L. A Wrigley Motors Ltd (Former), 134 Devon Street East (1921-22)

Few would imagine that this building, which is today occupied by Aromas Coffee Lounge and hairdresser, was once home to one of New Plymouth's early motor garages/petrol stations, with the building originally constructed in 1921-22 as a motor garage for Jellyman & Forbes.

Jellyman and Forbes first wrote to the New Plymouth Borough Council in November 1921, asking permission to erect a temporary iron wall at the rear of a modern motor garage they intended to erect in Devon Street - the iron wall was required so that they could easily extend the building in the future if required. Whilst it would contravene Borough fire bylaws, given the absence of any structures in the immediate vicinity, and the presence of a clay bank behind the proposed store, permission was granted for the temporary wall. 

A permit was granted to Jellyman for construction of the building by the New Plymouth Borough Council on 5 December 1921 - Boon Bros were the builders, and the estimated construction cost was £4000. The firm advertised in the local newspaper that they would be opening the new premises on 29 March 1922.

Jellyman and Forbes are listed as the occupiers up until the 1924 edition of Wises Street Directory, with Wilster Motors the occupants in 1925. Fred Grundy Percival moved to New Plymouth from Gisborne in the 1920s and opened Grundy Motors Ltd in the building. He is listed as the occupier from 1926 until about 1934-35, when he relocated to a building on Gill Street (north side, just along from Liardet Street intersection - now demolished). L. A. Wrigley Motors opened in the building in the late 1930s, and by the 1950s it was the premises of NZR Road Services.

The building appears to have been extended at the rear, possibly in 1928, and the eastern wall was rebuilt with reinforced concrete block when the neighbouring building was demolished in the 1980s.

Related items:

Town Section 920, Taranaki Land Deed Index I3 page 36, I13 page 536 and I13 page 589. (Archives New Zealand)

Town Section 921, Taranaki Land Deed Index I4 page 275, I4 page 277 and I13 Page 543. (Archives New Zealand)

Taranaki DP2433 Sheet 1 (1907), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP4828 Sheet 1 (1922), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)