The ground level of one of the few multi-storey art deco commercial buildings to remain standing in Hastings after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake has been placed on the market for sale.

The three storey Hawke’s Bay Farmers Co-op building, on the corner of Hasting’s central Market and Queen streets, was built two years before the big shake, meaning its floating reinforced concrete foundations and supporting structures and beams substantially exceeded the building requirements of the time.

The building, which sits on sits on 1085sqm of land, was designed by Edmund Anscombe, who has been described as one of the most eminent architects to have worked in New Zealand.

Following the 1931 quake and the region’s subsequent rebuild, Farmers boomed as a retailing entity. The ground floor of the central Hastings Farmers building housed the city’s largest department store.

In the early 1980s Farmers Co-op Association ceased its retail operations on the site, and converted the block into commercial premises, which have been continually modernised and upgraded in stages ever since under various ownership.

The ground floor of the building is now being sold by Bayleys Napier through expressions of interest, with the vendor retaining ownership of the first floor.

Bayleys Napier salesperson, Paul Garland, said the street level of the former Farmers Co-op building is currently tenanted by long term leases to the Cooperative Bank and Spark.