1 Julia Gatley (ed.), Group Architects: Towards a New Zealand Architecture, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2010.
1 Pers. comm. George Porter to Paul Winkworth, 8 October 1992. See Paul Winkworth, ‘The Early Years of the Architectural Centre’, BArch research report, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1992, p. 6.
2 W. H. Oliver, ‘The Awakening Imagination, 1940–1980’, in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1992 [1981], pp. 539–70.
3 Oliver, ‘The Awakening Imagination’, p. 541. See also Rachel Barrowman, ‘Fraser, Heenan and Cultural Patronage’, in Margaret Clark (ed.), Peter Fraser: Master Politician, Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, 1998, pp. 109–18.
4 For information on the Centennial Exhibition buildings, see Greg Bowron, ‘A Brilliant Spectacle: The Centennial Exhibition Buildings’, in John Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington, Te Waihora Press, Christchurch, 1996, pp. 39–46.
5 See Philip Goad, ‘Collusions of Modernity: Australian Pavilions in New York and Wellington’, Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, vol. 10, August 1999, pp. 22–45; and Robyn Ussher, ‘The Modern Movement in Canterbury: The Architecture of Paul Pascoe’, MA thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, 1986.
6 See Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style: Architecture Since 1922, Norton, New York, 1932.
7 Beatriz Colomina, Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1994.
8 Le Corbusier, ‘The Great City’, Journal of the NZIA, vol. 8, no. 5, December 1929, pp. 126–30.
9 W. R. Simpson, ‘Gardening on the Roof’, Home and Building, vol. 2, no 3, May 1938, pp. 26–29.
10 Cedric Firth, ‘Problems of Working-Class Housing II’, Tomorrow, 2 September 1936, pp. 11–14.
11 Pers. comm. William Alington, James Beard, George Porter, William Toomath and Antony Treadwell, interviewed by Philippa Hoeta, 15 December 1994.
12 F. R. S. Yorke, The Modern House, Architectural Press, London, 1935; F. R. S. Yorke, The Modern Flat, Architectural Press, London, 1937; Nikolaus Pevsner, Pioneers of the Modern Movement, Faber & Faber Ltd, London, 1936; and J. M. Richards, An Introduction to Modern Architecture, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1940.
13 See Charlotte Benton et al., A Different World: Émigré Architects in Britain, 1928–1958, RIBA Heinz Gallery, London, 1995; and David Saunders, ‘So I Decided to Go Overseas’, Architecture Australia, vol. 66, no. 1, February–March 1977, p. 23.
14 Letter from Graham Dawson to Julia Gatley, 10 December 1994.
15 Armstrong later became prominent in the field of low-cost housing in England. See Robin Skinner, ‘Edward Armstrong: A New Zealander Abroad’, The Modern World Part Two: Design in New Zealand 1917–1970, UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland, 1996, pp. 107–12.
16 Ann Beaglehole, A Small Price to Pay: Refugees from Hitler in New Zealand 1936–46, Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs and Allen & Unwin, Wellington, 1988, p. 146.
17 Ian Reynolds, ‘Brave New World: The Architectural Climate 1930–1950’, unpublished paper, n.d., p. 7, copy in K. J. Davis, ‘A Liberal Turn of Mind: The Architectural Work of F. Gordon Wilson, 1936–1959, A Cultural Analysis’, BArch research report, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1987, Appendix.
18 Reynolds, ‘Brave New World’, p. 7. R. E. Lochore claims that fourteen of the émigrés who had arrived in New Zealand by 1945 were architects. See Beaglehole, A Small Price to Pay, p. 147. She refers to R. E. Lochore, From Europe to New Zealand: An Account of Our Continental European Settlers, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1951, pp. 77–78.
19 Note that Ernst Plischke’s name was usually presented as Plishke in his association with Cedric Firth (Plishke & Firth), and sometimes in works he authored.
20 See Linda Tyler, ‘Plischke, Ernst Anton’, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/5p31/plischke-ernst-anton, updated 30 October 2012.
21 Andrew Leach (ed.), Frederick H. Newman: Lectures on Architecture, A & S Books, Ghent, 2003, p. 10.
22 Andrew Leach, ‘Helmut Einhorn: Dislocation and Modern Architecture in New Zealand’, Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, vol. 14, nos 1–2, 2004, pp. 59–82.
23 See Ben Schrader, We Call it Home: A History of State Housing in New Zealand, Reed, Auckland, 2005.
24 For a discussion of the bungalow, see Jeremy Ashford, The Bungalow in New Zealand, Viking, Auckland, 1994. See also William Toomath, Built in New Zealand: The Houses We Live In, HarperCollins, Auckland, 1996.
25 See Schrader, We Call it Home, pp. 88–89; and Bill McKay, Andrea Stevens and Simon Devitt, Beyond the State: From Modest to Modern, Penguin, Auckland, 2014, pp. 39–44.
26 See Julia Gatley, ‘Going Up Rather Than Out: State Rental Flats in New Zealand, 1935–1949’, in Barbara Brookes (ed.), At Home in New Zealand: Houses, History, People, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2000, pp. 140–54.
27 Julia Gatley, ‘Wilson, Francis Gordon’, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/5w36/wilson-francis-gordon, updated 30 October 2012.
28 See Linda Tyler, ‘The Architecture of E. A. Plischke in New Zealand, 1939–62’, MA thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, 1986; Julia Gatley, ‘Privacy and Propaganda: The Politics of the Dixon Street Flats’, Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, vol. 7, 1996, pp. 77–98; and Robin Skinner, ‘Further Investigations into an Authorship: Reassessing the Dixon Street Flats Archive’, Interstices: A Journal of Architecture and Related Arts, no. 9, 2008, pp. 60–73.
29 ‘A Continental Trend’, Christchurch Press, 19 September 1935, p. 5.
30 See Linda Tyler, ‘The Urban and the Urbane: Ernst Plischke’s Kahn House’, in Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade, p. 37.
31 See Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins, ‘Rebuilding Robin Simpson’, in Julie Willis, Philip Goad and Andrew Hutson (eds), FIRM-(ness) commodity DE-light?: Questioning the Canons; Papers from the 15th SAHANZ Conference, Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, 1998, pp. 183–88.
32 Ana Robertson and Michael Linzey, ‘Paul Pascoe and Modern Architecture in New Zealand Post World War II’, in Desley Luscombe (ed.), 50 Years of Modernity in Australasia: 1920–1970: Papers from the 12th Annual Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Conference, Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, Sydney, 1995, p. 134.
33 Ussher, ‘The Modern Movement in Canterbury’, pp. 79–81.
34 Tyler, ‘The Urban and the Urbane’, p. 34.
35 As noted in H. Courtney Archer, ‘Architecture in New Zealand’, Architectural Review, vol. 91, no. 543, March 1942, pp. 52–58.
36 See Bruce Petry, ‘A Break with Tradition: The State Fire Insurance Building’, in Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade, pp. 47–52.
37 F. G. Grattan, Official War History of the Public Works Department, vol. 1, Ministry of Works, Wellington, 1948, p. 117.
38 See Julia Gatley, ‘Labour Takes Command: A History and Analysis of State Advances Corporation Flats in New Zealand, 1935–49’, MArch thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1997, pp. 170–77.
39 Controls governed the size of private houses, with 1150 square feet being the maximum allowable house size for a couple with no children, 1250 square feet for a couple of one child, and 1300 square feet for a couple with two children of different sexes. See Gael Ferguson, Building the New Zealand Dream, Dunmore Press and Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1994, p. 137; and S. G. Chaplin, ‘Housing in New Zealand’, NZIA Journal, vol. 17, no. 1, April 1950, p. 7.
40 F. E. Greenish, ‘Our Housing Policy and the Timber Utilisation Problem’, NZIA Journal, vol. 18, no. 9, October 1951, p. 142.
41 Wellington’s Disgrace: In the Shadow of the Slums, Wellington Housing and Accommodation Committee, Wellington, 1943.
42 John A. Lee, ‘Notes on Housing’, n.d., ca. February 1936, p. 17, File NASH 2196/0117, Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
43 Julia Gatley, ‘Shabby and Shambling: Decadent Housing in Greys Avenue’, in Christine McCarthy (ed.), ‘From Over-Sweet Cake to Wholemeal Bread’: The Home & Building Years: New Zealand Architecture in the 1940s, Centre for Building Performance, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 2008, pp. 46–52.
44 See ‘Clearing Te Aro Flat Area – Council to Elaborate Its Plans at Conference’, Dominion, 20 February 1945; ‘Zoning of Te Aro Flat – City Council’s Tentative Plans Explained’, Dominion, 1 March 1945; ‘Cleaner City – Council’s Plans – Start with Te Aro Flat’, Evening Post, 11 March 1946; and ‘Block by Block Demolition – Reclamation Plan for Te Aro Finally Approved’, Southern Cross, 12 March 1946. See also the report by City Engineer K. E. Luke, to the WCC, ‘Transit Housing Associated with Re-planning and Reclamation of Te Aro Flat Area’, 31 January 1946, CE File no 6/987, City Archive, Wellington.
45 Caroline L. Miller, ‘Cox, John Watson’, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/5c42/cox-john-watson, updated 30 October 2012.
46 This work was never fully realised as land was sold to private individuals who could build according to their own designs. George Porter recalled that the division’s design work was often reduced to landscaping, the creation of pedestrian malls and the provision of off-street car-parking. George Porter, ‘Government’, unpublished paper, n.d. (post-1970), p. 9, copy in Davis, ‘A Liberal Turn of Mind’, Appendix.
47 Pers. comm. Caroline Miller to Julia Gatley, 28 August 1998. See also Caroline Miller, The Unsung Profession: A History of the New Zealand Planning Institute, 1946-2002, Dunmore Publishing for the New Zealand Planning Institute, Wellington, 2007, p. 16
48 Porter, ‘Government’, p. 7.
49 Allan Wild, ‘Post-War Generation’, unpublished paper, n.d., p. 4, copy in Davis, ‘A Liberal Turn of Mind’, Appendix.
1 See Secretary, Wellington Architectural Students Club, ‘Proposed Architectural Centre’, 8 July 1946, George Porter Collection; Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 23 July 1946, Architectural Centre Papers, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL), Wellington; and Minutes of the First AGM of the Architectural Centre, 31 March 1947, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL. The formation of the Architectural Centre is also discussed in Lesleigh Salinger, ‘A Breath of Fresh Air: The Architectural Centre Inc.’, in Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade, pp. 69–78.
2 For information on CIAM, see Eric Mumford, The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928–1960, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. and London, England, 2000.
3 See Andrew Leach, ‘Modern Architecture in Wellington’, Lecture at Museum of Wellington City and Sea, Wellington, 16 July 2005. Available at http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv.php?pid=UQ:8533&dsID=Leach_MoWC_S.pdf.
4 Pers. comm. James Beard to Julia Gatley, Auckland, 2009.
5 See Julia Gatley, ‘Passion and Intensity’, Architecture New Zealand, May–June 1998, pp. 14–16.
6 Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 23 July 1946; and Minutes of General Meeting of Members, 1 October 1946, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL. The former lists the 29 people who attended the inaugural meeting, and seven apologies. The latter identifies 24 foundation members, including five who were not at the inaugural meeting.
7 At the same meeting, Porter was elected first secretary: Minutes of the First AGM of the Architectural Centre, 31 March 1947.
8 Those gathered in Porter’s living room were Helmut Einhorn, Charles Fearnley, Graham Kofoed and Libby Taylor, along with Wellington Architectural Students Club representatives Rod Hull, Colin Muir and Geoff Nees: see Secretary, Wellington Architectural Students Club, ‘Proposed Architectural Centre’.
9 Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 23 July 1946.
10 ‘Preview’, Broadsheet, April 1983; and William Toomath, ‘Geoff Nees: Trailblazer for Good Design’, Prodesign, April–May 1999, pp. 84–85.
11 The student foundation members were Ewen Christie, Bob Fantl, John Gates, Rod Hull, H. J. Kemp, Stuart Mitchinson, Colin Muir, Geoffrey Nees, Tony Olsen, Don Shaw, Victor Styles, Ron Taylor, D. Taylor, Arthur Williment and W. Youl: Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 23 July 1946.
12 Minutes of General Meeting of Members, 1 October 1946, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL; and Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting, 21 May 1948, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
13 The Caretaker Committee comprised Porter, Kofoed, Fearnley, Hull and Nees: see Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 23 July 1946.
14 ‘Constitution and Rules of the Architectural Centre (Inc.)’, Drafted 1 October 1946 and amended 17 February 1948 and 31 January 1949, MS Papers 2278, Folder 2, ATL.
15 ‘Constitution and Rules of the Architectural Centre (Inc.)’.
16 Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 23 July 1946.
17 Pers. comm. James Beard to Julia Gatley.
18 Lists of Members, MS Papers 2278, Folder 19, ATL.
19 Secretary, Wellington Architectural Students Club, ‘Proposed Architectural Centre’: see also ‘Constitution and Rules of the Architectural Centre (Inc.)’.
20 See A. E. McEwan, ‘Learning by Example: Architectural Education in New Zealand Before 1940’, Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, vol. 9, 1999, pp. 1–16.
21 Keith Sinclair, A History of the University of Auckland, 1883–1983, Auckland University Press and Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1983, pp. 210–11; Christine McCarthy, ‘The Roaring Forties’, in Julia Gatley (ed.), Group Architects: Towards a New Zealand Architecture, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2010, pp. 29–33.
22 See Architectural Group, On the Necessity for Architecture, s.p., Auckland, 1946; and Planning, no. 1, 1946. The Architectural Group completed their fourth year at architecture school in 1948 and then in 1949, with a different membership, regrouped under the name Group Construction Company to design and build houses. In 1951–52, they became Group Architects. See Julia Gatley, ‘Who was Who in the Group?’, in Gatley (ed.), Group Architects, pp. 6–19.
23 See Tyler, ‘Plischke, Ernst Anton’. See also McCarthy, ‘The Roaring Forties’.
24 Letter from William (Bill) Toomath to Julia Gatley, 18 June 1998. See also Minutes of Meeting of Between Staff and Student Representatives, Auckland University College School of Architecture, 30 July 1948, William Toomath Collection.
25 Ian Reynolds, ‘The Pre-history of the Architectural Centre’, unpublished paper, 20 February 1997, p. 9.
26 Minutes of a General Meeting of the Architectural Centre, 10 December 1946, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
27 Wild, ‘Post-War Generation’, p. 3. See also William Toomath, ‘Education By Design’, Architecture New Zealand, July–August 1996, p. 62.
28 Basil Ward, for example, recalled the formative importance of the period he spent in the office of architect Louis Hay in Napier around 1920. Hay had an outstanding knowledge of contemporary architecture and a library including many key publications. Exposure to this context established a modern outlook in Ward that he took with him to England in the late 1920s. See Basil Ward, ‘Connell, Ward and Lucas’, in Dennis Sharp (ed.), Planning and Architecture: Essays Presented to Arthur Korn by the Architectural Association, George Wittenborn Inc., New York, 1967, pp. 73–86.
1 ‘Cuttings from the Centre Scrapbook’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 1, April 1948, p. 4. The article refers to Southern Cross, 26 November 1947.
2 ‘Report by the Caretaker Committee Presented to the First Annual General Meeting on Monday March 31st 1947’, George Porter Collection.
3 The subjects were: perspective drawing, freehand drawing, theory of design, history of architecture, history of decoration, architectural construction, reinforced concrete construction, structural steel construction, practical mathematics, structural mechanics, sanitation and descriptive geometry. By the end of 1947, the 48 students who were enrolled had submitted 125 Testimonies and had sat a total of 130 professional exams. See ‘Report by the Caretaker Committee Presented to the First Annual General Meeting on Monday March 31st 1947’, George Porter Collection.
4 ‘Students of Architecture’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 1, April 1948, p. 4.
5 Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting, 6 May 1947, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
6 Ibid., 6 September 1949.
7 ‘Planning Problem of Te Aro Flat’, Southern Cross, 26 November 1947. For a more detailed discussion of Te Aro Replanned, which came out of the second Summer School, see Paul Walker, ‘Order from Chaos: Replanning Te Aro’, in Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade, pp. 79–87.
8 Cedric Firth, State Housing in New Zealand, Ministry of Works, Wellington, 1949.
9 See, for example, the manifesto of the Architectural Group, On the Necessity for Architecture, s.p., Auckland, 1946.
10 ‘Planning Problem of Te Aro Flat’.
11 ‘Zoning of Te Aro Flat: Council’s Tentative Plans Explained’, Dominion, 1 March 1945.
12 John Cox, ‘A Town Planning Exhibition’, Landfall, vol. 2, no. 2, June 1948, p. 136.
13 Architectural Centre, Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting, 15 January 1948 and 22 February 1948, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
14 ‘Te Aro Plans Inspected by More than 20,000 People’, Dominion, 3 April 1948, p. 10.
15 Architectural Centre, Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting, 27 February 1948, 21 June 1948 and 21 January 1949, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
16 Cox, ‘A Town Planning Exhibition’; E. A. Plishke, ‘“Te Aro Rebuilt”: The Story of An Exhibition’, New Zealand Listener, vol. 18, no. 456, 19 March 1948, pp. 16–18; Anthony Treadwell, ‘What a City Could Be’, Home and Building, vol. 11, no. 2, October–November 1948, pp. 22–25, 37–43, 52; H. W., ‘Te Aro Re-planned: A Study in Teamwork’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 2, July 1948, pp. 1–3.
17 For more information on the Demonstration House, see Julia Gatley, ‘A Contemporary Dwelling: The Demonstration House’ in Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade, pp. 88–95. See also MS Papers 2278, Folder 29, ATL.
18 See Tyler, ‘Plischke, Ernst Anton’. Graham Dawson has described Wilson as ‘arrogant, over-bearing, often rude and insensitive to other people’s feelings’ and Plischke as a ‘sensitive soul’: letter from Graham Dawson to Julia Gatley, 10 December 1994.
19 See ‘Demonstration House Built at Karori’, New Zealand Free Lance, 28 September 1949, p. 36; ‘A House is Where You Build It’, New Zealand Listener, vol. 21, no. 542, 11 November 1949, cover shot and pp. 6–7; ‘Opinions Will Clash Over Students’ House’, Evening Post, 15 October 1949, p. 10; and ‘New Type of House Demonstrated by City Architects’, Dominion, 17 October 1949, p. 8.
20 ‘New Type of House Demonstrated by City Architects’.
21 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 2 November 1949, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
22 A. L. Gabites, ‘Designer’s Comments’, Offcentre, no. 25, February 1977.
23 Wild, ‘Post-War Generation’, p. 5.
24 Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting, 16 January 1948, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
25 By the time all accounts had been settled, a surplus of £184 0s 5d remained from the sale and this was transferred to the school account. The house was built for £4,039 and sold for £3,800, including £400 of chattels. The figure of £4,039 included the cost of the materials that had been donated to the project (almost £1,000), hence the small surplus. See W. M. Bradshaw, ‘Estimated Cost of Demonstration House’, 10 October 1949, MS Papers 2278, Folder 29, ATL; and Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 13 March 1951, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
26 ‘Education Supplement’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 5, February–March 1949, pp. 16–19.
27 ‘School of Town Planning’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 5, February–March 1949, p. 9.
28 See Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting, 5 November 1948, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL; and ‘Notes’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 6, April–May 1949, p. 9.
29 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 13 September 1949, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
30 Ibid., 10 October 1950.
31 Ibid., 13 February 1951.
32 ‘Work by the Wellington Technical College School of Architecture’, Design Review, vol. 4, no. 5, October–November 1952, pp. 118–19.
33 Wellington Technical College Building Department and School of Architecture Prospectus, 1956, Allan Wild Collection.
34 ‘A Discussion on Architectural Education: The Need for a School of Architecture in Wellington’, Journal of the NZIA, vol. 23, no. 6, July 1956, p. 138.
35 Minutes of Centre Council Meetings, 14 November 1950, 23 January 1951 and 13 March 1951, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
36 Ibid., 25 October 1951 and 6 February 1952.
37 Minutes of Centre Executive Committee Meeting, 1 December 1952, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL; and Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 4 March 1953, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
38 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 7 December 1955, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
39 ‘Education and Training of Architects in New Zealand’, Appendix to the Journal of the House of Representatives, H-39, 1951. See also ‘A Discussion on Architectural Education’, p. 138.
40 G. F. Dawson and C. J. Whitmore, ‘Minority Report of Mr G. F. Dawson and Mr C. J. Whitmore’, AJHR, H-39, 1951, pp. 61–72.
41 ‘A Discussion on Architectural Education’, pp. 138–43; ‘Wellington’, NZIA Journal, vol. 27, no. 10, November 1960, p. 259; Arthur L. Salmond, ‘Presidential Address, 1962’, NZIA Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, April 1962; pp. 66–68; ‘Appendix B: Second School of Architecture’, NZIA Journal, vol. 31, no. 3, April 1964, p. 76; ‘The Case for a Second School of Architecture’, NZIA Journal, vol. 31, no. 5, June 1964, pp. 152–53; ‘No Second School Yet’, NZIA Journal, vol. 34, no. 11, November 1967, p. 364; ‘The Second School’, NZIA Journal, vol. 35, no. 11, November 1968, p. 356.
42 See NZIA Wellington Branch, ‘Memorandum on Architectural Education’, attached to a notice inviting members to attend a Special General Meeting to discuss architectural education, 25 May 1956, Allan Wild Collection.
43 ‘NZIA Examinations in Architecture’, NZIA Journal, vol. 35, no. 8, August 1968, p. 255.
44 This was written into the Architects Act 1963, which replaced the Architects Act 1913.
45 ‘Wellington Polytechnic School of Architecture’, NZIA Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, March 1964, p. 52. See also A. C. Light, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, ‘Intermediate Examination’, NZIA Journal, vol. 31, no. 4, May 1964, p. 139.
46 See Rachel Barrowman, Victoria University of Wellington, 1899–1999: A History, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 1999, p. 190.
47 See ‘A Discussion on Architectural Education’, p. 138; ‘The Case for a School of Architecture’, pp. 152–53; and ‘The Second School’, p. 356.
48 ‘Second School of Architecture’, NZIA Journal, vol. 33, no. 7, July 1966, p. 218; and ‘Victoria University School of Architecture’, Home and Building, vol. 24, no. 3, 1 August 1966, p. 33.
49 See Architecture 1975–1985, School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1985.
50 Minutes of Centre Council Meetings, 7 December 1966 and 1 February 1967, MS Papers 2278, Folder 5, ATL.
51 ‘Dr Gerd Block’, NZIA Journal, vol. 41, no. 3, March 1974, p. 34.
1 See Robert Chapman, ‘From Labour to National’, in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1992 [1981], pp. 370–78.
2 Erik Olssen, ‘Depression and War (1931–1949)’, in Keith Sinclair (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of New Zealand, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1996 [1990], p. 234.
3 See Rosslyn J. Noonan, By Design: A Brief History of the Public Works Department, Ministry of Works, 1870–1970, Ministry of Works and Development, Wellington, 1975, p. 204.
4 Chapman, ‘From Labour to National’, in Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, p. 378.
5 ‘The Era of the Supermarket’, Home and Building, vol. 21, no. 3, August 1958, pp. 52–53, 63–65.
6 Justine Clark and Paul Walker, ‘Book, House, Home’, in Barbara Brookes (ed.), At Home in New Zealand: Houses, History, People, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2000, p. 204.
7 ‘Decline of Hutt Valley Market Gardening’, Dominion, 13 May 1959.
8 Noonan, By Design, p. 220.
9 ‘Architecture in Wellington 1963’, Dominion, 30 May 1963.
10 D. E. Barry Martin, ‘Use Valuable Housing Land to the Best Advantage’, Dominion, 30 May 1963, p. 8.
11 Noonan, By Design, pp. 206–7.
1 This chapter draws on Paul Walker, ‘Print Record’, Architecture New Zealand, September–October 1996, pp. 46–48; and Justine Clark, ‘“The Book”: Representing a New Zealand Modernism’, in Stephen Cairns and Philip Goad (eds), Building Dwelling Drifting: Migrancy and the Limits of Architecture, papers from the 3rd Other Connections Conference, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, 1997, pp. 63–71.
2 Design Review, vol. 1, no. 1, April 1948, p. 1.
3 E. A. Plishke, Design and Living, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1947.
4 Justine Clark and Paul Walker, Looking for the Local: Architecture and the New Zealand Modern, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2000, pp. 16–17.
5 J. M. Richards, Nikolaus Pevsner, Osbert Lancaster and H. De C. Hasting, ‘The Second Half Century’, Architectural Review, vol. 101, no. 601, January 1947, p. 22.
6 George Porter, ‘Address by the Chairman, Mr D. G. Porter, Presented to the First Annual General Meeting on Monday 31st March, 1947’, MS Papers 2278, Folder 1, ATL.
7 Tony Mackle, ‘Taylor, Ernest Mervyn’, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/5t3/taylor-ernest-mervyn, updated 30 October 2012.
8 ‘Inhibitions at an Exhibition’, Design Review, vol. 5, no. 5, April 1954, p. 117.
9 Though widely known as Old St Paul’s Cathedral, the building did not have all the formal features of a cathedral, as its use as such was intended to be only temporary.
10 ‘Proposed Book on Contemporary New Zealand Architecture’, attached to Architectural Centre Newsletter, August 1957, Architectural Centre Collection, PAColl 811, ATL.
11 Clark and Walker, Looking for the Local, p. 28.
12 James Beard comments that the Centre approached A. H. & A. W. Reed, the venerable New Zealand publishers, who were enthusiastic, and they in turn sought collaboration with the Architectural Press: Beard, ‘An Historical Perspective’, Home and Building, no. 4, 1982, p. 73.
13 Robin Skinner, ‘Niki Down Under: Impressions of Pevsner in New Zealand’, in Philip Goad and Julie Willis (eds), Loyalty and Disloyalty in the Architecture of the British Empire and Commonwealth: Selected Papers from the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, SAHANZ, Auckland, 1996, pp. 102–10.
14 Letter from Architectural Centre (Lewis Martin) to Nikolaus Pevsner, 21 October 1958, MS Papers 2278, Folder 30, ATL. Pevsner had apparently explained to Martin why the refusal of the Architectural Press was to be expected, but there is no indication what these reasons were.
15 A subcommittee comprising James Beard, Lewis Martin and William Toomath was formed to select these buildings: Minutes, September 1958, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL. By December 1957 they had a shortlist of 35 buildings by twenty architects; they had been told that Pevsner wanted about 25 New Zealand buildings: see Architectural Centre Newsletter, August 1958, Architectural Centre Collection. A draft of the letter sent to architects asking for photographs is in the Centre archives, but there is no list of the particular buildings: MS Papers 2278, Folder 30, ATL.
16 Plischke also makes the point that the styles of the 1890s were as international as modern architecture: Ernst Plishke, ‘Two Houses’, Design Review, vol. 2, no. 5, February–March 1950, p. 93.
17 ‘Proposed Book on Contemporary New Zealand Architecture’.
18 ‘The Architectural Centre Book’, n.d., MS Papers 2278, Folder 30, ATL.
19 ‘The book’ was first mentioned in an Architectural Centre newsletter in July 1957. By this time they had spoken with the publishers and by August outlined a tentative policy. In December 1958, Allan Wild proposed a change in direction: pers. comm. Lewis Martin and William Toomath to Justine Clark, 1997.
20 Pevsner appears to have put his views on the significance of the house in New Zealand architecture at a number of venues in New Zealand, including an ad hoc lunchtime talk to the Wellington Branch of the NZIA, and in a radio talk: see Skinner, ‘Niki Down Under’, pp. 103–4.
21 Allan Wild, ‘Comment on Lew Martin’s Report on the Book’, 20 May 1959, with handwritten notes initialled A. A. W., Allan Wild Collection.
22 Housing was a very important topic of public discussion; the depression and then the war had resulted in large housing shortages that were still pressing in the 1950s, and this gave the architectural discussion of the house extra urgency. See Clark and Walker, ‘Book, House, Home’, in Brookes (ed.), At Home in New Zealand, pp. 195–209.
23 ‘Letter To The Collectors’, Architectural Centre Collection, PAColl 811, ATL.
24 By March 1960, the Auckland collection was still not to hand, and Peter Middleton had now been given the job: MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL. By June 1960 the book project had folded.
25 See Julia Gatley, ‘House Typologies’, in Julia Gatley (ed.), Group Architects: Towards a New Zealand Architecture, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2010, pp. 51–145. On Wilson, see Paul Walker and Justine Clark, ‘Everywhere and Nowhere: The Group and the New Zealand Architectural Canon’, in Gatley (ed.), Group Architects, pp. 217–25.
1 ‘Constitution and Rules of the Architectural Centre (Inc.)’, Drafted 1 October 1946 and amended 17 February 1948 and 31 January 1949, MS Papers 2278, Folder 2, ATL.
2 Ibid.
3 ‘The Architectural Centre Gallery – Functions’, Centre Gallery Records, MS Papers 0186, Folder 18, ATL.
4 Included in this exhibition were E. Mervyn Taylor, Nancy Parker, Juliet Peter, R. J. Waghorn, J. Bowbett Coe, Jill MacDonald, Geoff Nees, Martin Hill and Anthony Treadwell: see Invitation to Inaugural Exhibition, MS Papers 2278, Folder 33, ATL.
5 These terms were used in a letter to the Department of Internal Affairs which argued for public funding on the basis of the number of non-rent exhibitions held by the Architectural Centre Gallery: see MS Papers 0186, Folder 6, ATL.
6 A document titled ‘Rent and Commissions: The Architectural Centre Gallery’ notes that the rent for sale exhibitions was £12 12s for a fortnight. Non-sale exhibitions were charged £7 10s a week. See MS Papers 2278, Folder 18. The gallery took 10 per cent commission on sales, but capped this figure so that if an artist’s work sold well, they would not have to pay a commission of more than £6 6s a week.
7 These are all mentioned, among others, in Funding Application from the President of the Architectural Centre to the Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs, MS Papers 0186, Folder 6, ATL.
8 See MS Papers 0186 and MS Papers 2278, Folder 33, ATL; Hector Library, Artist Files, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; and Architectural Centre Gallery Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. All exhibition information is from these sources, unless stated otherwise.
9 See Gordon Brown, New Zealand Painting 1940–1960: Conformity and Dissension, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand, Wellington, 1981, p. 50; and Jane Vial, The Gallery of Helen Hitchings: From Fretful Sleeper to Art World Giant, Museum of Wellington City & Sea, Wellington, 2008.
10 Brown, New Zealand Painting 1940–1960, p. 50.
11 Elva Bett, ‘Portrait of a Dealer Gallery in Wellington: The Elva Bett Gallery 1968–1980’, MA thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1998, p. 2.
12 Letter, G. W. Dowling to W. B. Sutch, 24 April 1956, MS Papers 0186, Folder 16, ATL.
13 Letter, Secretary, Architectural Centre, to G. H. Datson, 23 December 1958, MS Papers 2278, Folder 33, ATL.
14 See G. H. Datson, Centre Gallery (Inc.) Members Newsletter, no. 1, July 1960, MS Papers 2278, Folder 33, ATL.
15 MS Papers 2278, Folder 33, ATL.
16 ‘Proposals for a Centre Gallery Society’, MS Papers 2278, Folder 33, ATL.
17 ‘What is “the Architectural Centre”?’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 6, April–May 1949, p. 17.
18 Invitation to Stockton’s Exhibition, MS Papers 0186, Folder 16, ATL. The contents of the exhibition are recorded in a ‘Notice to Members of the Architectural Centre’, 26 January 1954, MS Papers 0186, Folder 19, ATL.
19 Lesleigh Salinger, ‘A Breath of Fresh Air: The Architectural Centre Inc.’, in John Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington, Te Waihora Press, Christchurch, 1996, p. 76.
20 Kate Coolahan, interview with Damian Skinner, 1 November 1998, Visual Culture in Aotearoa Oral History Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
21 Centre Gallery at the Display Centre Catalogue, Architectural Centre Gallery Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. This exhibition included the following: pottery by Juliet Peter and Doreen Blumhardt; sculpture by Muriel Moody, John Drawbridge, Tanya Ashken, Roy Cowan and Lorna Ellis; hand-printed fabrics by William Mason; and painting by Malcolm Warr, Selwyn Muru, William Mason, John Drawbridge, John Pine Snadden, Avis Higgs, Helen Stewart and Rita Angus.
22 Francis Pound, ‘Emerging Abstraction’, in The 1950s Show, Auckland City Art Gallery: NZ Home and Building Souvenir Edition, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, 1992, pp. 38–39.
23 Jim and Mary Barr, When Art Hits the Headlines: A Survey of Controversial Art in New Zealand, National Art Gallery, Wellington, 1987, p. 23.
24 Kate Coolahan, interview with Damian Skinner, 1 November 1998.
25 Letter, W. B. Sutch to S. Leathem, 1 October 1954, MS Papers 0186, Folder 15, ATL.
26 The Picasso exhibitions are a good example of this tendency. The exhibition held in July 1955 was curated using prints from the National Art Gallery, and private collections. On show were ceramics, reproductions as well as limited edition prints: MS Papers 0186, Folder 16, ATL.
27 ‘Paris Through Artists’ Eyes’, New Zealand Free Lance, 4 April 1956, Architectural Centre Gallery Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
28 Letter, W. B. Sutch to H. Einhorn, 2 September 1954, MS Papers 0186, Folder 8, ATL.
29 Letter, Peter Tomory to W. B. Sutch, 20 March 1958, MS Papers 0186, Folder 13, ATL.
30 Avis Higgs, interview with Damian Skinner, 2 November 1998, Visual Culture in Aotearoa Oral History Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
31 Funding Application from the President of the Architectural Centre to the Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs, MS Papers 0186, Folder 6, ATL.
32 Gems from the Ilott Collection was shown in April 1955, while it seems that the National Art Gallery’s collection of Picasso prints was used in a July 1955 exhibition: MS Papers 0186, Folder 13, ATL.
33 See Brian Easton, ‘Sutch, William Ball’, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/5s54/sutch-william-ball, updated 30 October 2012.
34 Doreen Blumhardt, interview with Damian Skinner, 3 November 1998, Visual Culture in Aotearoa Oral History Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
35 Letter, W. B. Sutch to M. Garland, C. Vallenduck, A. J. McDonald and R. Bowie, 23 March 1954, MS Papers 0186, Folder 11, ATL.
36 Kate Coolahan, interview with Damian Skinner, 1 November 1998.
37 See, for example, Letter, W. B. Sutch to Eric Westbrook, 2 August 1954, MS Papers 0186, Folder 8, ATL.
38 Letter, W. B. Sutch to Louise Henderson, 25 March 1954, MS Papers 0186, Folder 9, ATL.
39 Letter, G. H. Datson to Miss N. Hammond, 13 April 1959, MS Papers 0186, Folder 6, ATL.
40 Peter McLeavey, ‘Centre Gallery in New Home’, Dominion, 16 March 1968, Architectural Centre Gallery Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
41 ‘Exhibitions’, National Art Gallery Annual Report, 1968, p. 10.
42 Roy Cowan, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Special Exhibition for 1969 – Five Guest Artists, n.p.
43 In 1965 Hamish Keith raised the issue of privately owned galleries, and their greater efficacy than committee-run institutions like the Centre Gallery. To a ‘stunned audience’, he said: ‘The operators of a private gallery do not have a committee to answer to and their very existence depends on the success of their venture. A private gallery would make a tremendous cultural change in Wellington.’ See Dominion, 30 October 1965, Architectural Centre Gallery Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. It appears that by the late 1960s, Keith’s pronouncements had been proven true.
44 Bett, ‘Portrait of a Dealer Gallery in Wellington’, pp. 18–19.
45 Avis Higgs, ‘Questions about the Architectural Centre and Gallery’, p. 3, Architectural Centre Gallery Archive, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
1 Some of the material published in this chapter has appeared previously in Julia Gatley, ‘The Centre Years: 4 Architects and a City’, in Stephen Stratford (ed.), 4 Architects, 1950–1980: William Alington, James Beard, William Toomath, Derek Wilson, Architectural Publications Trust, Auckland, 2010, pp. 198–203.
2 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 26 August 1954, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
3 Living in Cities was the title of an earlier exhibition put on by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the British Institute of Adult Education in 1940. The exhibition was designed by Ralph Tubbs who wrote a book under the same title: see Ralph Tubbs, Living in Cities, Penguin, London, 1942.
4 ‘Vertical Living Group: Preliminary Layout for Exhibition’, George Porter Collection. See Clark and Walker, ‘Book, House, Home’, in Brookes (ed.), At Home in New Zealand, pp. 202–3.
5 These three exhibitions are discussed in Minutes of Centre Council Meetings for 1953–56, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
6 Architectural Centre Newsletter, November 1956, Allan Wild Collection.
7 ‘Urban “Sprawl” Cuts at Economy’, Dominion, 26 February 1957, p. 8; ‘Homes Without Sprawl’, Home and Building, vol. 21, no. 3, 1 August 1958, pp. 33–37; ‘Urban Sprawl’, New Zealand Listener, vol. 36, no. 920, 29 March 1957, pp. 4–5; and ‘Urban Sprawl’, New Zealand Listener, vol. 36, no. 921, 5 April 1957, pp. 4–5.
8 ‘Homes Without Sprawl’, p. 37.
9 Allan Wild, ‘Post-War Generation’, unpublished paper, n.d.
10 Minutes of Architectural Centre Council Meeting, 2 May 1958, MS Papers 2278, Folder 4, ATL. In addition to the district scheme, the Centre believed the Wellington City Council needed to set up a town planning department and employ qualified town planners.
11 Minutes of Architectural Centre Council Meeting, 3 March 1958 and 28 March 1958, MS Papers 2278, Folder 4, ATL.
12 Ibid., 14 April 1958.
13 Minutes of Architectural Centre AGM, 23 April 1959, MS Papers 2278, Folder 2, ATL.
14 ‘Agreement Reached on Ticket for Capital’s Election’, Dominion, 21 October 1959, p. 6.
15 Pers. comm. James Beard to Julia Gatley, Auckland, July 2009.
16 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 10 September 1959, MS Papers 2278, Folder 4, ATL.
17 ‘Wrong Planners’, Evening Post, 11 November 1959. See also ‘Danger Seen “In Govt. Handouts”’, Dominion, 11 November 1959.
18 See G. M. Betts, Betts on Wellington: A City and its Politics, A. H. & A. W. Reed for the Wellington City Council and Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 1970, p. 223.
19 TC Series, Box 2275, File 68/1/1, Part 1, WCC Archives. A copy of the 1959 draft district scheme is held on this file.
20 S. W. Toomath, ‘Annual Report, 1960–61’, 10 April 1961, MS Papers 2278, Folder 8, ATL.
21 Cr D. G. Porter, ‘Wellington City District Scheme No. 1 and 2 Sections’, 9 March 1960, TC Series, Box 2275, File 68/1/1, Part 1, WCC Archives.
22 Cr B. L. Dallard, ‘Code of Ordinances: Comments and Criticisms of Councillor Porter’, 4 December 1961, TC Series, Box 2275, File 68/1/1, Part 1, WCC Archives.
23 For a more detailed discussion of this exhibition, see Julia Gatley, ‘The Wellington CBD Replanned: Wgtn 196X’, in Christine McCarthy (ed.), ‘… about as austere as a Dior gown’: New Zealand Architecture in the 1960s, Centre for Building Performance, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 2005, pp. 17–25.
24 See Architectural Centre, Wgtn 196X: City Development, s.p., Wellington, 1961; ‘Wellington’s Buildings Criticised’, Dominion, 10 March 1961, p. 8; and Neville Burren, ‘The Redevelopment of Wellington’, NZIA Journal, vol. 28, no. 5, June 1961, pp. 132–35.
25 Minutes of a meeting between the Director of Roading, the Deputy Commissioner of Works and WCC representatives, 7 October 1960, TC Series, Box 2305, File 68/37, Part 1, WCC Archives.
26 F. B. C. Jeffreys, City Engineer, ‘Report by City Engineer on his Overseas Visit 1960: Urban Motorways, Off Street Car Parking and Associated Matters’, December 1960, CE Series, File 59/6/1, WCC Archives.
27 De Leuw Cather & Co presented the scheme publicly on 21 August 1963. About 200 people attended. The presentation and the scheme were given much coverage in the Dominion the following day.
28 See ‘Property Affected’, Evening Post, 27 August 1963; ‘Why No Mention of Reclamations’, Evening Post, 31 August 1963; and ‘Getting Transport Report Waste of Money’, Evening Post, 11 September 1963. See also W. B. Sutch, Wellington: A Sick City, Sweet & Maxwell, Wellington, 1965.
29 See Gabites & Beard, ‘Principles of Precinct Planning Applied to Wellington City: A Study Undertaken on Behalf of the Greater Wellington and Hutt Valley Retailers’ Association’, August 1964; GWHVRA, ‘Press Statement’, 17 December 1964; and Barry Purdy, Secretary, GWHVRA, to the Executive Committee, GWHVRA, ‘Wellington City Draft Plan’, 28 April 1965. All in MS-2278-43, ATL.
30 See ‘Call for Planning Review’, Dominion, 28 August 1964; and ‘Support for Retailers on Traffic Plan’, Dominion, 30 October 1964. The scheme was later published as Gabites & Beard, Precinct Planning for Wellington 1965, GWHVRA, Wellington, 1965.
31 ‘District Traffic Survey Approved’, Evening Post, 17 December 1964.
32 Robert T. Kennedy, Town Planning Consultant, ‘Report on the Wellington Foothills Motorway Proposal’, 7 December 1965, MS Papers 2278, Folder 43, ATL.
33 ‘Councillor Slates Planning Policy, Quits Committee’, Dominion, 30 July 1964; and ‘Frustrations at Town Hall’, Dominion, 3 August 1964.
34 ‘Chairman Defends Committee’, Dominion, 31 July 1964.
35 Memo from W. G. Morrison, Chairman of Town Planning Committee, WCC, to Town Planning Committee, WCC, 16 February 1965, TC Series, Box 2276, File 68/1/1 Part 4, WCC Archives.
36 Chris Cochran, ‘The Emperor Who Wore No Clothes’, Broadsheet, July 1977.
37 Pers. comm. Caroline Miller to Julia Gatley, 28 August 1998. See also Caroline Miller, The Unsung Profession: A History of the New Zealand Planning Institute, 1946-2002, Dunmore Publishing for the New Zealand Planning Institute, Wellington, 2007, pp. 23, 35.
38 Wild, ‘Post-War Generation’, p. 4.
39 Betts, Betts on Wellington, pp. 238, 255.
40 See David Kernohan, Wellington’s New Buildings, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 1989, pp. 8, 26, 62, 153, 156, 167 and 168.
1 Miles Warren, ‘… In Decent Obscurity’, Home and Building, no. 5, 1979, p. 34.
2 John Stacpoole and Peter Beaven, New Zealand Art: Architecture 1820–1970, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1972, p. 90.
3 On Shell House, see ‘Wellington’s Tallest Building’, Building Progress, vol. 23, no. 12, December 1958, pp. 9–10.
4 David Kernohan, ‘Shapely City’, Architecture New Zealand, January–February 1996, pp. 26–30.
5 ‘Building Permits Lowest in 30 Years’, Evening Post, 27 June 1981.
6 ‘Finial’, New Zealand Architect, no. 6, 1985, p. 12.
7 Gerald Melling, The Mid-City Crisis and Other Stories, Thumbprint Press, Wellington, 1989.
8 Gerald Melling, ‘Stitching-up the City: Wellington on the Operating Table’, New Zealand Architect, no. 6, 1985, p. 14. This is republished in Melling, The Mid-City Crisis, pp. 78–83.
9 Julia Gatley, Athfield Architects, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2012, pp. 61 and 185.
10 David Kernohan, ‘Introduction: The Architecture of Stephenson & Turner New Zealand: A Critique’, in John Balasoglou (ed.), Stephenson & Turner, Balasoglou Books, Auckland, 2006, p. 8.
11 Ibid., p. 81; Philip Goad, ‘BHP House, Melbourne’, in Jennifer Taylor (ed.), Tall Buildings, Australian Business Going Up: 1945–1970, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2001, pp. 261–81.
12 Miles Warren, ‘Criticism of Bank of New Zealand’, New Zealand Architect, no. 5, 1986, p. 26.
1 Minutes of 1959 AC AGM, 23 April 1959, MS Papers 2278, Folder II, ATL.
2 ‘Aldo van Eyck Speaks’ Part 1, NZIA Journal, vol. 31, no. 1, February 1964, pp. 3–6; Part 2, NZIA Journal, vol. 31, no. 3, March 1964, pp. 25–26.
3 ‘Ambitious City Traffic Improvement Proposals’, Evening Post, 11 March 1948, p. 6. This was part of a city-planning proposal apparently put together by the city engineer’s office in response to the huge public success of the Centre’s Te Aro Replanned.
4 This information is contained in notes apparently from Helmut Einhorn, in an envelope marked ‘Arch Centre Harbour D’, in MS Papers 88, Folder 179, Architectural Centre Box 3, ATL. See also Offcentre, no. 2, August 1969, pp. 6–7. Moshe Safdie was the architect of a famous housing project at Expo 67 in Montreal called Habitat, an apparently random assemblage of standard apartment units.
5 The history of reclamations in Wellington Harbour is set out in Grahame Anderson, Fresh About Cook Strait: An Appreciation of Wellington Harbour, Methuen, Auckland, 1984.
6 Offcentre, no. 2, August 1969, p. 6.
7 NZIA Wellington Branch News, no. 5, June 1968. Reprinted on the cover of Newsletter, NZIA Auckland & South Auckland Branches, August 1968.
8 Offcentre, no. 2, August 1969, pp. 4–6.
9 Offcentre, no. 5, November–December 1969, p. 13. Wild was elected Honorary Life Member of the Architectural Centre at the AGM of March 1969: Offcentre, no. 1, June 1969, p. 6.
10 Minutes of Architectural Centre Council meeting, 12 April 1972; see also the minutes of the council’s subsequent meeting, MS Papers 2278, Folder 7, ATL.
11 See ‘Fate of Wellington Wharf Sheds’, NZIA Journal, vol. 39, no. 6, June 1972, p. 197.
12 To a degree, the 1970 Centre exhibition Wellington Hills Subdivided offered a precedent for this approach: see Designscape, no. 21, December 1970, insert 2, unpaginated.
13 MS Papers 2278, Folder 7, ATL.
14 This is clear from the Centre’s correspondence from the 1970s and 1980s and from its newsletter of that time. The Broadsheet for May 1982, for example, lists contact details for Action for the Environment, the Wellington Civic Trust, Native Forests Action Council and Friends of the Bolton Street Cemetery.
15 Peter Marriott, President’s Report, 1976–77, MS Papers 88, Folder 179, Architectural Centre Box 3 (in envelope ‘Minutes to Old Meetings’), ATL.
16 J. L. Roberts, ‘The Development of the Wellington Urban Waterfront’, Seminar on Development of the Wellington Urban Waterfront, Department of University Extension, Victoria University of Wellington, 1973, p. 8.
17 K. V. Clarke, ‘Harbour City Interface – Town Planning Problems’, Seminar on Development of the Wellington Urban Waterfront, pp. 3–4.
18 See Stacpoole and Beaven, New Zealand Art: Architecture 1820–1970, p. 102.
19 David Reed, ‘Wellington’s Waterfront: Harbour Design Competition’, New Zealand Architect, no. 2, 1983, pp. 26–31; Harbour City: Blueprints for the Future, Wellington Civic Trust, Wellington, 1983; ‘Harbour City Competition: Assessor’s Report’, New Zealand Architect, no. 5, 1983, pp. 35–41.
20 Paperchase comprised David Reed and John Gray of the VUW School of Architecture; Grahame Anderson, Derek Wilson and Keith Huntingdon, architects, of Toomath Wilson Irvine Anderson; Donald Irvine, engineer, also of TWIA; Frank Boffa, landscape architect; Colin Bennett, architect, JASMaD; and Alistair Auburn, planner. See Harbour City: Blueprints for the Future.
21 By 1980 the Wellington Maritime Planning Authority, established under the 1977 Town and Country Planning Act, was preparing a draft planning scheme for Wellington Harbour. The Centre proposed to make a submission in the form of a special issue of Offcentre. But this appears not to have eventuated. See letter from Terrence Broad, Centre President, to the Secretary, Wellington Harbour Planning Authority, 30 September 1980, MS Papers 88, Folder 179, Architectural Centre Box 2, ATL; Broadsheet, July 1981; Broadsheet, September 1982.
22 See Broadsheet, March 1983.
23 James Beard, ‘The Wellington Waterfront: An “Ongoing Situation”’, Home and Building, February–March 1984, pp. 71–73. The Centre contributed regularly to Home and Building from the beginning of 1982.
24 ‘On the Waterfront’, Architecture New Zealand, January–February 1988, p. 20; ‘Lambton Approval’, Architecture New Zealand, July–August 1989, p. 20.
1 D. J. Beere, ‘A Plea for the Preservation of St Paul’s’, Design Review, vol. 5, no. 5, April 1954, pp. 105–7.
2 Minutes of Centre Council Meetings, 4 May 1955 and 9 June 1955, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
3 Fillet, ‘St Paul’s Around the Walls’, Architectural Centre Newsletter, 25 October 1955, Allan Wild Collection.
4 See Gavin McLean, ‘“Where Sheep May Not Safely Graze”: A Brief History of New Zealand’s Heritage Movement 1890–2000’, in Alexander Trapeznik (ed.), Common Ground: Heritage and Public Places in New Zealand, University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2000, p. 35. For further information on the history of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, see Heritage New Zealand, Winter 2005, published on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary.
5 ‘The Preservation of St Paul’s’, Architectural Centre Newsletter, May 1956, Allan Wild Collection; and ‘Allied Organisations’, Architectural Centre Newsletter, September 1957.
6 ‘Dr Nikolaus Pevsner Broadcasts’, NZIA Journal, vol. 25, no. 10, November 1958, p. 260.
7 Nikolaus Pevsner, ‘The Ingratiating Chaos: Impressions of New Zealand’, Listener (UK), vol. LX, no. 1547, 20 November 1958, p. 826.
8 Diana Neave, Historic Preservation and Local Authorities: A Survey of Registers, Ordinances and Assistance, Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Wellington, ca. 1981, p. 5.
9 See McLean, ‘“Where Sheep May Not Safely Graze”’, p. 37.
10 Ibid., pp. 37–38.
11 In 1987 the Trust Board replaced the 1940 cut-off date with a 30-year rolling date (i.e., places built as recently as 30 years ago could be classified). This continued for registrations under the Historic Places Act 1993. With the 1993 Act, the four-tiered system gave way to a two-tiered system, Category I and Category II.
12 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 27 July 1954, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
13 Ibid., 30 April 1956.
14 ‘Map of Buildings to See In and Around Wellington’, Lewis Martin Collection. See also S. W. Toomath, ‘Annual Report, 1960–61’, 10 April 1961, MS Papers 2278, Folder 8, ATL.
15 The society’s inaugural meeting was held on 27 October 1964: see Margaret Alington, Unquiet Earth: A History of the Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington City Council, Wellington, 1978, pp. 157–58.
16 See H. E. Einhorn, ‘Annual Report, 1964–65’, March 1965, MS Papers 2278, Folder 9, ATL.
17 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 4 November 1964, MS Papers 2278, Folder 5, ATL.
18 Alington, Unquiet Earth, p. 159.
19 Ibid., p. 160.
20 Ibid., p. 171.
21 Sandy Beath, ‘The Year in Review’, President’s Report for 1986–87, in Broadsheet, ca. March 1987.
22 See ‘And the Walls Came Tumbling Down’, Dominion, 8 October 1986, p. 9.
23 ‘How High the Rise?’, Designscape, no. 48, June 1973.
24 Peter Taylor, ‘Broken Premises’, New Zealand Listener, 21 March 1981, p. 61.
25 Ibid., p. 62. See also Brian Woodley, ‘Office Building Boom Could Lead to Surplus’, Evening Post, 20 April 1981, p. 4.
26 See Offcentre, no. 19, May 1975; and B. R. Hope, ‘Public Trust Building: Does the City Want It?’, Broadsheet, November 1974.
27 See Grahame Anderson, ‘Hunter Building Conservation Proposals’, Offcentre, no. 28, December 1977; and President’s Report for 1977–78, ca. March 1978.
28 The old hotel was owned by the Wellington City Council. In 1980 the council indicated that it was open to suggestions for the reuse of the building, and the Centre ran a competition to seek ideas for this, but in the face of a campaign to retain it the council demolished the hotel anyway – to build a park. ‘Competition’, Broadsheet, November 1981. See also ‘News (Perhaps)’, Broadsheet, November 1980.
29 ‘There’s Going to Be a Lot More, Too’, Evening Post, 31 January 1981, p. 40.
30 ‘Building Tumbles for Company Image’, Evening Post, 28 July 1981, p. 13.
31 John Roberts, ‘Marking Time’, New Zealand Listener, 21 June 1980; and Broadsheet, ca. March 1985.
32 Letter from S. P. Beath, President, Architectural Centre, to Mr Gavin Wilson, Chairman, Town Planning Committee, Wellington City Council, n.d. Reprinted in Broadsheet, ca. March 1985.
33 Letter from Dr Russell Walden, School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, to Geoffrey Thornton, Classification Committee, Historic Places Trust, 5 June 1984; and reply from J. A. Burns, Assistant Director, Historic Places Trust, to Dr Russell Walden, 26 June 1984, New Zealand Historic Places Trust File HP 12009-189.
34 Chris Cochran, ‘A Win in Wellington: The Missions to Seamen Building’, Historic Places in New Zealand, September 1986, pp. 4–6.
35 ‘And the Walls came Tumbling Down’, Dominion, 8 October 1986, p. 9.
36 Lindis Taylor and Judy Frost-Evans, ‘“Save Our City” is the Cry of a Wellington Campaign’, Historic Places in New Zealand, June 1987, p. 14.
37 Niven was president from 1984–85; Beath from 1985–87; and Cranko from 1987–89. See Sandy Beath, ‘The Year in Review’, President’s Report for 1986–87, in Broadsheet, ca. March 1987; and Deb Cranko, ‘The Year in Review: 1987–88’, President’s Report for 1987–88, ca. March 1988, Deb Cranko Collection.
38 Taylor and Frost-Evans, ‘“Save Our City” is the Cry of a Wellington Campaign’, p. 14.
39 Cranko, ‘The Year in Review: 1987–88’. See also Broadsheet, March 1988.
40 Ibid.
41 Fax from John Pratt, Challenge Realty Ltd, to Ken Davis, 16 June 1989.
42 ‘Rocking the Foundations’, Evening Post, 14 June 1989.
43 See Keith W. Thomson, Art Galleries and Museums of New Zealand, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1981, p. 151.
44 See Julia Gatley, Athfield Architects, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2012, pp. 47, 54, 85.
45 See David Reed (ed.), New Lives for Old Buildings: The Proceedings of a National Symposium held in Wellington, New Zealand on 14–16 April 1980, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Wellington, 1982. In his role as an Historic Places Trust Wellington Regional Committee member, Grahame Anderson was one of the organisers of the symposium, and Centre members William Toomath, James Beard and Maurice Tebbs were among those who presented papers at it. The event was reviewed by Terence Broad in Broadsheet, May 1980.
46 See McLean, ‘“Where Sheep May Not Safely Graze”’, pp. 41–42.
47 Sir Michael Fowler later referred to the ‘sleaziness’ of the council that overturned this earlier agreement during his appearance as an expert witness in the 1998 hearing of the Prudential Company’s application to demolish the Prudential Building, the CBA Building and the South British Insurance Building on Lambton Quay. Sir Michael was appearing in support of the Prudential’s application.
48 Wellington City Council, ‘Report No. 5 of Town Planning Hearings Committee’, 15 July 1987, Historic Places Trust File HP 12006-005.
49 Council sold the buildings to Ipoh Ltd in 1993 for a token $1 and agreed to contribute $3 million to the cost of redevelopment. That figure would later rise to $5 million.
1 Ted McCoy, A Southern Practice, Otago University Press, Dunedin, 2007, pp. 153–57.
2 For critique of the architect selection process for the National Art Gallery, see Gerald Melling, Editorial, New Zealand Architect, no. 6, 1983, p. 5; and McCoy, A Southern Practice, pp. 153–57.
3 Jasmax was formed in 1989 when JASMaD merged with Bossley Cheshire Architects and Gibbs Harris Architects.
4 John Hunt, ‘Process of Selection’, Architecture New Zealand, Te Papa Special Issue, 1998, p. 16.
5 Russell Walden, ‘Museum of New Zealand: A Waterfront of Discontent’, Letter to the Editor, Architecture New Zealand, September–October 1992, p. 11. The same issue of the magazine included Scott’s obituary.
6 For an example of disparagement, see Denis Dutton, ‘Te Papa: National Embarrassment’, The Weekend Australian, 6 June 1998. For examples of Te Papa’s positive reception, see William Tramposch, ‘Te Papa: Reinventing the Museum’, Museum Management and Curatorship, vol. 17, no. 4, December 1998, pp. 339–50; and Tramposch, ‘Te Papa: An Invitation for Redefinition’, Museum International, vol. 50, no. 3, July–September 1998, pp. 28–32.
7 Julia Gatley, Athfield Architects, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2012, p. 260.
8 ‘Te Aro Re-planned: A Study in Teamwork’, Design Review, vol. 1, no. 2, July 1948, p. 3.
9 Gatley, Athfield Architects, pp. 243–47.
10 David Kernohan, ‘Shapely City’, Architecture New Zealand, January–February 1996, p. 29; Gatley, Athfield Architects, pp. 204–7.
11 Philip Morrison and Scott McMurray have studied the emergence of inner-city apartments in Wellington, but not the growth in the market for them. See Morrison and McMurray, ‘The Inner-city Apartment Versus the Suburb: Housing Sub-markets in a New Zealand City’, Urban Studies, vol. 36, no. 2, 1999, pp. 377–97. See in particular pp. 380–82.
12 William J. Mitchell, City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1995.
1 The prints of Giovanni Battista Piranesi were shown in the National Library Gallery; the AAA Monier entries were shown at the Woolstore in Thorndon; the student work was shown in an end-of-year exhibition at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Architecture, and in an exhibition of projects from the Auckland and Wellington schools in the NZIA–Levene Student Travel Award; the exhibition of architectural and civil engineering history was at National Archives; and the Centre’s 20 Under 40 was shown at the new Central Library.
2 Late in 1991 the shell of the new Central Library Building was used for a group of exhibitions under the title A Square Affair by Victoria University’s School of Architecture, Wellington Polytechnic’s School of Design, the Architectural Centre, the New Zealand Institute of Architects, the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and the Designers Institute of New Zealand.
3 On the Vivian Street building, see Tim Nees, ‘Design Moves Downtown’, Architecture New Zealand, May–June 1994, pp. 48–53. On the institutional politics entailed in bringing the Schools of Architecture and Design together, see Alison Bartley, ‘Class War’, Architecture New Zealand, May–June 1994, pp. 55–59.
4 These two projects were by Paul Barry and Chris Wilson; and by Brett Davidson and Russell Murray.
5 Pete Bossley, ‘Terminal Velocity’, Architecture New Zealand, January–February 1996, pp. 45–47.
6 20 Under 40 in fact had its origins in 1989 in an exhibition of the work of young members of the Centre called 30 Under 30, held at Inverlochy House. It did not have the competitive nature of the subsequent events, and the numbers did not quite work. See ‘30 Under 30’, Architecture New Zealand, January–February 1990, pp. 58–61.
7 Tommy Honey, ‘20 Under 40’, Architecture New Zealand, March–April 1992, p. 18.
8 See Manfredo Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1976, pp. 16–18; and Marguerite Yourcenar, The Dark Brain of Piranesi, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1984, pp. 120–21.
9 Joseph Rykwert, The First Moderns, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1983, pp. 370. Piranesi’s work also included etchings and architectural compositions that seem to incorporate no builderly principles at all: among the prints shown at the National Library were his collocations of antique fragments, minerals and plants, related merely by being placed together.
10 Gregory Burke (ed.), Brodsky & Utkin: Palazzo Nero and Other Projects, City Gallery, Wellington, 1992.
11 Deborah Lawler-Dormer (ed.), Home Made Home, City Gallery, Wellington, 1991.
12 The Plischke and Athfield shows were accompanied by substantial books: August Sarnitz and Eva B. Ottillinger (eds), Ernst Plischke: Modern Architecture for the New World, the Complete Works, Prestel, Munich, 2004; and Julia Gatley, Athfield Architects, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2012. The 1994 Warren & Mahoney show is reviewed in Ian Lochhead, ‘Fine Art, Four Decades of Architecture: The Warren & Mahoney Retrospective’, Architecture New Zealand, November–December 1994, pp. 33–35. The Ito exhibition was accompanied by a boxed set of images and commentary: Andrew Barrie, Toyo Ito Blurring Architecture, Artspace, Auckland, 2001. The Athfield Architects and Beesley exhibitions are reviewed by Linda Tyler, ‘Exhibition Review’, Architecture New Zealand, July–August 2012, pp. 77–78.
13 Gregory Burke (ed.), Jacqueline Fraser: He Tohu: The New Zealand Room, City Gallery, Wellington, 1993.
14 See http://www.unstudio.com/projects/te-papa-museum, accessed 20 June 2013.
15 Justine Clark and Paul Walker, Looking for the Local: Architecture and the New Zealand Modern, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2000.
16 Patrick Clifford, ‘Under Siege’, Architecture New Zealand, March–April 1997, pp. 40–42.
17 Architectural Centre, Draft President’s Report of 2006–7.
1 ‘Address by the Chairman, Mr D. G. Porter, Presented to the First Annual General Meeting on Monday 31st March 1947’, p. 1, George Porter Collection.
2 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 14 June 1951, MS Papers 2278, Folder 3, ATL.
3 The architects involved were Ian Athfield, Peter Bossley, Fiona Christeller, Mary Daish, James Fenton and Christopher Kelly, Stuart Gardyne, Tim Heath, Stephen McDougall, Graeme McIndoe, Gerald Melling and Julieanna Preston. See Cross Section, November 1999, p. 6.
4 Bob Shaw, ‘Gateway of the Future’, Evening Post, 28 October 1998, p. 5.
5 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 13 December 1951 and 6 February 1952. The special meeting was arranged for 20 February 1952 but minutes from this meeting do not appear in Folder 3.
6 Minutes of Centre Council Meeting, 3 March 1958, MS Papers 2278, Folder 4, ATL.
7 S. W. Toomath, President Elect, ‘Future Policy’, Appendix to D. G. Porter, ‘Annual Report 1959–60’, n.d. (ca. April 1960), MS Papers 2278, Folder 8, ATL.
8 Architectural Centre Newsletter, May–June 2005, p. 5.
9 David Kernohan, ‘A Forum Founded’, Architecture New Zealand, March–April 1996, pp. 42–46; Allan Wild, ‘Post-war Fervour’, Architecture New Zealand, May–June 1996, pp. 39–42; William Toomath, ‘Education By Design’, Architecture New Zealand, July–August 1996, pp. 59–62; Paul Walker, ‘Print Record’, Architecture New Zealand, September–October 1996, pp. 46–48; and Julia Gatley, ‘Saving Our Heritage’, Architecture New Zealand, November–December 1996, pp. 35–39.
10 Lesleigh Salinger, ‘A Breath of Fresh Air: The Architectural Centre Inc.’; Paul Walker, ‘Order from Chaos: Replanning Te Aro’; and Julia Gatley, ‘A Contemporary Dwelling: The Demonstration House’, in John Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington, Te Waihora Press, Christchurch, 1996, pp. 69–78, 79–87 and 88–95 respectively.
11 Architectural Centre Newsletter, November–December 2005, p. 1.
12 According to the Centre’s Newsletter (July–August 2006), they included the manifestos of ‘The Group, the Bauhaus, the Futurists, Corbusier, De Stijl, Antonio Sant’Elia, Memphis, Euston, Orgasm, SCUM, Cluetrain, Einstein, Dada, and the Unibomber’.