Ernest Kalnins is a man for whom we have scant information. He was an Austrian designer, artist and (non-registered) architect who designed this family home on upper Clifton Hill for Dulcie and Tom Flint, owners of a large Stationery shop on Manchester Street. In the 60s, the top of Clifton Hill was a sparsely populated, almost agricultural, bohemian suburb with some of the best views in Christchurch.

Photographs by Brian Swale.

The house was recently redesigned by HMA and features in Jeremy Hansen’s essential Modern book.

Paul Litterick mentions it in the  in the New Zealand Listener

The Clifton Hill House in Sumner, designed by Ernest Kalnins in 1965, has been given a fashionable stone garage and a stockade fence. It stands as a commentary on our times: the original house is open and full of light, welcoming and looking out to sea; the external additions on the landward side are like a fortress. Ours is a more frightened society than theirs.