Last updated November 2026
Napier’s original town plan set aside a block as a village green for the new settlement. That block is now Clive Square and Memorial Square, two gardens on either side of Emerson Street in central Napier, divided since 1962 when Emerson Street became a legal road.
Clive Square holds a lily pool built in 1934, the restored Blythe Memorial Fountain of 1904 and a Moreton Bay fig that Napier City Council calls probably the largest tree in the city, and the Centennial Carillon plays every half hour from 11.30am to 2pm.
Memorial Square, the northern part, holds the city’s Cenotaph, unveiled in 1924. The Cenotaph and the fountain are both on the Heritage New Zealand List, and the council looks after the squares as one of Napier’s public gardens.
Practical Information
- Location
- Emerson Street, Clive Square East, Clive Square West and Tennyson Street, central Napier
- Managed by
- Napier City Council
- Parking
- Around all sides of the two squares
- Carillon
- The Centennial Carillon plays every half hour, 11.30am to 2pm
- Heritage listings
- Cenotaph (List No. 1113) and Blythe Memorial Fountain (List No. 1110), both Historic Place Category 2
- Status
- Napier City Council: Botanical Gardens and other Napier gardens page
About Clive Square and Memorial Square
Clive Square is the garden half: lawns for picnics, a central lily pond with floating lilies and large goldfish, and plantings that the council lists as prickly cycads, a Moreton Bay fig with a branch span of 25 metres, petticoat palms, phoenix palms and a bottle palm.
A low limestone wall, built in 1918 to replace the original picket fence, still runs around it. The Napier Urban Farmers’ Market uses the square on Saturday mornings, and Hawke’s Bay Tourism says the lawns are often used for outdoor concerts in the warmer months.
Memorial Square, to the north, is plainer. Hawke’s Bay Tourism calls it “a simple landscape”, built around the Cenotaph and the Community Rooms.
The council says the square was laid out and its palms planted in 1920, the year the Prince of Wales visited; the New Zealand Tree Register, which lists the ten Canary Island date palms on its outer border, puts their planting at about 1925. Either way, they predate the Art Deco rebuild that followed the 1931 earthquake.
The harp-shaped Centennial Carillon stands beside the main path in the north-west section of the garden. Rothmans Ltd gave it to mark the 1974 centenary of the Borough of Napier, and it plays a set of tunes on the half hour between 11.30am and 2pm.
From Village Green to Garden
The council says Clive Square was part of the original town plan “mapped out in 1854”; Heritage New Zealand’s history dates Alfred Domett’s plan to 1855 and says it reserved the square as a recreation space or “village green”. It was first favoured as the town centre, though that never happened.
In the 1860s part of it was levelled for cricket and football, and the council and Hawke’s Bay Tourism both say Napier’s first matches in those sports were played here. The Napier City Band, formed in 1868, gave recitals on the square.
The garden came later. Businessman William Robert Blythe proposed improving the southern part of the square in 1884, and gas lamps, fencing, trees and a band rotunda followed; the square opened on 29 November 1886.
The council describes white picket fencing with gates at the corners, lawn across most of the enclosed area, and seats facing inwards to the central rotunda.
After Blythe died in 1903, a committee raised money for a memorial, and the cast-iron fountain, 10 ft 8 in high and decorated with herons, lions and lily pads, was installed at the southern central entrance in 1904. Its upper half was damaged in the 1931 earthquake and stored, the upper bowl went back in 1999 without its original heron, and Napier City Council fully restored the fountain in 2015.
The Cenotaph and Tin Town
In 1924 it was decided to build a cenotaph and a women’s rest in the northern part of Clive Square.
The Cenotaph, designed by architect David Bruce Frame for the associated Hawke’s Bay architects and built of Coromandel granite, was unveiled on Sunday 9 November 1924 by Mayor J.B. Andrew. The Women’s Rest, with a rest room, kitchen, toilets and Plunket Rooms, opened on Anzac Day 1926.
The council and Hawke’s Bay Tourism credit the building, now the Community Rooms, to Napier architect Louis Hay. Sources differ on when the northern part became Memorial Square: the council’s page says the name was given in 1921, while Heritage New Zealand and the Tree Register date it to 1926, when the Women’s Rest was finished.
On 3 February 1931 the Hawke’s Bay earthquake struck. Heritage New Zealand records that the Cenotaph came through undamaged, and an Anzac Day service was held there that April. While the town centre was rebuilt, temporary timber and corrugated-iron buildings known as “Tin Town” went up in Clive and Memorial Squares, their roofs joined to the Women’s Rest.
The council says they housed shops and banks for two years, and that phoenix palms were moved out to make room. Tin Town was dismantled by May 1933, and in 1934 a lily pool replaced the earthquake-damaged band rotunda at the centre of Clive Square. In 1945 “1939-1945” was added to the Cenotaph, and plaques went on its eastern face.
Where to Learn More
Napier City Council: Botanical Gardens and other Napier gardens: the council’s history of Clive Square and Memorial Square, with its features, trees and parking.
Heritage New Zealand: Cenotaph (List No. 1113): the Cenotaph’s design and a detailed history of Clive and Memorial Squares.
Heritage New Zealand: Blythe Memorial Fountain (List No. 1110): the fountain’s history, damage in 1931 and restoration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are Clive Square and Memorial Square?
In central Napier, on either side of Emerson Street, with Clive Square East, Clive Square West and Tennyson Street around them.
Where can I park?
The council says parking is available around all sides of the two squares.
What is the difference between the two squares?
They were once one square. The northern part, with the Cenotaph and the Women’s Rest, became Memorial Square (in 1921 according to the council, in 1926 according to Heritage New Zealand), and Emerson Street has divided the two since 1962.
When does the carillon play?
The Centennial Carillon plays every half hour from 11.30am to 2pm.
What was Tin Town?
After the 1931 earthquake, temporary timber and corrugated-iron buildings for shops and banks were put up in Clive and Memorial Squares. They were known as Tin Town and were dismantled by May 1933.
Who is the fountain named after?
William Robert Blythe (1841 to 1903), a Napier businessman and civic figure who proposed improving the square in the 1880s. The fountain was installed in 1904.
When was the Cenotaph unveiled?
On Sunday 9 November 1924. It was designed by David Bruce Frame and is built of Coromandel granite.
What trees grow in the squares?
The council lists prickly cycads, a Moreton Bay fig with a 25-metre branch span, petticoat palms, phoenix palms and a bottle palm, and ten Canary Island date palms line Memorial Square.
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