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State Housing in The Facts: The Liberal government State house tenants can do anything. After growing up in a state house in , passed ’s first became an investment banker and then Prime Minister. The official Prime Ministerial residence, Vogel Workers Dwellings Act in House in , is one of the nation’s flashest state houses. In between these two poles, New 1905, building 650 houses in small groups. Between Zealand’s state house designs span diverse types produced over more than 100 years. This history starts 1919 and 1935, public with workers’ cottages built from 1906, and includes semi-detached houses (duplexes), one and two support for worker housing storey row houses, and blocks of flats, some medium-density and others high-rise. was largely in the form of Yet amid this diversity, the image of the standard ‘brick and tile’ state house endures. Some would go so low-interest loans rather than far as to call these houses icons of New Zealand architecture. The reason they are recognisable to all of house construction. Better us is because the country’s first Labour government built so many of them – about 30,000 up and down known than these early twentieth-century initiatives the country – during its 1935-49 term. A survey conducted in 1935 had concluded that about a quarter is the extensive housing of the country’s housing stock was substandard and worthy not of repair but of demolition. The state programme of the country’s housing programme was conceptualised both to re-house the New Zealanders living in such conditions, first Labour government, and to stimulate our manufacturing and building industries after the Great Depression. The early state comprising 30,000 houses house designs were produced through the NZIA and Fletcher Construction. In planning and appearance, nationwide and twelve they were far removed from the house type that had dominated 1920s New Zealand: the Californian blocks of medium- and high-density flats in Auckland bungalow. In contrast to bungalows, which developed a low-cost stigma and maintained American and . Later connotations, the comparatively conservative English cottage aesthetic of most of Labour’s state houses governments continued to remained popular in architectural circles in the 1930s and early ’40s. build state houses and flats, Concurrently, the burgeoning modern movement introduced open-plan living areas, flat roofs and joined in the 1950s, 60s and large expanses of glass. Labour’s medium- and high-density housing schemes, such as the Greys 70s by the larger, wealthier city councils, notably Avenue and Symonds Street Flats (both 1945-47), provided the Department of Housing Construction’s Auckland and Wellington, own staff architects, working under chief architect F. Gordon Wilson, with the opportunity to explore which focused on the these innovations and both blocks were key buildings in the development of New Zealand’s modern provision of medium- and architecture. high-density rental flats in Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) continues to produce interesting new buildings today. The urban rather than suburban most striking attribute of the more recent schemes is the emphasis on medium-density arrangements. locations. Muldoon’s National government celebrated the This is the case for both new schemes erected on fresh sites, and for the redevelopment of older completion of New Zealand’s schemes, when densification is often one of the aims. 100,000th state house in Since the 1980s, our state housing schemes have mostly been produced by architects in private practice 1978. Construction of state rather than by government employees. provides particular design challenges, including housing continues today, tight budgets, efficient the use of space, and the need for hardwearing structures and surfaces capable although in recent years of withstanding a few knocks. Taking good design to the ‘man in the street’ was one of the aims of the the sales of state houses on expensive sites seem to modern movement, demonstrated particularly in the work of German modernists such as Gropius and make bigger headlines than Hilberseimer. Thus it is appropriate that in our neo-modern times, award-winning architects continue to the openings of new housing work in this vein. Julia Gatley & Andrew Barrie schemes.

Reference as: Julia Gatley and Andrew Barrie, “State Housing in Auckland”, Itinerary No. 32, Block: The Broadsheet of the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, No. 6, 2010. 1 ca. 1910 2 1937-1949 3 1940s 4 1945-1947 Lawry Settlement Workers Labour Gov’t State Housing Dwellings South of Mt Albert Rd., Pensioners Housing Symonds Street Flats Ramsgate, Findlay, Hewson & Sandringham, and south Great North Road Symonds Street, City Cawley Sts, Ellerslie of the mountain, Mt Roskill Grey Lynn Design architect, Fred Newman

The first Labour government’s state houses can be seen in many parts of Auckland. Sandringham is representative Ben Schrader has identified of the pattern of development While state houses were the Liberal government from speculative bungalows These are an example of generally aimed at nuclear (1890-1912) as ‘the first of the 1910s and ’20s (north the single-storey four-house families, the Housing Division central government in the of Mt Albert Road) to state units built by the first Labour and the State Advances Western world to build public houses (south of Mt Albert government. They become like Corporation recognised that housing for its citizens.’ While Rd). The state houses are short versions of row or terrace other types of applicants such Wellington and Christchurch compact with standardised housing. This group also as childless couples and houses from this period are roof lines and windows, each demonstrates the enthusiasm single people could be more well documented, little has house orientated to have its for the cul-de-sac that is efficiently accommodated been written on the Auckland living room on the north side recurrent in the street layouts in flats. The design of the ones until recently, with Michael to maximize sun. In an effort to of Labour’s state housing Symonds Street Flats followed Roche identifying Woburn avoid stigma, Dept of Housing schemes. The cul-de-sac that of Wellington’s Dixon Temple as the designer of Construction architects had been popularised by the Street Flats (1940-1944), while many of those built in the consciously introduced variety planning of Radburn, New also introducing a T-shaped 1910s, such as in Ellerslie’s in building materials and house Jersey, Clarence Stein and footprint and a subtle curve in Lawry Settlement. They shape and size, using both Henry Wright’s community for the street façade, which echoes are small, simple cottages, one and two storeys, semi- the motor age. The aim was to a bend in the road. Of the 45 generally with a central front detached buildings and four- reduce the amount of traffic on flats, 26 were one bedroom, door on the street facade and a house units within individual residential streets, thus making 18 were two bedroom and one window on either side. housing schemes. them safe for pedestrians. was three bedroom.

5 1945-1947 6 1957-1958 7 mid-late 1950s 8 late 1950s-early 1960s Lower Greys Avenue Flats Upper Greys Avenue Flats 93-113 Greys Ave., City 115-39 Greys Ave., City Kupe Street State Housing Star Flats Chief Architect, F. Gordon Government Architect, F. Scheme Kepa Road Wilson Gordon Wilson Orakei Orakei

Much of the Kupe Street ridge had been occupied by Star flats are believed to have Ngati Whatua o Orakei. The been designed by English In 1941, with financial support Construction to the south of government erected houses immigrant architect Neville from Auckland City, the Labour the Lower Greys Ave Flats was in Kitimoana Street to rehouse Burren during the time that government embarked upon delayed because construction these Maori owners and then Fred Newman was head of a scheme of ‘slum clearance’ costs were disproportionately developed Kupe Street. The the Housing Division. Each in Greys Avenue. The initial high in the wake of World War usual government policy block is three storeys, with a scheme comprised 468 units II. By the mid 1950s when the of ‘pepper-potting’ was not dozen one- and two-bedroom on both sides of the street. decision was made to proceed, followed here. Rather, medium- units. The name derives Construction was delayed the 1940s design was no density housing was used to from the combination of because of the Second World longer considered appropriate situate a greater proportion of cruciform plan and butterfly War. From 1945 four blocks and the Upper Greys Avenue Maori residents closer to their roofs. In Freemans Bay, the were completed to this original Flats were redesigned to reflect ancestral land at the north same design was utilised design. The architectural technological developments. end of the street. Kupe Street for Auckland City Council language was a continuation of The later block is taller, slimmer became a testing site for the housing. Too often blocks of that used at Dixon Street and and, with reduced mass and Housing Division to trial new star flats have suffered from the Symonds Street. Of the 50 flats, more extensive glazing, lighter, designs for medium-density replacement of their butterfly five were one bedroom, 42 in both senses of the word. It housing, the latter encouraged roofs with a giant hipped roof, were two bedroom and three comprised 70 two-bedroom by government policy of the making them look like over- were three bedroom. maisonettes and 16 bed-sits. 1950s. sized houses. 9 1940-early 1950s 10 Completed 1989 11 Completed 1992 12 ca. 2001 John Tait village Tamaki State Housing Scheme Rata Vine Drive Housing 115 Blockhouse Bay Road Rowena Cres. Redevelopment Panmure, Tamaki, Point Rata Vine Drive, Wiri Avondale Rowena Crescent, Glen Innes England and Glen Innes Manning Mitchell Melling:Morse Architects Architectus

Tamaki was controversial in the This estate of 35 houses William John Tait was mayor early 1940s because it was so brought post-modernity from of Avondale Borough in the big: it was conceptualised to the inner city to the suburban 1920s, and this village of This project reconfigured accommodate 30,000 people fringe. This project used low- pensioner houses sits on land an existing ‘quarter acre’ and was therefore like a whole cost materials – wooden trellis, transferred to the Housing subdivision to allow the new town. The south end Fibrolite-and-batten – and Corporation by his widow. His insertion of medium-density includes Reginald Hammond’s vivid paint schemes to invest homestead has been retained housing. The streets were garden city-type arrangement the seven house types with in the development, serving reorganized to create lanes of concentric crescents, charm and wit. The decorative, as community room and and slip roads. A mixture of including Coates Crescent. Sure-to-rise colours have been caretaker’s flat. The seventeen housing typologies and unit In 1944, Ernst Plischke drew painted over with muted tones, stand-alone two bedroom configurations provide for a up the shopping complex and but the articulated volumes of houses have been clothed in range of occupants, including community centre. His design the houses, the low fences, and a two-tone brick that smoothly large families and the elderly. included a series of reserves especially the now-established integrates the development The most striking buildings and walkways for pedestrians. trees give the estate a pleasant into the suburban streetscape. are several blocks of brightly The street layout was built village-like ambiance. Rewi Melling:Morse subvert coloured townhouses that to Plischke’s design, but the Thompson’s state housing suburban niceties with circular create a continuous and lively buildings were not, with the scheme in nearby Laurelia outdoor areas that ‘bite’ into street frontage. Their garages government selecting new Place, completed around the the volume of the house and are accessed from rear lanes, designs for imported houses, same time, has been removed. a landscape ‘happening’. See defining private garden areas in multi-units, duplexes and See Architecture NZ July/Aug Architecture NZ July/Aug 1991 the zone between houses and housing for single people. 1989. and May/June 1992. garages.

13 Completed 2003 14 2008 15 Completed 2008 Sources: Talbot Park Pensioner Housing Area Bounded by Apirana Ave, Ventura Street State Housing All photographs are by Andrew 580 Hillsborough Rd, Lynfield Point England and Pilkington Ventura Street, Barrie or Julia Gatley. Woodhams Meikle Architects Roads, Glen Innes Designgroup Stapleton Housing New Zealand Corporation has long recognised the significance of the country’s history of state housing, supporting the publication of two books on the subject: Gael Ferguson, Building the New Zealand Dream (Dunmore Press and Dept of Internal Affairs, 1994) and Ben Schrader, We Call It Home: A History of State (Reed, The Talbot Park development is 2005). HNZC also employed one of a number of community the late Greg Bowron from renewal projects initiated by 2003 to 2006 to compile a Housing NZ in 2001. Produced This collection of townhouses national inventory of state ‘Housing New Zealand is in partnership between HNZC, has been designed housing and to assess the building houses again’, wrote Auckland City Council and the according to principles of heritage significance of the John Walsh when he reviewed local community, the project Crime Prevention Through individual schemes. Greg’s this scheme. It was opened by was intended to revitalise a Environmental Design. A work remains unpublished Prime Minister in neighbourhood of dilapidated private lane passes through the at the present time but we March 2003 and comprises 50 1960s public housing spread centre of the site, and are optimistic that HNZC will pensioner units in a series of across five hectares. The double-storey units have been pursue publication in the future. two- and three-storey blocks project, which includes design placed around the perimeter, Julia Gatley has written on the of pre-cast concrete. Lifts work by Architectus, Bailey with accessible single-storey flats built by the first Labour and gallery walkways provide Architects, Boffa Miskell, units at the centre of the site. government, for example in access to the upper levels. Common Ground, Crosson Careful attention has been Each unit is two-bedroom, Clarke Carnachan, Stapleton paid to the design of gardens Barbara Brookes (ed.), At with balconies off living areas. Architects, ASC Architects, and and fences to allow natural Home in New Zealand (Bridget North- and south-facing units Pepper Dixon, involved the surveillance of the street. Williams Books, 2000). Michael are a mirror image of each refurbishment of 108 apartment However, there is no sense of Roche is currently doing other, meaning that southern units and the building of 111 meanness here - a marvel of research on the houses built units have south-facing living new dwellings in a variety design on a strict budget, these under the Workers’ Dwellings rooms and balconies. A of types. The public spaces crisp, colourful buildings would Acts. See, for example, his courtyard garden works as a and street network were also be equally at home in Parnell or paper in Green Fields, Brown social, communal outdoor area. radically rearranged. Ponsonby. Fields, the proceedings of the See Architecture NZ, May/Jun See Commercial Design See Commercial Design 2010 Australasian urban history 2003. Trends, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2007. Trends, Vol. 24, No. 18, 2008. / planning history conference.