ITINERARY n.12 NOT ON MAP 15

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With the nights lengthening, we present some alternatives to an evening by the tellie - local architectural history books. Future BLOCK guides will look at Kiwi architecture journals and monographs on local architects.

1 1940 Out-of-Print 1: Histories & Anthologies Paul Pascoe ‘Houses’, Making New Looking over the books on the history of architecture, perhaps the most surprising Zealand Vol. 2, No. 20 thing is how few of them there are. Our Institute of Architects recently celebrated its centenary, but Dept of Int’l Affairs, one hundred years of professional activity have produced only a half-dozen major history books and a comparable number of minor ones. Even through the overall number of texts is small, expansion in the field is nonetheless noticeable from the 1970s. This followed, and was also concurrent with, the comprehensive redevelopment of our inner-cities, which involved the large-scale demolition of historic buildings to make way for new highrises. Public support for the retention of significant historic buildings meant the expansion of the heritage conservation sector, which led to an increase in research and writing on the country’s old buildings. In the latter 1970s and the 1980s, the rise of postmodernism encouraged further interest in architectural history; to make historical references in their buildings, architects had to know something about history. The 1990s saw renewed enthusiasm for the clean lines of modernism. This is evident not only in our buildings but also in the architectural history books and papers produced that decade. Consistent with the interest in modernism, New Zealand architectural history of this decade culminated in Clark and Walker’s excellent book, Looking for the Local (2000). The process begun in the 1990s and which will likely be continued in future publications is the re-evaluation and re-incorporation into our historical narratives of figures who, for various reasons, have previously been excluded. This includes architects such as Kenneth Albert, Bill Haresnape, Lillian Chrystal, and Claude Megson, who have each been omitted from a number of otherwise thorough books. The Making New Zealand Most of our early histories were written by practicing architects. The wave of texts published through series was published on the the Historic Places Trust tended to involve input from social historians, such as Frances Porter (she occasion of New Zealand’s centenary. Paul Pascoe was married to architect George Porter, who had founded the Wellington Architectural Centre in 1946). wrote the text for the two More recently there has been greater divergence: Peter Shaw, the author of our best survey text, has a architectural issues, and background in journalism and exhibition curating; Douglas Lloyd Jenkins is a design historian turned his brother John was the architectural historian and now gallery director; Justine Clark has an academic background and is illustrations editor and currently editor of Architecture ; and Paul Walker is an academic. We can be hopeful that the designer for the series. coming years will bring an increasing number of books by local academics. While Performance-Based ‘Houses’ provided a history of New Zealand housing Research Funding requires academics to be constantly researching and writing, getting their work into covering Maori whare, settler book form requires some skill in handling the mechanics of the PBRF system – its weighting encourages huts and homesteads, academics to produce articles for scholarly journals (and thus for comparatively limited readerships) villas and bungalows and rather than books aimed at a broader readership. state housing initiatives. It But NZ’s dearth of architectural histories may be not for a lack of writers but a perceived lack of culminated in then cutting- readers – until recent years, publishers have assumed the market for such books was limited. However, edge projects by Humphrey with the increasing popularization of design culture and the success of books such as Douglas Lloyd Hall, Robin Simpson and Vernon Brown, as well as the Jenkins’ At Home (2004), there is reason to be optimistic about the future of publishing on New Zealand Berhampore flats, soon to be architecture and architectural history. Julia Gatley and Andrew Barrie renamed Centennial Flats.

Reference as: Julia Gatley and Andrew Barrie, “Out-of-Print 1: Histories & Anthologies”, Itinerary No. 12, Block: The of the Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, No. 3, 2008. 2 1940 3 1947 4 1954 5 1972 Paul Pascoe, James Garrett ‘Public Buildings’, Making New Ernst Plishke Home Building, 1814-1954: John Stacpoole & Peter Beavan Zealand Vol. 2, No. 21 Design and Living The New Zealand Tradition Architecture 1820-1970 Dept. of Int’l Affairs, Wellington Dept. of Int’l Affairs, Wellington Pelorus Press, Auckland A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington

The second architecture issue in the Making New Plischke was a frequent writer This compact volume contains Zealand series claimed that on the subject of modern a sweeping survey, dividing ‘Our architecture derived design. His best known book, This was published as the New Zealand architecture from ’, although quite Design and Living, was an catalogue for an exhibition into three periods: 1820-80, progressively, it opened with expanded reworking of the curated by students of the 1880-1920 and 1920-70. Each the line that, ‘The earliest earlier text, About Houses, Auckland University College of the three periods has an type of public building in which had been published School of Architecture; one of introductory essay, followed New Zealand was the whare by the Army Education and these student curators was the by key buildings, most given a runanga or tribal meeting house Welfare Service in 1945. young Peter Bartlett. Author single page of images and text. of the Maoris’, and the opening Interestingly, Plischke was James Garrett would later write Notable is the attention given image was of Rangiatea using the alternative spelling the entry on ‘Architecture’ in A. to large and public projects, in Church, Otaki. The historical of his surname in this period to H. McLintoch’s Encyclopaedia contrast to the usual obsession styles were all covered, along help unsophisticated Kiwis with of New Zealand (1966). In this with the house; the houses with 20th century architects their pronunciation. The book book, Garret’s survey of New that are here are more often including Gummer & Ford, covered design at every scale, Zealand houses covered Maori mansions than baches. There William Gray Young and from furniture and interior whare through settler buildings is comparatively little attention Stephenson & Turner. The late design to town planning. It was and Arts & Crafts to the 1950s. to mid-century modernism, and 1930s public architecture is one of the most widely read It culminated in one of his own Beaven’s work on this book noticeably less radical than the NZ books on architecture of designs for a concrete block coincided with his increasing corresponding houses shown its time, and made Plischke house, which pre-dates the interest in designing buildings in issue 20. Issue 22 of the famous enough to leave the frenzy of activity in the use of that demonstrated a clear series, by G. L. Gabites, looked Housing Division of the MoW this building material in the response to their historic at furniture. and go into private practice. mid-to-late 1950s. contexts.

1976 1979 1984 1986 6 7 Frances Porter, ed. 8 9 Jeremy Salmond John Stacpoole Historic Buildings of NZ: David Mitchell & Gillian Chaplin Old New Zealand Houses Colonial Architecture in NZ North Island The Elegant Shed 1800-1940 A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington Cassell, Auckland Oxford Univ. Press, Auckland Reed Methuen, Auckland

The Elegant Shed differs from Stacpoole was a prolific writer A South Island counterpart to previous texts by its focus on on 19th century New Zealand this volume was published by the post-World War II period, architecture. Books that pre- Methuen in 1983. The book’s its attention to ordinary and This book developed out of date Colonial Architecture coverage is limited to the everyday architecture (a la Jeremy Salmond’s Masters include a biography of William 19th century, but extended to Venturi et al) and its frank thesis on the subject of Mason (1971), the survey both the Maori and Pakeha analysis of comparatively historical New Zealand houses. with Beaven (1972), and traditions. Like Stacpoole’s recent architecture - written It is a comprehensive guide to Victorian Auckland (1973). book, these two volumes by a practicing architect. Like our heritage of cottages, villas Stacpoole’s 1976 survey does coincided with increasing Douglas Lloyd Jenkins’ At and bungalows, supported not correspond to the exact public concern about the Home, The Elegant Shed was by a raft of explanatory line years of New Zealand’s status demolition of large numbers also a TV series, although in drawings and photographs. It as a colony (1840-1907), but of New Zealand’s historic the 80s the TV show came first. has become a standard text for instead covers the 1820s buildings and their replacement The book’s myth-making power architecture students and home to the early 1880s, when a with concrete highrises. is such that it was assigned renovators, and has been re- recession slowed construction. The New Zealand Historic a whole chapter in Exquisite printed many times; it must be It is concerned with ‘European Places Trust was actively Apart, where Peter Wood one of the best selling books architecture’, but was still a researching and classifying described it as a ‘watershed’ ever produced on New Zealand much more complete survey the country’s historic buildings in New Zealand architectural architecture. To distinguish a of the colonial period than had and supported the publication discourse. A mint condition corner angle bay villa from a previously been published. This of these two volumes. Both copy was recently spotted on return bay villa or even a single book is fairly readily available volumes are quite easy to find sale at Jason’s Books on Lorne bay with gable over villa, this is for less than $50. in second hand book stores. Street for $120. still the place to look. 10 1989 11 1990 12 1991 13 1992 Terence Hodgson Gerald Melling Looking at the Peter Shaw Debra Daley, ed. The Mid-City Crisis Architecture of NZ New Zealand Architecture The 1950s Show Thumbprint Press, Wellington Grantham House, Wellington Hodder & Stoughton, Auckland Auckland City Art Gallery/AGM

This was a special souvenir Gerald Melling, one-time editor Terence Hodgson, a musician edition of NZ Home and of NZ Architect magazine, has by training, has been writing on Building, published to coincide been known for his fearless but New Zealand architecture since Shaw’s book immediately with an exhibtiion on the 1950s articulate commentary on the 1978 when Fire & Decay: The became our key survey text, held at the Auckland City Kiwi architecture scene since Destruction of the Large New with second and third editions Art Gallery. The exhibition, the early 1980s. His previous Zealand House was published. being published under the designed by McKay Pearson books include monographs More recently, he has also title A History of New Zealand Architects, is particularly on both (1980) turned his hand to fiction. Architecture (1997 and remembered for its partial and (1985). The Looking at the Architecture of 2003). As suggested by the reconstruction of The Group’s cleverly titled Mid-City Crisis NZ, published in black and sub-title of the first edition, First House. The publication gathers together a series white, was one of the more it includes traditional Maori includes chapters by Peter of his entertaining essays, thorough surveys of local buildings and is then structured Shaw on modenist architecture mostly written for the National architecture to have appeared chronologically, covering a and on Home and Building Business Review between by 1990, but it was overtaken broad range of architects, magazine in the 1950s, as well 1987 and 1989. They capture just one year later by Shaw’s geographic areas and building as by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins the excesses of postmodern considerably larger, full-colour types. Its bibliography was on the design community. architecture and 1980s book on the same subject. probably the most thorough It includes a number of speculative development with Hodgson’s book shouldn’t be yet published. Robin Morrison, interesting and useful timelines satire and wit. In some ways, under-estimated, however, and who took the photographs, and mini-biographies. The this post-1987 crash book is still a useful alternative to was one of New Zealand’s best exhibition and this publication represents the flipside to the Shaw. Indeed, in some areas, photographers, but died not mark the beginning of a fixation postmodern playfulness of The such as the 1970s, Hodgson long after the first edition was with modernism that still drives Elegant Shed. gives fuller coverage. published. New Zealand architecture.

Charles Walker, ed. 14 2000 15 2003 Still in Print: Justine Clark & Paul Walker Andrew Leach Exquisite Apart (2005) Looking for the Local: Frederick H. Newman: Barbara Brookes, ed. NZIA, Auckland Architecture & the NZ Modern Lectures on Architecture At Home in New Zealand This is the NZIA’s centennial Victoria Univ. Press, Wellington A&S Books, Ghent (2000) publication, but it is a rather Bridget Williams Books, unusual centennial publication Wellington in that it is not a history: it is This book comprises a series of a series of essays reflecting essays around the idea of the on 20th century architecture home in New Zealand written – some by practicing architects by academics from history, and a smaller number by anthropology and architecture. academics. State housing gets quite a run. Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, ed. Douglas Lloyd Jenkins New Dreamland: Writing New At Home: A Century of NZ Zealand Architecture (2005) Design (2004) Godwit, Auckland Godwit, Auckland This book brings together This book is a survey of key texts on New Zealand domestic design, notable for architecture, predominantly its consideration of not only about contemporary This book developed out architecture and interior design architecture rather than of Andrew Leach’s Masters but also furniture, ceramics architectural history. It is an Looking for the Local is a very thesis on hydro architecture and textiles. Commercially extremely valuable resource, important book, in part for the of the post-war period. It successful, the book earned although it has been suggested stories it tells about modern comprises essays written by the Montana Book Award for that some of the inclusions architecture in New Zealand Newman, as well as a brief non-fiction and gave rise to from more recent times are and the wealth of photographs biographical essay on him a TV series that screened in rather obscure. it provides of modern buildings. by Leach. Newman was an 2006. But it is much more than just Austrian émigré and worked a book about buildings. It is in the Housing Department book about books, journals, before moving across to manifestos, exhibitions, Hydro. He had planned to photography: it is a book write a book on architecture in about texts. It also articulated his retirement, but he died in very clearly the emergence of 1964 before either retirement two major strands of modern or the book eventuated. His architecture in post-war New essays demonstrate interests Zealand: the international shared by many modern modern and a specifically architects, in medium- and Kiwi modernism. This book high-density housing, social is already collectable, almost factors in architecture, town impossible to find in second planning, hydro dams and hand books shops or even the realationship between online auction sites. architecture and engineering.