Frederick Rouse & Henry Hurrell
Coachbuilders
The business was started in 1874 in Courtenay Place by William Black, adjacent to the Cobb and Co. depot. It was then purchased by Frederick Rouse in 1880 and subsequently became Rouse & Hurrell.
Among some of their work was:
1884 - A landau for Mr James Gallagher which had an interior trimmed in green and blue and a bell fixed under the driver’s seat which could be rung from inside the carriage.
1886 – A baker’s cart for Messrs Ewen & Churchill. The sides contain representation of the Royal Arms and the back is a Prince of Wales’ feather. ‘The colouring is excellent and the ensemble highly artistic’
1888 – Palace cars to run along the tram lines.
In 1892, Henry and Frederick dissolved the business. Henry re-established the business under the same name with Edward Crawley and Arthur Petherick.
In 1897 the company built a three-storey brick building on Courtenay Place for their business. It was 25,000 square feet. At that stage they employed 40 ‘hands’. There was a display room on the first floor, although no indication as to how they moved the carriages to this level.
To ensure perfect seasoning, a three year stock of imported wood was kept on hand. Every vehicle was submitted to a rigid test before being allowed to leave the premises. They also stocked bicycles including ‘Workmen’s Bicycles’ which had a rough finish but were said to be of the best materials to stand the wear and tear of traffic.
In 1908 the company began to import Ford Cars and a few years later was taken over by the Colonial Motor Company. This company focussed solely on cars and in 1922 opened a nine storey plant building New Zealand Ford cars. The original part of this building can be seen from York Street (the Courtenay Place side has been reclad).
Henry Hurrell was born in Suffolk, England in 1856. He came to New Zealand aged 17 and apprenticed himself at coachbuilding. He worked his way up to a partnership with Frederick Rouse and continued the firm Rouse and Hurrell for 25 years. He died in 1929 at his home in Glenmore Street.
Frederick Rouse was born in 1842. After leaving Rouse & Hurrell, he became a coach builder for Messrs Black & Son in Taranaki Street. He died in 1926.
Both are buried at Karori Cemetery.
Rouse and Hurrell coachbuilders, Courtenay Place, Wellington. Original photographic prints and postcards from the file print collection, Box 17. Ref: PAColl-7489-56. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22674946
Detail from above photo.
New Zealand Mail, 2 December 1896
Evening Post, 3 December 1896
Copy print made 9 January 1987. This was the the first Wellington-built electric tram (Refer to Always a Tram in Sight, by Graham Stewart). 1905-06. Wellington City Council Archives, 00291-5356-26
NZ Mail, 19 August 1903.
[Colonial Motor Company Building, Wellington]. Lithgow, Robert William, fl 1980s :Photographs of buildings constructed by the Hansford & Mills Construction Co., and of the Kairuru marble quarry. Ref: PA1-q-144-057. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22452064