PHOTO: MARTY SHARPE The Criterion Hotel, Napier, was one of the first buildings erected in Napier after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
When it opened its doors in 1933 Napier’s plush Spanish Mission style Criterion Hotel was seen as a statement that the city had not succumbed to the devastation brought by the Hawke’s Bay Earthquake two years prior.
For many years the hotel and its two bars were at the centre of the city’s goings-on.
Time passed, alterations were made, the city around it changed and the hotel’s lustre faded.
Fortunately it was spared the wrecking ball of the 1980s, which claimed much of the city’s art deco architecture. While its exterior has remained true to origin, it’s interior was much changed and for the past few decades has operated as a backpackers.
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