What it is
The 1931 earthquake destroyed the tower of the Hastings Post Office and with it the town clock whose quarter-hour chimes residents had come to miss. In 1934 the council held a design competition for a new landmark, won by the young Hastings architect Sidney Chaplin, and the tower was completed in 1935, with its chimes recovered from the post office ruins.
The slender tower stands on Russell Street beside the railway line, close to the corner of Heretaunga Street in the heart of the city. Brass plaques commemorating those killed in the earthquake were added in 1995, and in 2022 the facade was repainted in pastel greens, pinks, yellows and blues. It is a Category 1 historic place.
Getting there by bus
The tower is next to the central bus stops. Routes 1, 1A, 6, 7, 8 and 11 stop opposite the Hastings Library (stop H363), about 150 metres away, and at Hastings Library, Eastbourne Street (stop H1), about 250 metres away; routes 1, 1A, 6, 8 and 11 also stop at Bay Plaza, Russell St (stop H2), about 180 metres away.
Routes 1, 1A and 11 run to Napier, route 11 also to Te Mata, and routes 6, 7 and 8 cover Flaxmere and the Hastings Circular.
