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Napier offers a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and Art Deco. Among all this Art Deco are Jacaranda trees, Palms, and Norfolk Pines and the city is situated on a beautiful coastline and enjoys a warm, pleasant climate.
As of 2007, Napier has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the first cultural site in New Zealand to be nominated.
On 3 February 1931, Napier was levelled by a 7.8 earthquake. The collapses and ensuing fires killed 256 people. The town centre was destroyed and rebuilt in the popular Art Deco style of the time. Some 40 km² of today's Napier was undersea before the earthquake raised it. Most of the centre remained intact for long enough to become recognized as architecturally unique, and from the 1990s onwards had been protected and restored. Napier and South Beach in the US city Miami are considered the two best preserved Art Deco towns, Miami Beach being mainly in the later Streamline Moderne Art Deco style.
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