Qualla: Napier https://qualla.com/napier en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Napier https://qualla.com/napier Napier: Introduction https://qualla.com/napier/ Walk down Emerson Street in Napier and you are walking through a catastrophe that became an aesthetic triumph. At 10:47 on the morning of 3 February 1931, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck this city on New Zealand's east coast, killing 256 people and levelling the central business district. Fires consumed what the shaking had left standing. The rubble was dumped along the foreshore, creating new land where gardens and a recreational reserve now stand. Then Napier did something remarkable: it rebuilt almost everything at once, in the architectural style of the moment. The result is over 100 Art Deco buildings in the CBD alone, a concentration so dense and so pure that the city bills itself, with justification, as the Art Deco capital of the world.

Read more: Napier on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/v/z/napier-wk/rbvz-napier-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Napier: The Earthquake That Rearranged the Map https://qualla.com/napier/ The 1931 earthquake did not just destroy Napier. It remade its geography. The quake raised the land by several metres, completely draining the Ahuriri Lagoon. The airport, the surrounding farmland, and the suburbs of Onekawa, Pandora, Pirimai, and Tamatea all sit on what was lago...

Read more: Napier on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/v/z/napier-wk/rbvz-napier-the-earthquake-that-rearranged-the-map.mp3 0:06 2 full Napier: Geometry in Concrete https://qualla.com/napier/ Because the earthquake destroyed so much so thoroughly, and because the rebuilding happened within a compressed window of a few years, Napier's downtown has a visual coherence that planned cities rarely achieve. Zigzag motifs crown rooflines. Sunburst patterns radiate above doorw...

Read more: Napier on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/v/z/napier-wk/rbvz-napier-geometry-in-concrete.mp3 0:06 3 full Napier: Wine Country at the City's Edge https://qualla.com/napier/ The suburb of Taradale, absorbed into Napier in 1968, hosts the region's oldest and most celebrated wineries. Hawke's Bay is New Zealand's oldest winemaking region, and the warm, dry climate that bakes the Heretaunga Plains produces exceptional Syrah, Merlot, and Chardonnay. Wine...

Read more: Napier on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/v/z/napier-wk/rbvz-napier-wine-country-at-the-citys-edge.mp3 0:06 4 full Napier: Port and Promenade https://qualla.com/napier/ Luxury cruise liners dock at the Port of Napier, disgorging passengers who have a day to absorb a city that rewards walking. The Marine Parade runs along the waterfront, where the rubble-turned-gardens face the Pacific. West Quay, beside the Ahuriri marina, offers a strip of rest...

Read more: Napier on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/v/z/napier-wk/rbvz-napier-port-and-promenade.mp3 0:06 5 full