Guy Sellars’ own home designed in 1954. Guy and his wife still live here and he continues to practice as an architect into his 80th year. In 2008 won a local NZIA award for this house designed for his son.
…continue reading 20 Webb St. Sellars House. Lawry and Sellars.
As a rule, only houses on Santorini and those owned by salty old sea dogs should be painted blue and white. But the paint disguise can’t can hide the strong Christchurch style of this home that pops out of the trees off Dyers Pass Rd. The sharp roof is particularly worthy.
…continue reading 1 Heaton Rhodes Pl. Cox House. Warren & Mahoney.
Designed in 1958 as a weekender for Maurice Graham of Graham Construction on a sand spit in South Brighton, this home features a striking hyperboloid roof that was considered quite experimental at the time. The construction was complex and overseen by famed engineer Lyall Holmes, the original one piece aluminium roof having to be shipped from Australia.
…continue reading 73a Rockinghorse Rd. Graham House. Paul Pascoe.
An unusual Warren & Mahoney design in red brick for the enigmatically named Mr Blank. This early 60s home is one of the rare Miles Warren ‘woolsheds’ before he latched on to the more distinctive ‘stable’ form. Curiously the rear of the house is elevated for no apparent reason.
…continue reading 19 Poynder Ave. A R Blank House. Warren & Mahoney.
Completely contradicting the previous post: a Pixie House on the hills. The home steps up the slope and presents a fairly nondescript face to the street. An original sculpture by the entrance is a nice period touch and a rare concession to fashion from the classicists at Warren & Mahoney. Extremely original with the exception of the enclosed balcony.
…continue reading 25 Macmillan Ave. S J Wilson House. Warren & Mahoney.
Typically, Warren and Mahoney treated their hill houses quite differently than those down on the plains. The uniformity of the Pixie House design is discarded for more experimental and individual shapes. This early 60s house has additions that extend the original building down the slope.
…continue reading 131 Mt Pleasant Rd. Stebbing House. Warren & Mahoney.
A very early house by Peter designed in the mid 50s during his self-confessed ‘Swedish phase’. There’s no sauna, but this compact little cottage sets a good example for modest, well-designed living. The house is unpainted concrete block combined with simple weatherboard and feels just about right.
…continue reading 358 Memorial Ave. Gormack House. Peter Beaven
Not Christchurch, but close enough: Humphrey Hall must have frightened the locals in Timaru when he designed this house in 1938. Just back from working in London, he was clearly influenced by the International Modernist style that was kicking around Europe at the time. Most radical was the open rooftop sundeck that has been filled in since it was discovered the sun, like most good things, causes cancer.
…continue reading Park Lane. Humphrey Hall.
This house, built in 1972, was designed for the architect’s family and originally included a flat to help pay the mortgage. The rimu-clad exterior walls are unusually short, but a great sense of vertical space is achieved inside due to the three pyramid-shaped roofs. A flat site was excavated into the hill so all rooms could open on to flat ground.
…continue reading 5 Conifer Pl. Dacombe House. Barry Dacombe.
Maurice designed this house in 1955 for his father, prior to his partnership with Miles Warren. The house looks relatively plain today, but is interesting as it shows Maurice’s liking for long, open pavilions and pitched roofs: A theme he developed later with Warren and Mahoney in concrete block to produce the well-known ‘Noddy houses’.
…continue reading 104 Opawa Rd. Mahoney Snr House. Maurice Mahoney.
Don typically favoured gently mono-pitched roofs for his hillside homes, but on this flat site he went for a taller roof style – later appropriated by the Pizza Hut family restaurant chain. It enables a mezzanine level accessed via a neat, integrated brick stairway above the fireplace and sunken ‘sitting well’.
…continue reading 35 Leinster Rd. McLachlan House. Don Cowey.
