death in 1931, after which the building had a number of owners and operators. Mr Goddard established a second hand shop in the building, and today it operates as the Richmond Antiques & Curios.²

Warring’s Garage

231-235 Queen Street, Richmond. 1926 – 1969

John Warring (known as Jack) established the first petrol station in Richmond. He started his business in 1923, with a bicycle shop near the Gladstone Road intersection with Queen Street. In 1926 seeing the potential market in motor vehicles, he moved his bicycle business further up Queen Street and extended it to sell petrol in four-gallon tins. Later he employed a motor mechanic and installed petrol pumps.

By Council decree, the garage had to be equipped with a large wooden turntable, so that cars entering the site for service could be turned around on the platform and exit onto the street front first, rather than backing out, which was seen as a danger.³

After Jack retired, the business passed to his son in law Ray Williams, and later to Mr Porter, until it finally closed in 1969. Around that time, the family sold the land at the rear of the business for development, with a clause that a free car park would be established for the public as well – this exists today as the Warring Car Park.

The family home was built next door to the garage, and the house still stands today. At some point, the house was divided into commercial stores, and over the years, it has been tenanted by many businesses including real estate agents, and a succession of travel agents.⁴

The Star & Garter

252 Queen Street, Richmond. 1846 to the present

The Star and Garter is one of the oldest hotels in New Zealand still operating on its original site and (mostly) still using its original name.  It was originally built as the home of William Harkness and in 1845 the building was remodelled and expanded. By 1846 The Star and Garter had been granted a licence to sell beer, wine and spirits and was operating as an hotel.

According to varying accounts, the Star and Garter was named after either an inn or hotel in his home town of Richmond-on-Thames, or in a tongue-in-check manner after a grand hotel of the same name in London.

The original wooden building was set back from the road and had many alterations over its first century. Most of the building, excluding the bar itself, was gutted by fire in May 1950, and a roughcast building was built to replace it in 1953.⁵

The Brick Building

265 Queen Street, Richmond. c.1920s-2007

Thought to have been built by G. M. Rout and Sons in the 1920s, the regal brick building in central Queen Street housed numerous businesses.  Tenants included the Waimea Electric Power Board, who had their first office on the upper floor of the building in the 1930s.

The building is most often associated with Dentist Raymond Burnet Beresford (Known as Burnie). He ran a dental clinic in the building for over fifty years, from May 1948 until December 2003, when he retired due to ill health.

In 2007 the brick building was demolished. With its unreinforced brickwork walls and simple wooden construction, it was seen as a potential earthquake risk.⁶

Gladstone House

315 Queen Street. Southeast corner of Queen Street and Gladstone Road, Richmond. 1857-2003

In 1857, a large two-storied general store and drapery opened on the southeast corner of Gladstone Road and Queen Street. Operated by Thomas Hodder and George Talbot, a sign on the building identified it as Gladstone House, although it appears to have been referred to more often as Hodder’s Store, or Hodder's Corner and later on it was known as May’s.

William R. May purchased the business in 1893, and by mid-1897, had expanded the business and built a butter factory and a bacon factory nearby.  May’s store sold a large range of goods, from basic groceries like flour and eggs, to axes and farm supplies, to crockery and luxury goods like music boxes, dolls and 21 different kinds of sweets! May’s also employed a large number of workers. At the turn of the century, there were 54 seamstresses employed in the dressmaking department upstairs alone.⁷

In 1944 the business was sold to Les Wells and Joe Hill and they renamed it Waimea Stores and set about modernising parts of the building.  The building was later sold to Mr King-Turner who opened a second hand business in around 1970. For the next thirty of so years the building housed a variety of businesses and shops including a Tattoo and Body Piercing, Village Cycles and briefly Radio Fifeshire.

In January 2003 the building was demolished by owner David Lucas as it was becoming difficult to maintain because of its age. The 1656sq m site retail was sold and is today the site of a retail complex and car park.⁸

The Railway Hotel

321 Queen Street, Richmond. 1883 –2009

Located on the corner of Queen Street and Gladstone Rd, the Railway Hotel was well placed to attract customers from the Railway Station across the road. It also catered well to country folk, providing stables for customer’s horses, and a large stockyard on site where weekly sales of cattle and sheep were held.¹⁰

The Railway Hotel building had many renovations and alterations over the years, until last drinks were called in June 2009. Being in a prime location the building was demolished to make way for a McDonald’s drive through and multi-store food outlets.¹¹

2017

Updated, August 16, 2022.

Story by: Tasman District Libraries

Queen Street Richmond