The Presence of Pōneke in HNZPT’s Rainbow List
In today’s blog post, Wellington Heritage Festival takes a closer look at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s Rainbow List. Wellington is well represented on the Rainbow List with 18 List entries; many of these sites are open to the public, with several operating as hospitality venues.
The range of Wellington sites is diverse – from the Australian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited Head Office (Former), which was tenanted by Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand in the 2000s, to the site of the former ‘Carmen’s Curios’ store on central Cuba Street run by Wellington transgender activist and entertainer Carmen Rupe. Also included are Katherine Mansfield Birthplace, Lilburn House, Turnbull House, Parliament House and many more.
To find out a bit more about the background to the Rainbow List, we had a fruitful chat with HNZPT’s Rainbow List Project Lead Kerryn Pollock.
When did the Rainbow List start?
Rainbow List came about when Dr Meighen Katz, then a heritage assessment advisor at HNZPT, went on one of Walk Tours NZ’s guided rainbow Wellington walks in 2019. She realised that some of the buildings on the tour were on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero, but that the list entry narratives didn’t talk about their queer histories. And so, Rainbow List was born! The first list entry we updated for the project was the prosaically named Commercial/Retail Building at 288 Cuba Street in Wellington, the location of transgender icon Carmen Rupe’s second-hand shop, ‘Carmen’s Curios’. Carmen is a hugely significant person in our country’s queer history, so this was very fitting. We published the updated list entry for this building in November 2020 – now we have 40 listings tagged with the Rainbow List theme.
Commercial/Retail Building at 288 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington, © Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. A famous tenant of this 1891 building in the 1970s was transgender entertainer and activist Carmen Rupe. Carmen opened several businesses around Pōneke including Carmen’s Curios in the Cuba St shop, which she described as a ‘fascinating old house’.
What inspired the Rainbow List to be created?
We are keenly aware that there are representation gaps in the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero, the national statutory list of historic places. In the ideal world, all New Zealanders would see themselves, their communities and histories represented on it, but it is a work in progress. One of these gaps was queer histories and communities. Addressing representation gaps through thematic projects like Rainbow List, which focuses on recording the hitherto untold stories of places that have already gone through the rigorous heritage listing process, has proved to be very effective.
Do you have favourite stories on the Rainbow List, particularly from the greater Wellington region?
One of my favourite discoveries was that a wee Eastbourne cottage once owned by acclaimed writer Katherine Mansfield’s family (and heritage listed in 1984) was her teenage love nest, the place she took her female lovers Maata Mahupuku and Edie Bendall. Researching the cottage for Rainbow List revealed how important this modest building was in her personal and literary life. Read the list entry for Katherine Mansfield Holiday Cottage to find out more!
Katherine Mansfield Holiday Cottage at 603A Marine Drive, Days Bay, Lower Hutt, © Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. The circa 1905 cottage was a teenage refuge for internationally acclaimed writer Katherine Mansfield. Its secluded position made it the perfect place for assignations with her female lovers Maata Mahupuku and Edie Bendall.
Inspired by this chat, we had another good look at the marvellous Rainbow List too. Some of our favourite entries from the Wellington region were:
List No. 1420 – House (Dr Henry Pollen’s)
House (Dr Henry Pollen's) at 100‐122 Willis Street and Boulcott Street, Wellington, © Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. This house was built in 1902 as the residence and surgery of Dr Henry Pollen. He lived there with his adult daughters Henrietta 'Effie' and Dorothy. Effie’s life partner, poet Ursula Bethell, lived with her at the house in 1909.
List No. 3663 – Queen Victoria Monument
Queen Victoria Monument at Kent Terrace; Cambridge Terrace, Wellington, © Daniel McClymont. As a symbol of colonisation and Victorian morality, the Queen Victoria Monument in Wellington (1903) has often been a site of protest. In 1977, it was the site of a demonstration in support of lesbian visibility on International Women's Day.
List No. 3571 – St Andrew’s on the Terrace
St Andrew’s on the Terrace at 28-30 The Terrace, Wellington, © Alice Houston-Page. St Andrew’s on the Terrace (1923) has a long history of community work and progressive stances and supported the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986. In 2014 the church defied a directive to ban ministers from performing same-sex wedding ceremonies.
List No. 1434 – 'Taj Mahal' Public Toilets (Former)
'Taj Mahal' Public Toilets (Former), Cambridge Terrace and Kent Terrace, Wellington, © Daniel McClymont. This late 1920s building was a popular place for men interested in men when it operated as a public toilet (1929-1966). It later housed The Dome Bar (a queer bar) and is currently occupied by the Welsh Dragon Bar.
List No. 1412 – Orsini's Restaurant (Former)
Orsini's Restaurant (Former) at 201 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington, © Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. This 1901 building was home to Our Bar, a queer restaurant and night spot, in 2007. The bar hosted many events including after parties for women’s rights protests and was a sponsor of Wellington’s lesbian softball club, the Amazons.
HNZPT is always looking for more sites for the Rainbow List, which tell the stories of queer lives in Aotearoa New Zealand. Kerryn Pollock writes in a 2021 Spinoff article, ‘We can remedy some of the silences on our own but [it] is critical that we go outside our own organisation to learn about places of importance to queer communities.’
The sites could be ‘associated with queer lives of the distant or recent past, places that are known about through research, stories handed down through generations, or through lived experience’. Email rainbow@heritage.org.nz to suggest a place for the Rainbow List.
Please note: Information in the image captions has been reproduced from the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga website, with the express permission of HNZPT. This information cannot be further reproduced without the permission of HNZPT.