New Zealand Odyssey: Napier Post-Earthquake Art Deco

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

Napier suffered a monumental earthquake in 1931 which killed something like 250 people and laid the town to waste. With brilliant perspicacity the powers-that-be decided that the city should be rebuilt and that its architectural style should be art deco, a fashion that was worldwide at the time and has since become as classical as Bauhaus, art nouveau or Palladian.

I could have illustrated many Napier buildings for our book but chose just two typically art deco designs: the doorway of the Masonic Hotel with its leaded glass pelmet and the first storey balcony of the Central Hotel whose almost Egyptian themes might readily be seen on cinemas all over the world.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

N.Z. House & Cottage 13. Isel House, Nelson

I wrote and illustrated ‘New Zealand House and Cottage’. It was published in 1997. It’s a snapshot of some historic New Zealand homes - both grand and modest - as they were preserved at the end of the 20th century.

I have decided to share some of the entries from the book from time to time on this blog.

ISEL HOUSE, NELSON

The day I visited Isel Park was one out of the box: a light breeze rustled the spring leaves of the grand old trees and a bevy of young mothers - all very beautiful, of course, with equally beautiful children - was picnicking on the lawn. In the background was Isel House, once the private preserve of a very private man who disliked visitors, now owned by the Nelson City Council and open, with its adjacent museum, for everybody.

I wouldn’t describe Isel House as handsome but it does have the merit of being architecturally unusual. It is invariably shown from the front as I have drawn it, but that’s a misleading aspect especially when it’s described as being ‘Thomas Marsden’s house of 1848′.

In actual fact, if Thomas Marsden were to be resurrected it is unlikely he would even recognize the place since it was not he, but his son James who designed the brick and stone front and had it built four years after his father’s death.

Behind the masonry lies the original farm house, built by Thomas who arrived in Nelson from Cumberland with his wife, Mary, on 31 December 1842. After a few false starts they settled at Stoke, in Poorman’s Valley (named after emigrants who first settled the area but couldn’t make a go of it: it’s now called Marsden Valley) eventually acquiring 960 acres (390 ha) which surrounded his ‘Isel Cottage’. Marsden lived near Isel Castle in England and adopted its name as a reminder of home. It was said that he inherited most of his wealth, and over almost three decades he was able to devote himself to his gardens, much of them planted with trees raised from seeds brought to him by travellers from all over the world.

Thomas died in 1876 after his carriage overturned when its horse was frightened by a train. Isel House then passed to his son, James, who, by all accounts, became more eccentric over the years, living as a feudal lord in the big house, attended by numerous servants, and given to taking pot-shots at blackbirds to stop them disturbing his seedlings.

To add the façade, built of brick and dressed stone from Poorman’s Valley, he employed two Nelson builders, Robert Tibble and Peter Henry, who used to walk to Stoke every day to do their work. James died in 1926 and his wife, Mary Rose, in 1930: they were childless. The property, after having been owned by Archibald Nicholls, passed to the City Council in 1959.

I’ve no idea how old the bell-push is, but it has a very attractive art nouveau brass plate which I covet. That’s a good enough reason to include it here.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

N.Z. House & Cottage 6. The Turrets, Orepuki

I wrote and illustrated ‘New Zealand House and Cottage’. It was published in 1997. It’s a snapshot of some historic New Zealand homes - both grand and modest - as they were preserved at the end of the 20th century.

I have decided to share some of the entries from the book from time to time on this blog.

‘THE TURRETS’, OREPUKI

If the earth was flat and you had a well-developed imagination you might see the Antarctic coast in the shimmering distance for at Orepuki, on the eastern end of Te Waewae Bay, nothing impedes the fury of the southerly winds from the pole, winds which are sometimes so salt laden that the macrocarpas stretch out their long, naked, flinching trunks as if to rip their roots from the soil and escape to the north. Here, with only a flimsy yet enduring stand of hardy trees for shelter stands a most unusual house.

I had first seen ‘The Turrets’ some years ago while travelling along the road from Riverton that parallels the southern coast until, faced with the uncompromising bluffs of Fiordland, it turns north to Tuatapere. The house lay in the distance, silver against forest green like a pavilion of towered Camelot. I determined that one day I would approach more closely.

John and Glenda Watson, who have lived at ‘The Turrets’ since 1960, have raised a family of five within the sheltering solidity of its timber walls. With pride they showed me over the house and were amused by my astonishment when I entered the sitting room and saw the most unusual pressed metal ceiling with its wonderful art nouveau frieze, which, they assured me, is entirely original.

The house was built in the late 1800s by George Valentine Printz for his son, John Louis (known as ‘Barney’ for no apparent reason). Printz, born in 1833, came from Sydney, prospered as a whaler and owned 7000 acres (2832 ha) at Paihia. He fathered ten children, two of whom died in infancy, leaving five sons and three daughters. They grew up in a lively community whose economy was based upon mixed farming, saw-milling, shale oil working and the unreliable rewards of winning fine gold from the black beach sands of the bay.

The turrets were a delightful eccentricity: George Printz built houses for four of his sons; Henry’s was towerless, George’s had one turret, William’s had two and John Louis trumped them all with three. They do sparkle so when the sun comes out …
 
© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

Country Churches of NZ 19. Church of St Peter and St Paul, Puhoi

I wrote and illustrated Country Churches of New Zealand. It was published in 2002 by New Holland, Publishers and is still on sale in bookshops. The publishers have kindly agreed to me re-publishing some of the book’s images and descriptions in this blog.

CHURCH OF ST PETER and ST PAUL, PUHOI

The Roman Catholic church of St Peter and St Paul was built for £267 in 1881. The architect was James Wrigley. His design ended where today's altar begins and there was no bell-tower until 1899.

Larger than your usual village church, it has an imposing west entrance with a porch surrounded by five simple, 'early English' windows, lots of brass doorknobs and fingerplates, and abundant stained glass in Art Nouveau style.

Many of the windows are dedicated and most of the names on them are redolent of the Bohemian settlement: Schischka, Straka, Remiger, Ranner, Becher, Schollum, Wenzlick, Bayer, Tunnwald. The organ, as typical of older country churches, was made by the Carpenter Company of Brattleboro, Vermont, USA.

© DON DONOVAN


donovan@ihug.co.n.