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Story: Department stores and shopping malls

Cuba Mall, 1971

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Cuba Mall, 1971

This 1971 view of Wellington’s Cuba St pedestrian mall looks south towards the central fountain and play area. The middle part of Cuba St was closed off to form the mall in 1969. The fountain, initially called a ‘water mobile’ but later known as ‘the bucket fountain’, was designed by architects and town planning consultants Burren and Keen, and has become a well-known Wellington feature.

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: AAQT 6401/A98,224

by J. Waddington

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Helen Laurenson, Department stores and shopping malls – The rise of shopping malls, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22218/cuba-mall-1971 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Helen Laurenson, published 4 February 2010.