3C Yesterday

Located on the southern edge of Chews Lane at the intersection with Victoria St, 3C Bar & Restaurant is a proud testament to Wellington’s journey from pioneer settlement to vibrant modern city.

The Colonial Carrying Company of NZ

The Company was incorporated in 1893 as customs & freight forwarding agents, transporting goods to & from the four corners of the world.

The Company Building

Number 56 Victoria Street is a fine example of the work of well-known colonial architects C T Natusch & Sons. Designed in the Free Gothic style, the six-storey building has provided office space & warehouse storage since its construction for the Colonial Carrying Company in 1927. The building’s architectural features of brackets, shallow segmented arches & the high stud with long opening steel windows, are hallmarks of the Gothic Revival Style. The building is in near-authentic condition – the original plastered ceilings & walls were left exposed & refinished, while the ornate timber & marble panelled lobby, stairs & lift were restored.

History of Chews Lane

1840	Chews Lane origins are as part of the foreshore of the great harbour of Te Whanganui a Tara
1842	A portion of ‘The Beach’ - a foreshore walkway along Wakefield’s new city of Wellington - between Clay Point & Te Aro is named Willis Street
1852	Part of Willis Street, between today’s Chews Lane & Mercer Street, is widened by reclamation
1857-63	A further northern portion of Willis Street is widened, creating a channel of water between the two reclamations known as Harbour Passage (later to become Chews Lane)
	John Chew arrives in New Zealand
1865	Wellington becomes the seat of Government
1870	The Duke of Edinburgh Hotel is built on the corner of Manners & Willis Street
1875	John Chew purchases land on the second Willis Street reclamation - the land-filled corner section previously known as Harbour Passage. The lane becomes known as Chews Lane
1876	John Chew opens the buildings on his Willis Street site
1879	The first known map identifying Chews Lane is published in Wellington
1882	John Chew’s Willis Street/Chews Lane buildings are destroyed by fire
1883	New buildings are designed by John Chew for the same site
1888	John Chew dies at Crofton, near Wellington
1906	The Hotel Windsor is built on the corner of Chews Lane & Willis Street
2004	Wellington City Council sells the Chews Lane Precinct
2005	Chews Lane Precinct redevelopment commences
2008	Chews Lane re-opens to the public.

John Chew – Man of Business

Born in Middleton, Lancashire in 1825, John Chew came to New Zealand in 1858 & settled in Wellington. He bought land in Ngaio & built a home for his family (Chew Cottage). He also purchased land & ownership of the Kaiwharawhara timber business & quickly established himself as a leading businessman in the city, who some today describe as “Wellington’s Father of Industry”.

Chew’s city timber yard was sited in Willis Street, on the corner of what would become Chews Lane. He also owned timber mills in Wairarapa & Porirua & was involved in gold mining & pig-iron production from the Taranaki iron sands. As well as his business interests Chew was a member of the Hutt County Council & the Wellington Harbour Board, & was associated with the Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company. During his active trading days he also imported domestic, commercial, industrial & agricultural machinery.

Wellington’s Reclamations – the birth of Chews Lane

Today’s maps of Wellington show the city’s oldest streets – Lambton & Thorndon Quays & Willis Street – to be some distance from the waterfront. Land was scarce from early settlement & public access to the harbour was restricted to the narrow harbour’s edge, which was named ‘The Beach’. The need for expansion into the harbour was increasingly evident.

The first sizable reclamations took place in the 1850s. The Sir George Gray’s Reclamation of 1852, & the later 1857-1863 reclamation, widened the whole of lower Willis Street establishing a water channel, the ‘Harbour Passage’, which was later filled & renamed Chews Lane. By the end of the 1870s about 70 acres of land had been reclaimed using spoil from the hills behind Lambton Quay & from Wadestown Hill. The new seawalls ran almost in a straight line from the bottom of Willis Street to Pipitea Point (Thorndon).

Willis & Victoria Streets – the heart of Wellington

Chews Lane has linked the ever-busy Willis & Victoria Streets since the 1870s. Neighbouring buildings on Willis Street - predominantly retail & commercial premises - largely date back to the 1870s, while Victorian/Edwardian warehouses & offices of importers & wholesalers dominated Victoria Street.

A bustling centre for merchants & traders, by 1858, Wellington already had 25 hotels serving a population of just 2000 adults. From its earliest years Willis Street was home to well known establishments, including: The Empire Hotel, built in the 1850s; The Duke of Edinburgh, on the corner of Willis & Manners Streets; The Melbourne Hotel, built in the 1870s & replaced with the Carlton Hotel in 1901 after a fire; The Trocadero Hotel, which by 1897 was considered to have one of the best restaurants in Australasia; The Grand Hotel, built in 1906 on a Willis Street site which had been the location of three previous hotels; & the Windsor Hotel, built in 1906 on the corner of Chews Lane.

Very few of Wellington’s original hotels remain but today the heart of Wellington again abounds with cafes, bars & restaurants.

Chews Lane Redevelopment

Wellington City Council sold the Chews Lane Precinct in 2004 by way of a 250-year lease. The precinct then comprised nine commercial building intersected by Chews Lane. The Willis Bond & Co Limited proposal accepted by Council was to create a new ‘mixed use’ destination in the city, including retail stores, food & beverage outlets, offices, carparks & apartments, while retaining the heritage values of the historic buildings. While the redevelopment includes two new commercial buildings & an apartment tower designed by Athfield Architects, the character & history of the old Chews Lane has been retained by the refurbishment of five heritage buildings:

44 Victoria Street, built in 1959 -a significant example of the post-war International style.
56 Victoria Street, built in 1927 - rare high-rise example of the Free Gothic style, with subtle decorative details of brackets & segmented arches, built for the Colonial Carrying Company.
29 Willis Street, built in 1898 & last remodelled in 1929 in Art Deco style.
35 Willis Street, built in 1906 in Edwardian style, with tall sash windows top & bottom & simply detailed parapet & cornice.

The heritage façade of 60 Victoria Street, the Ballinger Building, has also been retained, with two additional floors added, sympathetically mixing the old & new architecture.