By Roselyn Fauth
Grave of William and Mary Ann Fitzgerald. - Timaru Cemetery - Right Grosvenor Hotel. - Photos Roselyn Fauth
When you stand at the corner of Cains Terrace and Beswick Street today, the Grosvenor Hotel still looks every inch the grand old lady of Timaru. Her curved corner peers out to the port, oriel windows lean forward like watchful eyes, and almost forty metres of brick and plaster frontage anchors the block. She has been a landmark here for more than a century, hosting premiers and princes, rugby men and housie nights, art openings and union raffles. The façade has had its coats of paint, and the interiors their refurbishments, but the bones of James Turnbull’s Edwardian Baroque design remain much as they were in 1915.
I went digging into her story, expecting to find architects and publicans, queens and rugby clubs. I found all of that, but I also found a woman called Mary...
Before the Grosvenor there was a stable yard. John Crammond’s Cobb stables stood on this site from 1869 until they made way for a two-storey brick hotel, designed by architect Francis. J. Wilson and opened by John Meikle in 1876. That first Grosvenor was the largest hotel in town, and it quickly became a civic meeting ground.
By 1913 the old Grosvenor was tired, and publican J. P. Murphy decided to start afresh. Demolition began in 1915, clearing the way for Turnbull’s new building. I was reading through the Timaru District Councils Heritage report on the Grosvenor, and this is where I first stumbled across the Fitzgerald family.
During the demolition, William Fitzgerald, a builder’s labourer, fell from the structure and was killed. I went for a hunt in papers past and wasn't able to find a report on the accident. But I did find a small notice of his death. What I found most moving was not the report of bricks and scaffolds, but the glimpse these two documents prompted me to learn more about his family. The South Canterbury Museum had a record of their son. This information helped me to piece together that they home was number 3 Wellington Street. And this was where his wife Mary Ann was left widowed to raise their children. Within weeks, one of their sons, Patrick, left Timaru to join the Fourth Reinforcements for Gallipoli. By August he too was dead. Another son, Thomas (Ben), was badly wounded in the same battle.
In the space of four months Mary Ann lost her husband in a local workplace accident and her son on the other side of the world...
The Grosvenor c 1875. Image from a Tourist Guide publication. christchurchcitylibraries.com/TouristGuide1902/83338-025
Timaru Herald Death Notice 1915
Who Was Mary Ann Fitzgerald?
Mary Ann Madden was born in Ireland and emigrated to New Zealand, where she married William Fitzgerald. They first settled in Ashburton before moving to Timaru, raising a large Catholic family. At least ten children were born to them, though not all survived infancy. The youngest, Lawrence, died at just three weeks old in 1908.
By the time of William’s death in 1915, the family was living at 3 Wellington Street, Parkside. The house that stands there today looks quite modern, but just a few houses down, at number 7, that one was built in 1910 and might give us an idea of what the houses looked like at the time.
You can see here in the map, that the house was very close to the Sacred Heart Basilica.
Section of the 1911 map, showing Wellington Street. Borough of Timaru, South Canterbury. NZ Heritage Maps Platform, accessed 19/09/2025, https://maps.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/336
The Fitzgerald children were educated at Sacred Heart and Marist schools, played for Celtic Football and Cricket Clubs, and were active in swimming competitions. They were a working-class family, poor but woven into the fabric of Catholic Timaru.
Mary Ann was left a widow at 48 years of age, with a house full of children and no breadwinner. Notices in the Timaru Herald show her gratitude for even small mercies, such as the insurance payout she received after William’s death. She kept the household going with resilience, relying on faith, extended family, and sheer determination.
Her sons went on to serve again in the Second World War. Their collective service record was described as “unequalled in Timaru,” but that was built on the sacrifices of their mother at home. Mary Ann was the backbone, some might say, her work was less visible than her sons’ medals, but we know just as vital.
She lived on until 1942, long enough to see her children grown and some grandchildren born. On 2 February that year, aged 75, she was buried in Timaru Cemetery, General Section, Row 23, Plot 380, alongside William. Their son Patrick’s name is inscribed there too, binding together the losses she endured.
The Grosvenor and the Human Cost of Heritage
When I first went looking for the Grosvenor’s story, I expected to write about architectural styles, heritage listings, and perhaps a royal luncheon. I found all of that, but I also found Mary Ann.
Her story is intertwined with the creation of the Grosvenor and the loss of her her husband, who fell to his death on the demolition site. When we talk about heritage, we can often focus on the grandeur of buildings. But I think this story is an example of probably many peoples stories... that behind the Grosvenor’s bricks are the hands that laid them, the families who lost loved ones. Mary Ann reminds me that built heritage includes architecture, and the people connected to it.
J. P. Murphy’s new Grosvenor opened in November 1915, its brick and plaster façade considered by some too plain for the times, but now admired for its strength and proportion. Over the years it hosted premiers, dignitaries, and, in 1954, a civic luncheon for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. Dominion Breweries gave it a makeover in the 1970s, and new owners later uncovered art and timber and have worked hard to revitalise the grand old lady and bring back her charm. We are so lucky that there are people who invest in our heritage buildings to help us connect to the people and places of our past.
The Grosvenor Hotel standing today, you’re looking at a building that has been a Timaru landmark for 110 years (and a site of hospitality for nearly 150). This is a view of the exterior in 1916, photographed by Frederick George Radcliffe. Timaru. F.G.R. 5553 - National Library 1/2-006876-G & hocken.recollect.co.nz/52786 No known copyright.
The Grosvenor has stood for over a century, a survivor of changing tastes and economic cycles. But to me, its history is more than civic pride or royal visits. It is also about the people like Mary Ann who are often left out of the plaques and heritage listings, so it is up to us to remember her and her husbands contributions and story.
What was a bricks and mortar story, has become one, about about the human cost, strength, and resilience. That is why, when I look at the Grosvenor now, I see not just a hotel, but the story of Mary.
William and Mary's grave at the Timaru Cemetery 2025. Photo Roselyn Fauth
Mary Ann Fitzgerald (née Madden), widow of William and mother of Patrick, was laid to rest in Timaru Cemetery, General Section, Row 23, Plot 380, on 2 February 1942, aged 75.
Patrick Gregory Fitzgerald is remembered on the Timaru Memorial Wall and the Sacred Heart Basilica, Timaru, Roll of Honour, and on his parents’ headstone in the Timaru Cemetery
Mrs Mary A. Fitzgerald, 3 Wellington Street, Timaru, was the recipient of Patrick’s medals - 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal, and the scroll and plaque.
Screen shot of Scroll - an incredible resource recording the stories of many linked by war. museum.timaru.govt.nz/scroll/1411 the following is sourced from the research by Teresa Scott, SC Branch NZSG
Side Quest: Who Was Pat?
When I went looking for the Grosvenor, I didn’t expect to find myself following the footsteps of a 19-year-old carpenter from Wellington Street, Timaru. His name was Patrick Gregory Fitzgerald, but everyone called him Pat.
Born on Valentine’s Day 1895, Pat grew up in a large Catholic family. He went to Sacred Heart and the Marist Brothers’ School, where he collected prizes for both brains and sport. At the 1910 prize-giving, he took home the Sixth Class Aggregate Prize and was named Best All-round Athlete. He was the kind of boy who shone on the playing field and in the classroom.
Sport was in his blood. He played rugby for Celtic, starting in the juniors and eventually running out with the seniors, sometimes alongside three of his brothers. Imagine the pride of seeing four Fitzgerald boys in green, charging across the field together. He played cricket too, and he was a strong swimmer. Carnival results from the early 1910s show him winning races and medals in the Timaru Amateur Swimming Club, excelling in diving, backstroke, and distance events.
When he left school, Pat first worked in a law office before deciding he preferred something more hands-on. He apprenticed as a carpenter and was serving his time with Hall Brothers when war broke out. He was tall and solid, 5 foot 11, with a rugby player’s build. His enlistment papers noted poor teeth, but otherwise he was healthy and strong — though as Gallipoli would prove, no physique could withstand the horror of that campaign.
Pat enlisted in January 1915, just weeks before his 20th birthday. He left Timaru on 17 April with the Fourth Reinforcements of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion. It was a cruel time for his family: only days before he sailed, his father William was killed in the demolition of the Grosvenor Hotel. Mary Ann, his mother, became his official next-of-kin.
Pat landed at Anzac Cove in June 1915. Just weeks later, during the August offensive to capture Chunuk Bair, he was killed in action at Suvla Bay. He was only 20. His brothers Tom (Ben) and John were there too. Tom was badly wounded in the same battle. John later told his daughter that he had to step over his brother’s body and keep going. He carried that memory with him for the rest of his life.
In Timaru, Pat is remembered on the Memorial Wall, the Sacred Heart Basilica plaque, and his parents’ headstone in the cemetery. His medals — the 1914–15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal — were sent home to Mary Ann. A year after his death, his family placed a notice in the Timaru Herald:
“One lonely year has passed and gone, since our great sorrow fell,
Yet in our hearts we mourn for the one we loved so well.”
Pat’s story makes the Grosvenor’s history feel more human to me. Behind the brick walls and architectural details, there are families like the Fitzgeralds. Fathers working on demolition scaffolds, sons heading off to war, mothers holding households together through grief. Heritage is not only the story of buildings, but of the people who lived, worked, played, and sacrificed around them.
2 April 2010, rusty nuts outside the TGB at the Grosvenor. They were in the last stage of their 10,000km NZ Tour in 10 days. They were making an early start to catch the Cook Straight Ferry. - Photograpy By Geoff Cloake
Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand: issued by authority of the municipality of Timaru on the occasion of the centennial of the Dominion of New Zealand, 1940.. Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 06/10/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/780