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Design Review: Volume 2, Issue 3 (October-November 1949)

A Pictorial Survey of Housing in New Zealand — Part One

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A Pictorial Survey of Housing in New Zealand
Part One

1

This was Bishop Pompallier's house built in 1841. It has a simple plan and was constructed partly in wood and partly in rammed earth. The lack of available stone or brick in early New Zealand was no doubt the reason why rammed earth or adobe was so extensively used at this time. The pioneers had come from a country in which the great majority of the houses were built of brick or stone, and it would appear they were reluctant to build their houses in this new country of the one material which was in great abundance—timber. The building actually belongs to two periods. The adobe or mud-walled portion was the original house, and it consisted of the three rooms on the ground floor and one big room on the first floor which was divided into cells for the resident or visiting priests. The later additions, which completely enveloped the adobe buildings, were made in the 'seventies—a period when colonial houses were very much influenced by the late Georgian architecture of England. Round the austere core of Pompallier's house was added verandahs, a lean-to at the back, chimneys, windows and doors—in fact nearly everything in the present house except the adobe walls. The appearance of this house is pleasing with its dominating roof, sweeping verandahs and rhythm of post and balustrade. Many similar houses are to be found in New Zealand, Australia and California.

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2

This is a well-preserved house built: in Canterbury in 1850 of rammed earth and roofed with the oldest type of roofing thatch. Only elementary technical ability was required to build this house; it is a house in its simplest form. There is a pleasant proportion between the three openings and the walling. Note the absence of spoutings or the ubiquitous chimney pot. Today the picket fence and ample shrubs enhance this simple cottage, which is typical of many that may be found in England and Europe. Pioneers of New Zealand planned and built their first houses in similar form to the houses they had left in England. It was later that the design was influenced by the social and climatic conditions of this new country. The chimney is not characteristic, but is of a form that is well suited for rammed earth.

3

This house of the 'sixties is a development of the Canterbury house. The main elements are the same. The steeply pitched roof was covered with shingle or thatch originally. To a rectangular plan there has been added a verandah which was to become a marked characteristic of all New Zealand houses. A comparatively mild and wet climate with clear strong sunshine influenced the widespread use of the verandah; also the unpaved roads and paths of the day, which in winter must have been deep in mud, were a further reason. The verandah offered in winter a halfway place between the mud and the interior of the house to clean boots and remove top-coats before entering. The windows in this house are of the casement type.

4

This house, which was built about 1860, is a further development of the rectangular plan. There is more room in the upper storey, but this space is badly lighted with only one dormer window. Details of this window indicate that the builder found difficulty in mastering the details of the structure, which no doube explains why there is only one window of this type. All other details are handled with skill and ability. It is interesting to note that there are no spoutings to the roof. which is covered with shingle, and that, the ridges and hips are covered with metal, no doubt lead. The absence of spouting would indicate that drinking water must have been obtained from a well. It was the introduction of galvanised iron for spoutings, downpipes and tanks which made it possible to collect rainwater for household use. Note the lack of flower garden, which is a characteristic of the houses shown in these early photographs. No doubt there was little time to spare for its cultivation. The windows are casement. In the houses of the next decade the casement window disappeared, to be replaced by the double hung or vertical sliding window. Casement windows again became popular about 50 years later in the early years of this century.

Photos by Courtesy of Turnbull Library