Hunnibell’s Building, Rangiora

At first glance you may not recognise the building at 257 High Street, Rangiora, as being a 19th century store. Currently serving as Nom Nom Kitchen, the building has been heavily modified with a plate glass frontage and a complete renovation of the interior to make it into a modern restaurant.

But tucked under the veranda is the name ‘A. Hunnibell’ – a last remnant of the early Rangiora boot shop that occupied this building for nearly 80 years… Hunnibell’s.

Historic land records and newspaper advertisements show the building was built in 1870 or 1871 by boot maker Luke Hunnibell, making the building about 151 years old in 2022.

The ground floor served as Luke’s boot shop – where he made boots and shoes to order, made repairs, and also sold imported boots. The first floor probably initially served as the family home, as was common for shop owners at the time, but the family quickly outgrew this tiny space.

Land records show that in 1877 Luke purchased a property on King Street. This would serve as the family home for himself, wife Sarah, five sons and two daughters. He and Sarah were still living on King Street at the time of Luke’s death in 1913 (Star 27/11/1913: 6).

The Hunnibell’s are a family that you don’t really hear about in the usual Rangiora histories. They weren’t as influential as the Blackett’s, Ivory’s, or Percival’s, and don’t have the name recognition of the Ayers. But nonetheless they had an important part to play in the development of the early town and helped establish some of the important services we still rely on today, most notably the library and the volunteer fire brigade.

The story starts on November 5th 1864 with the arrival Luke, Sarah, and two their two eldest sons (the rest of the family being NZ born) to Lyttelton aboard the Bellissima. The family had immigrated from Hawley, Suffolk, and it appears that Luke had been a bootmaker prior to leaving England. Upon arriving in Lyttelton they came directly to Rangiora – Luke’s cousin Charles Merton had already been here for some time and had offered to set up the Hunnibell’s in the town (North Canterbury Gazette 16/07/1937: 5, Lyttelton Times 27/11/1913: 4).

Upon arriving in Rangiora in 1864 the family lived in a small sod cabin set up for them by Charles Merton. Newspaper articles say this cabin was in Lillybrook on the corner of Victoria Street and Northbrook Road (previously Brook Street) (North Canterbury Gazette 16/07/1937: 5, Press 05/06/1958: 2). He immediately set up a small shoe business operating out of this sod cabin.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work out exactly where this sod cabin stood. The Hunnibell’s don’t appear in the Rangiora land records of the 1860s, suggesting that they never actually purchased the land for their cabin. Presumably they were renting.

The Hunnibell’s time in the small sod cabin in Lillybrook may have been short lived as newspaper adverts from 1871 say that Luke had been operating another store on High Street prior to opening his “NEW PREMISES” – the current Nom Nom Kitchen.

The original property purchased by Luke Hunnibell for his High Street shop was a lot larger than the property Nom Nom Kitchen sits on today (Deeds index CS1:542). The property included a stable and several out-offices (Press 04/09/1872: 3). It’s probable that there was also a vegetable garden or orchard on the property as this was very common in the 1870s.

Luke Hunnibell began subdividing the section in 1873. The first piece to go was a 50 link (10.06m) section along the east boundary – this would become part of King Street. The final piece to be sold by Luke before his death in 1913 was the current property of 279 High Street. This was sold to Samuel Ayers in September 1913 who held onto the property until 1925.

Luke continued to be a boot maker for the rest of his life. But boot making was just a job that made ends meet. His true passion was music and entertaining.

Luke Hunnibell’s love of entertaining was so much that he attempted to get out of boot making entirely in 1872, shortly after his new building was opened. His plan was to convert his boot shop into a country hotel, offering a place to house horses in the stables, converting the ground floor into a restaurant or pub, and providing lodging on the first floor. A liquor licence for the building was applied for by John Manning.

This plan fell through after the Licensing Board refused to issue a liquor licence. 30 Rangiora residents had submitted a letter against the building being issued a licence – although, bizarrely, some of the people who had signed this letter had also signed on as being for the licence. The Licensing Board ended up refusing the licence on the grounds that Rangiora already had enough public houses (Press 04/09/1872: 3).

At the time of the application the building was described as “very commodious and well furnished (Press 04/09/1872: 3).

But his desire to be an entertainer and patron of the arts did not stop with this failure, however. Luke Hunnibell continued to pursue his amateur musical career. Over the course of his life was;

• part of the Rangiora Philharmonic Society, where he played second violin,
• was a founding member of the Rangiora Choral Society, of which he was also the vice president,
• had his own band,
• was part of a quartet with the family of his cousin Charles Merton,
• and was Choirmaster for the Church of St John the Baptist.

(Lyttelton Times 20/10/1888: 3; 14/01/1886: 6; Press 08/10/1881: 1; Globe 05/10/1874: 4).

As well as providing the weekly music for the church, he also provided the music at many important Rangiora events. The opening of Southbrook School in 1874 (Globe 05/10/1874: 4). The towns celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria – which was described by the Lyttelton Times as being “a monster demonstration, the like of which had never been before witnessed in the place” (Lyttelton Times 03/06/1887: 6). The towns celebration of the record long reign of the Queen in 1897 (Star 17/06/1897: 3). Christmas celebrations (Lyttelton Times 27/12/1886: 6). And the annual Fire Brigade social (Star 28/05/1910: 5).

In 1871 Luke Hunnibell was a founding member of the Rangiora Literary Institute. A group formed to promote reading and learning in Rangiora – and which established the Rangiora Library services that we still enjoy today.

The Literary institutes goals were to establish a library and reading-room in Rangiora that would allow Institute members to access “moral, religious, instructive, and scientific literature, including approved works of fiction, with papers and periodicals”. A supply of books had been secured at a reduced price from London, and the endeavour would be funded by an annual membership fee of 10s 6d (Press 18/05/1871: 2).

Luke Hunnibell was elected to the first committee of the Literary Institute, along with several well-known Rangiora gentlemen including R. Blackett, A. H. Cunningham, H. Boyd, E.R. Good, and J. Johnston.

The Rangiora Literary Institute opened the Literary Institute Hall on High Street in 1873. This building included a community hall, that hosted lectures, bazaars, presentations, celebrations, attractions, and plays, among other things. Attached to the hall was the first Rangiora library – which by 1925 included some 4500 books in its collection (Ashburton Guardian 18/08/1925: 2).

The library remained open only to Literary Institute members until 1921 when it passed into the ownership of the Borough Council and became a true public library (Press 01/01/1921: 3). This library service still continues today as the Waimakariri Libraries!

The original library established by the Literary Institute was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1925. The blaze was described as being the most serious fire experienced by the town since 1918 (Press 18/08/1925: 7). Luckily a majority of the books were saved by the fire brigade – although with a bit of water damage.

In 1874 Luke Hunnibell was appointed as a member of a seven-person committee to establish the Rangiora fire brigade – the same service that still protects the district to this day (Lyttelton Times 15/05/1874: 2).

This committee sunck new wells around the town. Created the engine sheds and commissioned the fire bell.

After forming the brigade Luke then volunteered to be part of the first 40-man volunteer fire service and was made the captain of the No. 2 engine (Press 27/05/1924: 2).

Luke always Kept himself busy with community projects.

• 1889 he was a founding member of the North Canterbury Horticultural Society (Lyttelton Times 02/10.1889: 4).
• Founded the Rangiora Chrysanthemum Club around 1896 (Star 04/09/1896: 4).
• Was a founding member of the Rangiora Traders’ Association, which set rules and regulations of how business should be conducted in Rangiora (Press 14/06/1905: 6).

Luke Hunnibell died on 26th November 1913 after a long illness at the family home on King Street (Lyttelton Times 27/11/1913: 4, Star 27/11/1913: 6). In his will Luke left his boot business to his son Alfred “Alf” George Hunnibell, who continued the family business at the High Street shop until his retirement in 1948.

This, of course, is where the building gets the “A. Hunnibell’ sign under the verandah.

The High Street building itself was left to Luke’s wife Sarah, and land records show that in 1929 it was jointly owned by Sarah, her son-in-law (and mayor of the town) William Rowse, and one Mr. Charles Robinson Thwaites (certificate of title CB388/144). Charles had been employed as a boot repairman by Luke around 1900 and was presumably a full financial partner in the business by 1929 to be a co-owner of the building (Press 19/08/1929: 3).

Alf Hunnibell took full ownership of the building in 1931 after Charles Thwaites left to go into business for himself.

Like his father, Alf was passionate about music. He played pianoforte for the Oddfellows at their meetings, which included playing at dances held for members who had been drafted for World War 1 and who were about to leave for the war! (Lyttelton Times 01/06/1914: 2, Press 30/06.1916: 9).

In 1919 he played music to fund the installation of electric lights in the Coronation Hall in Southbrook – this building still stands today on the corner of Coronation Street and Buckleys Road (Lyttelton Times 10/02/1919: 6). He played at various Christmas events (Press 21/12/1932: 7). And was a member of the Rangiora Brass Band (Press 15/09/1950: 5).

During the roaring 20s Alf ran a popular Jazz Band, which was in demand throughout the district!

Of a little bit of interest – Alf very narrowly avoided being sent to World War 1. He was drafted into the army in August 1918 but was allowed to defer his enlistment until the January draft (Sun 23/08/1918: 9). The war ended in November 1918!

Alf continued the boot making business on High Street until his retirement in 1948. He would die in 1951.

At the time of Alf’s death, the High Street building passed to his wife Ethel May Hunnibell who sold the building to Mr. and Mrs. Blackham in 1966.

As a sign off to this blog it’s worth mentioning these two women.

Eliza was a daughter of Luke and Sarah Hunnibell. She married William Rowse and was mayoress of Rangiora during William’s time as mayor. In 1923 she opened Dudley Park – the jubilee gates that she opened with a golden key still exist on Park Street – and officiated at the unveiling of the cenotaph (Press 06/06/1961: 2). In June 1961 she was celebrated as being the oldest person in Rangiora at 95 years.

Lilla Cora was the only daughter of Alf and Ethel Hunnibell. In 1933 she married Paolo Vincent Luisetti, of Oamaru. This, of course, brought the Luisetti family to Rangiora – and Luisetti Seeds is still in operation today on Ashley Street by the train station (North Canterbury Gazette 24/10/1933: 2).