Jacob Vincent Kurta was born in Podgora, Croatia in 1877. He immigrated to New Zealand in 1896 and like many Dalmatians worked on the northern gumfields before settling in Taranaki.
In 1902 he took over the Silver Grid Restaurant in Devon Street East from H.K. Harty. Three years later he bought Smith's Empire Dining Rooms, opposite the Theatre Royal (now the TSB Showplace). The new restaurant was known as the Golden Grid Restaurant and Oyster Saloon and was open from 7am to midnight six days a week and 5pm to 11pm on Sundays.
The entrepreneurial Kurta also opened the Dominion Billiard Saloon on Devon Street West. Located on the north side of the block between Brougham and Currie Streets, its opening in May 1908 was apparently warmly welcomed by local players. Of particular interest was an arc oval table, said to be only the second in use in the country. Later in 1908 the Taranaki Herald reported that the billiard saloon had installed the first "French cannon table" (i.e. with no pockets) in New Zealand.
In the early 1920s Kurta moved the business, this time to a two-storey wooden building on the north side of Devon Street West in the block between Egmont and Brougham Streets. This was replaced by a concrete building designed by T.H. Bates in 1940, since demolished.
In 1924 Kurta commissioned Bates to design a new building for him on Devon Street. The building was known as "Kurta's Buildings" and his name featured on the facade. Although his name has gone, the building still stands in Devon Street.
Jacob Kurta married Christina Agostinelli in 1907 and the couple had three sons and two daughters. He died on 18 June 1965 and is buried at Te Hēnui cemetery.
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