Wellington Retail Store
Where was it?
This photo is in Te Papa’s collection and is captioned ‘Wellington Retail Store’, dated about 1900.
It is a double height space with a galleried mezzanine. The store sells a wide range of goods: scales, pots, kettles, leather satchels & suitcases, clocks and there is a hammer & gong . There is a tall, glazed, display cabinet to securely display the more dainty items of crockery and china. In the middle aisle there appears to be either some presses or wringers. The rear of the store appears to be lined with mirrors, reflecting the daylight from what is assumed to be the shopfront, behind the camera.
A lady and gentleman customer stand at the counter. She wears a smart blouse with ‘leg of mutton’ sleeves. These were fashionable in the 1890s. He wears a bowler hat, carries a watch on a chain and leans on his cane. Behind the counters are a small army of male and female staff, with boys to fetch and carry. There are seats for customers to rest next to the glazed counter tops, where staff would retrieve any item a customer wanted to examine.
The two unique items in the photo are the display of birdcages and secondly, what appears to be an early fire sprinkler system.
Hanging above and parallel to the counter, and also running around the upper gallery, is what appears to be sprinkler pipework. The Wellington railway goods shed had sprinklers fitted in 1888. Sargood Son & Ewen had the Grinnell Automatic Sprinkler installed in their warehouse in 1900. But there is no record of sprinklers being installed in a shop in the 1890s. Did Sargood Son & Ewen have a retail outlet at their warehouse on Jervois Quay? Could this be their shop?
The gallery is lined with bird cages. In 1890, Walter Nathan & Co advertised that they had received twelve cases of American bird cages in assorted styles, which were available for purchase from their warehouse on Lambton Quay. Also advertising birdcages in the 1890s were E.W. Mills & Co (1891), George Winder (1891), Walter Nathan (1892), John Duthie & Co (1892) etc. There are no photos of their interiors to make the match.
Without some more tangible evidence, the ownership of the store remains a mystery, but a wonderfully detailed image to make a study of.
Update: the image appears to be the interior of Wilkins & Field which was an ironmongers store located in Willis Street. See image at the bottom of this page.
Wellington Retail Store, circa 1900, Wellington, maker unknown. Te Papa (O.026208) (the original image is a stereoscopic photograph)
Interior of Wilkins & Field's retail showroom. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, 1897, p. 720.
From https://thenewzealandjournal.blogspot.com/2009/04/wilkins-and-field-ironmongers-manners.html
View of Wilkins & Field building in Manners Street, Wellington. A horse drawn covered wagon is outside. Photo Collection Reference Number 114607. Courtesy of Nelson Museum.