Written by Peter Wilmoth.

As Wellington food and wine lovers know, St Johns Bar and Eatery is a popular and stylish bar and restaurant. But before it became a well-known hospitality venue it had another life. It once played a very different role: saving people’s lives.

The elegant Art Deco pub sits in what was once the home of the Wellington Free Ambulance building which was constructed between 1932 and 1933.

The building is associated with two key figures in the history of the city of Wellington: Sir Charles Norwood, who established the Wellington Free Ambulance, and William Turnbull, one of Wellington’s most prominent architects.

According to Heritage New Zealand, the building was based closely on Australian ambulance facilities.

“The Free Ambulance movement was established after Wellington’s Mayor, Charles Norwood, witnessed a traffic accident in Lambton Quay,” Heritage New Zealand says. “He based the Wellington service upon the Australian system and brought Tom Dolan, a senior ambulance superintendant in Newcastle, to Wellington, to explain how the service could work.”

The Wellington Free Ambulance service began operating from the old Naval Hall (Wellington Rowing Club building) in 1927.

A 2015 Wellington Heritage study provides a fascinating study of life at the turn of the century in the city. It reveals that back then Wellington city was served by three horse drawn ambulances which had replaced the previous ‘Ashford Litters’ – large hand wheeled wooden stretchers.”

It says that horse drawn ambulances were replaced by motor vehicles, but these vehicles were privately owned and a payment was required before a patient would be transported to the hospital.

The Wellington Free Ambulance began on the 9 November 1927 with six of its own ambulances, two were transferred from the Hospital board, and two more were donated by Norwood.

The Wellington Free Ambulance is the second largest road ambulance service provider in New Zealand, and provides a distinct regional service to Wellington, the Wairarapa and the Kapiti Coast.

The former Wellington Free Ambulance Building, designed by William Turnbull, was the first headquarters for the service and was the first purpose-built ambulance stations to be built in New Zealand.

Constructed in a distinctive and functional Art Deco style this building served its original purpose for more than 60 years.

A Wellington City Heritage study noted that the former Wellington Free Ambulance building is a fine example of an Art Deco civic building, notable for its distinctive, external, sculptural form, and for the quality of its internal Art Deco fittings, spaces and decorative schemes.

The survey noted that the building is held in high public esteem which was demonstrated by the public outcry when the building was proposed for demolition in the 1980s. This regard was evidenced by its subsequent protection by a Heritage Order.

As much as a generation knows St Johns as a stylish venue to catch up for a meal and a drink, the building’s story will always be intrinsically linked with the ambulance service.

As the Wellington City survey notes, at the turn of the century Wellington city was served by three horse drawn ambulances which had replaced the previous ‘Ashford Litters’.

Horse drawn ambulances were then replaced by motor vehicles, but these vehicles were privately owned and a payment was required before a patient would be transported to the hospital.

The survey notes: “The Free Ambulance movement was established after Wellington’s Mayor, Charles Norwood, witnessed a traffic accident in Lambton Quay. He based the Wellington service upon the Australian system and brought Tom Dolan, a senior ambulance superintendent in Newcastle, to Wellington, to explain how the service could work.

The service was set up in the Naval Artillery Boat Shed, which later became the Wellington Rowing Club building. The hall, however, proved to be unsatisfactory and a new building was sought.

“In 1932, the City Council gave the Wellington Free Ambulance land on Jervois Quay at a peppercorn rental to build a new station. The WCC brokered a complex agreement which saw the Wellington Rowing Club move into the old Naval Artillery Boat Shed, to free up the land now occupied by the Free Ambulance Building.”

Land became available when the old rowing-club boatsheds were removed and the William Turnbull-designed building was constructed.

Charles Norwood’s brief to the architect William Turnbull was to construct a building that was distinctive, modern, and functional.

The building, constructed for a building fee of £12,800 sourced through private donations, was completed and opened on the 8 March 1933. It survives today as one of the finest purpose-built Art Deco buildings in the city.

The building served as the headquarters for the Wellington Free Ambulance for the 61 years. In the early 1990s The WFA decided to move to new premises as Lambton Harbour Management was seeking to redevelop the Wellington Waterfront for a proposed hotel.

It was thought changes in traffic flow due to the redevelopment was likely to affect ambulance operations. The WFA moved to new premises in Thorndon.

In January 1994 the building was converted to a bar, and later fitted out as a theatre space. During this time Harbour management sought to demolish the Free Ambulance building to make way for a proposed casino hotel. But strong public opposition stopped this and heritage protection was secured.

The building, with its Art Deco decorative detail including plaster friezes, decorative capitals that feature Masonic insignia, original geometric floor tiling Deco lampshades and wall fittings, remains a distinctive landmark on the Wellington waterfront.

During the late eighties and the nineties it was a music venue. Today St Johns Bar and Eatery is a much-loved and stylish meeting spot. Its design set a new benchmark for Wellington bar and restaurant outlets.

The restaurant features harbour views and patrons can sit at the outdoor bar and dining area in the full afternoon sun.

As it moves towards its centenary, St Johns Bar and Eatery will always remain a significant part of the history of Wellington.