Pari Street

Pari Street is a short street near the New Plymouth CBD that connects Molesworth Street with Buller and Woolcombe Streets.

The street is not marked on early maps of New Plymouth, in fact the area was depicted as a swamp with the little-known Tereremanukino Stream flowing out to sea not far from what is now Pari Street.

The development of the street is difficult to trace accurately, however it appears likely that the realignment of the New Plymouth railway line was a major catalyst. Prior to 1907 the railway line crossed busy Devon Street leading to a number of pedestrian fatalities and a decision to move the line to run along the waterfront.

During the construction phase in 1906-07 the swamp was drained and by 1909 a road appears on a town map named simply (and unimaginatively) New Street – later renamed New Gover Street. It was not until 1938 that Pari Street replaced New Gover Street as the name for the short thoroughfare.

The Māori word ‘pari’ translates as cliff or precipice and was an appropriate choice for the short road leading to what was then a crumbling clifftop facing the Tasman Sea. The coastal walkway has transformed the New Plymouth foreshore and this stretch of the coast proved particularly problematic for the designers, resulting in increased construction costs (TDN 13 December 2002) to extend the necessary retaining wall.

The entrance to the street itself is framed by the DIY retail warehouse Bunnings on one corner and on the other by a large pet supplies store that once housed New Plymouth’s fruit and vegetable auction market. The purpose-built premises were erected for McCutcheon & Co. in 1965 and were described at the time as “one of the most modern fruit and produce marketing centres in New Zealand”.

Also standing prominently on the street – although fronting Buller Street – is the Quarterdeck, a large apartment complex built in the early 2000s by QDM Ltd., a company fronted by New Plymouth doctors Shashi Patel and Kate Harding-Patel. 

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.