The Master - Johann Gerhard Husheer

1864 - 1954 Tobacco pioneer, industrialist, benefactor, patron of architecture  

Gerhard Husheer was of Dutch heritage, but German born. His Dutch great grandfather, a seaman and trader who was born in 1737, left Rotterdam for Bremen when, on returning from a voyage discovered that the French occupied his homeport. He then moved to Bremen, Germany to raise his family.

Gerhard was born on 26 July 1864, the third child of a family of six siblings, in Bremen, Germany's traditional tobacco port, and at the age of 16 was articled to the tobacco import and warehouse firm of Ankerschmidtt and Sohne. He studied commerce and languages at night school, where one of his classmates was Johann Pettersen, a young Norwegian, and the brother of his future wife Bertha, whom he would first meet on a holiday at his friend's home.     

At the end of Husheer's indenture, his extensive travels began with a business trip to Britain and Northern Europe, including Norway, where he met Bertha. With marriage in mind, he set out to advance his career by accepting a position in 1888 with another tobacco company, Hartlaub & Co of Rotterdam. In 1890, on another trip to Norway, he proposed to Bertha. He also made his first visit to New Zealand in 1890, and in Napier he made the acquaintance of local businessmen, contacts he would renew in time. On 20 September 1892, after Husheer had completed a lengthy round-the-world trip, he and Bertha were married in Bergen in a Lutheran ceremony and soon settled in Rotterdam.     

The first of their four sons, Ingolf, was born in 1893, and in 1894 Hartlaub's sent Husheer to South Africa to investigate the viability of establishing the tobacco growing industry there. After the birth of their next son, Asbjorn, in 1895, Gerhard and his family moved to Johannesburg where he established the Atlas Tobacco Company, and in 1898, their third son, Torvald, was born. The family returned to Bremen in 1901 due to difficulties created by the Boer War.     

In 1911, Husheer decided to emigrate to New Zealand and attempt to establish a tobacco industry here. With his family he arrived in Wellington, but chose Hawke's Bay as the most suitable place to settle. Leasing a farm at Paki Paki, near Hastings, he spent the next two years (during which their fourth son, Harald, was born) growing experimental crops of tobacco with noticeable success.     

The outbreak of war in 1914 had brought classification as enemy aliens to the Husheer family, but save for relatively minor inconveniences, created no serious problems for them  in the beginning. In 1915, a new factory for the processing of the leaf was built at Ahuriri in Napier, designed by J. A. Louis Hay who would be retained by Husheer until Hay's death in 1948. It was a fruitful relationship between a well-matched architect and business leader.     

In 1916, fishing boats reported that lights had been seen flashing from the vicinity of the plantation near Clive. Police inspection revealed nothing except Torvald's home-made glider in a shed, on which he had been working at night, and ordered it to be destroyed. In 1917, at the height of anti-German sentiment, a faction of directors opposed the control of the company by a foreigner and succeeded in ousting Husheer from his position, and forcibly ejected him and his two sons from the premises.     

Two difficult years followed with no employment for Gerhard or his sons. In 1920, Gerhard moved to Riverhead, near Auckland, and set up a syndicate to finance the growing and processing of tobacco in that area. The hard toil of re-establishing the industry began again, with a new method of curing the leaf in a kiln, advertised as "toasted". In 1923, Husheer founded the National Tobacco Company, and almost immediately bought the virtually defunct New Zealand Tobacco Company, which had foundered from a lack of the expertise, and experience that Gerhard Husheer had brought to it. And so the factory in Napier was utilized to process the Auckland grown leaf and the famous "Riverhead Gold" brand of cigarette tobacco appeared on the market. Only a year later, in 1924, the company paid a dividend of 12%, and Husheer delighted in sending to the former directors who had masterminded his eviction, a copy of the balance sheet.  It was also in that year that Husheer purchased The Villa on Bluff Hill.     

In 1926, a handsome new factory was completed, again designed by Louis Hay who was able for the first time to indulge, on a large scale, his admiration for the work of the modern American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, by creating a factory and bond stores sheathed in brick walls in a style inspired by some of Wright's brick buildings in the American Midwest.     

Then the Earthquake hit on 3rd February 1931. The factory suffered visibly from the collapse of the external brick walls, but the roofs and the supporting structure remained relatively unharmed. Production was quickly resumed, and unaffected by the moratorium on new construction which was imposed on Napier's central business area for some months after the quake.     

Relatively unscathed financially by the earthquake, the National Tobacco Company also was unharmed by the Depression, for people then would rather roll their own than quit. Husheer was able to build yet another new office building in 1932 this time in a manner which architects could then only dream about. Louis Hay devised a Chicago-style design, inspired by the work he did at Husheer's Bluff Hill residence, which incorporated more Art Nouveau and Art Deco elements. Hay's masterpiece is probably New Zealand's best known building internationally. The sumptuous interior and the opulence of the decoration were regarded locally with awe, the carved doors alone reputed to cost £600, an extravagance which would have drawn criticism during tough Depression times had it not been for Husheer's generosity as a local benefactor. During the Depression years, he supplied free milk, cocoa and biscuits to Napier school children, distributed free meat, assisted families in need and gave away as much as £8000 per annum for many years. In 1936, the Prime Minister was petitioned by the Napier Social Services Committee to include him in the honours list, but Husheer declined to accept.     

As the company prospered during the 1930s, Husheer became the legendary figure in Hawke's Bay that he remained for the rest of his life. Immensely wealthy by the standards of any provincial city, he was a figure known by all.

It was in 1936 that Gerhard Husheer was approached through W.E. Barnard, Speaker of the House of Parliament at the time, to advise him that the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M.J. Savage and his cabinet had favourably considered a petition from the Social Services Committee and the people of Napier, which reads:

“That Mr. Gerhard Husheer for the past 7 – 8 years has been the generous Godfather of this whole district and apart from his being the founder of a large industry in Napier, this great-hearted gentleman has given sway for the relief of distress as much as £8000 per annum for many years.  During the years of depression, his unfailing generosity has made our work possible, and at no time has an appeal for help been turned away.  It is our considered opinion that no Citizen of this Dominion has a more worthy claim to high honour and we ask that when your list of distinguished men is compiled for recognition by his Majesty, the name of Gerhard Husheer will be at the head of that list.”

Although he gratefully accepted the honour and appreciation thus shown by the people of Napier, which really warmed his heart, he graciously declined the Royal Honour as further publicity might raise envy in others and intrude into the pleasure and privacy of his life.

In his later years, he is often remembered as the lone figure seated in the back of a succession of enormous chauffeur-driven Pierce Arrow limousines with their melodious wind horns, his Alsatian dogs, and the Villa on Bluff Hill. He loved art and classical music and was described by the grandchild who knew him best as having a good sense of humour.     

Gerhard Husheer died in Napier in 1954 at the age of 90; his wife Bertha lived for another decade. His experience and expertise, combined with hard work, a supportive family, and progressive marketing and promotion, made him one of New Zealand's foremost industrialists.     

After his death the National Tobacco Company was purchased by Rothmans of Pall Mall. The office building is now a company icon, reopened, restored, and visited by architectural enthusiasts making their pilgrimages to Napier to view the building that has made this city world famous. Likewise, Husheer's Bluff Hill residence has been lovingly restored and visited by discerning travellers and architects alike.     

The remarkable Bluff Hill residence and the Ahuriri office building that he created with his architect are his memorial.

 
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