In This Series… Ray White agent and creator of the Arrowtown Audio Tour, Nick Fifield, details the stories of our streets. Because buying or selling a home in Arrowtown isn’t only about price, it’s about place and the stories we’re part of.
Buckingham Street, 1905. Muir & Moodie. Te Papa (C.013814)
Pritchard Place honours Robert “Taffy” Pritchard, the Welsh-born proprietor of Arrowtown’s original General Store. Situated in one of Arrowtown’s most recognisable buildings, today’s pharmacy, which sits opposite Ray White’s offices on Buckingham Street.
Taffy arrived in 1862, when Arrowtown was still a riverside camp. His wife, Matilda, is reputed to have given birth to one of the first children of European-descent born in the settlement. After the devastating flood of 1863, miners and merchants relocated to higher ground, and Taffy established his business on what would later become Buckingham Street.
He came close to becoming Arrowtown’s first mayor in 1874. The initial vote tied him with Samuel Goldston at 30 votes each, and a second ballot held 10 days later saw him narrowly defeated, 42 to 41. He nevertheless went on to serve as mayor in 1875, 1880, and 1885.
The date plaque “1862” above the pharmacy marks the founding of his original store. It was not until 1875 that he built a substantial two storey schist building. That upper storey was destroyed in the 1896 fire that swept through Buckingham Street. The town fire brigade, established about six years earlier, saved the cellar and ground floor, allowing the single storey building we recognise today to be rebuilt on the site.
Taffy died in 1907 at the age of 80 and is buried beside Matilda in the Arrowtown Cemetery.
In Arrowtown, even in the quietest cul-de-sacs, there’s a story beneath the street sign. Knowing the past provides context for the present, and when buying or selling in Arrowtown, that local insight makes all the difference.
You can hear more stories from Arrowtown’s past by downloading the Arrowtown Audio Tour from your favourite app store.
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We’re thrilled to welcome Nick Fifield to the Ray White Arrowtown team. In a place like Arrowtown, real estate is never just about boundaries and bedrooms, it’s about people, place, and the stories that tie them together and few people understand that insight better than Nick Fifield. As Chairperson of … Read more