Government Life Building (Former)
148-154 Stafford St & George St
LN:2058 C:2
1925
After a hefty insurance payout and seeing the importance of providing work in the depression, Architects Turnbull & Rule created this amazing Renaissance inspired building in 1928. It was built by A. Kennedy with reinforced concrete and plaster.
The Oxford building was built by the Turnbull family. Intended to be three stories high, the foundations could carry another two floors. It is four stories high. When it opened there were four shops on the ground floor, the corner shop being occupied by Gabites Menswear. The cost of the building was around £10,000.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought about 30% of the potential workforce were unemployed in 1933. Phar Lap was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse whose achievements captured the Australian public's imagination during the early years of the Great Depression. The basics such were hard to come by, living stripped back lifestyles. It was a factor in Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, which lead to the second World War.
Can you find? Union Jack’s
Shows Gabities Corner, Stafford Street, Timaru. Some of the buildings on the left going down are, Refreshment rooms, Ice cream parlour, Nisbet Ltd and Edwards pictures. On the corner of the right side is a tailor shop with a policeman standing on the footpath outside. A few horse drawn carts, two motor cars and some pedestrians and cyclists can be seen.
Tiaki IRN: 130298 Tiaki Reference Number: 1/2-107025-F
Collection: 1/2-107025-F: Stafford Street, Timaru
1880-1884 Looking south from George Street. Coy and Drummond Dunstable House G. & S. Newey/ Parent Record MS-4171/072. Stafford Street, Timaru (1880-1884). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/66686 No known copyright or other restrictions on use exist in this image.
1880s Otago Witness (Newspaper), Cains Terrace, Timaru (1880s). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/62572 No known copyright or other restrictions on use exist in this image. Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the Hocken under these conditions of use.
George Street, Timaru. Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/23495
Gabites Corner, Timaru, N.Z.. Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/23620
1915 Gabities Corner. Stafford St. looking North, Timaru, N.Z. (1915). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/23618 Low quality image. For further information on use of low quality scans and on how to order a high quality image please see conditions of use.
Fischer, Adolf, Timaru - North (1887-1899). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/55671
Use and Copying Conditions. No known copyright or other restrictions on use exist in this image. Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the Hocken under these conditions of use.
Muir & Moodie (Firm), Timaru from Grosvenor Hotel (1904?). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/52769 Use and Copying Conditions No known copyright or other restrictions on use exist in this image. Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the Hocken under these conditions of use.