The Hotel Cargil on Gill Street was built in 1935 for Mr C. Carter by Boon Bros. The New Plymouth Borough Council issued a building permit to Carter on 28 August 1935 for a building to be erected on Town Sections 883 and 884, at a cost of £3,684.
The hotel was designed by New Plymouth architects, Griffiths & Stephenson, who called for tenders in August 1935. Plans held by Puke Ariki (ARC2013-053).
On 25 January 1936, "Cynthia", in her column 'Around the Shops' published by the Taranaki Daily News, described the new hotel as "one of the foremost private hotels in Taranaki". On the ground floor were the dining room, lounge, sitting and commercial rooms, while upstairs were "30 large well-furnished bedrooms, and the most modern of bathrooms and showers".
In February 1952, the Taranaki Herald reported that the hotel had been sold and that the guests had been given only a few days to find new accommodation. In March, Farmers' Co-op (the likely buyers of the hotel) auctioned off all the hotel's furniture.
However, in late March 1952 it was announced that Hotel Cargil would remain a hotel and a three-year lease had been taken up by Mr J. Ramsey, owner of the Carlton Hotel.
In September 1988 the hotel and the neighbouring building were demolished to make way for $20m twin-tower blocks to house the Inland Revenue and Social Welfare departments.
Related items:
Town Section 883, Taranaki Land Deed Index I3 page 145. (Archives New Zealand)
Taranaki DP4528 Sheet 1 (1924), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki DP4978 Sheet 1 (1928), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
$20M High Rise Development (Taranaki Herald 17 June 1988)
$20M Project Has Work Spin Off (Taranaki Herald 8 September 1988)
Shell be right... (Daily News 14 September 1988)
Hotel To High Rise (Taranaki Daily News 5 May 2012)
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