Gaiety de Luxe Cinema

Located in the coastal resort of Napier, in the Hawke’s Bay region of the North Island, the Gaiety de Luxe Cinema opened in 1912, a conversion of the Thompson-Payne skating rink.

In 1931 the earthquake that devastated the town destroyed the building’s façade. It was rebuilt the following year to designs by architects Finch & Westerholm in a Moorish version of the Spanish style, with the auditorium hung with tapestries depicting Eastern bazaar scenes. It was operated by the Kerridge-Odeon chain.

The Gaiety de Luxe Cinema closed in 1960. Its grand staircase survived the building’s transformation into the Top Hat Ballroom, utilising a new upper level.

However patronage declined when changes to liquor laws meant that the ballroom no longer had an advantage over hotels. Bernie Meredith reinvented it in 1968, adding a nautical theme and calling it the MV (“Musical Vessel”) Top Hat.

It was subsequently sold to Auckland entertainment entrepreneur Phil Warren, who renamed it the Silver Spade. Later still it became a nightclub called Bananas.

More recently the building has become home to a variety of businesses, including a gift shop, Kiwi Mancave, which closed in late-2023.

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