Christchurch Modern » Out of Town

London N6. Tile Kiln Studios. Peter Beaven.

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 07:48:50 +0000

Peter Beaven was never conventional: in 1975, aged 50, he disbanded his successful Christchurch practice, packed a suitcase and moved to London where he worked alone from a bedsit. During that time he designed these six houses in the Christchurch Style, evolving ideas he developed a decade earlier in Christchurch’s Tonbridge Mews and Wellington’s Habitat Housing. Bravo.

Tile Kiln Studios was featured in the Cement & Concrete Association’s magazine in 1982. It wrote:

“One of the points that the New Zealand architect Peter Beaven has made so well in this group of studio houses in Highgate is how effectively white-painted blockwork can achieve a sharp and satisfying clarity of modelling. The white blockwork, repeated inside and out, is built up into a series of intersecting vertical planes capped by gables and variously pitched roofs… The effect – appropriate enough for studio houses – approaches an abstract composition of black and white sculpture. This is obviously a technique that the architect fully understands: he has used it before in New Zealand, notably in the Chateau Commodore Hotel and the 1974 Commonwealth Games Stadia, both in Christchurch. It is an attractive architectural medium and one that fits many contexts in Britain.

“There are, of course, other interesting ideas behind this housing as well. It is… a co-operative venture built by six people who bought the plots in the approved scheme and worked on the finishing themselves. Not the least interesting aspect is the architect himself. Peter Beaven is an individualist with a sense of humour and perspective. He must be, otherwise how could he have made the break with his own country New Zealand, where he was one of the best-known architects in South Island, together with Miles Warren with whom he was a student. This housing scheme in Highgate… would seem to be a reflection of a strongly held personal ideology, rather than of conformity to any fashionable mainstream of architectural thought. The simplicity and clarity of form displayed in these studio houses no doubt reflects to some extent the architect’s preferred lifestyle. The gables, variously pitched roofs and strong vertical rhythms are very much in the grain of local domestic building, although the site is in fact one of those where no special architectural character was dictated.”

Conway Flats. Wilding Farmhouse. R D Harman.

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:20:33 +0000

Huh? A 1937 reinforced concrete farmhouse with clear Corbusian and Bauhaus influences, hidden on the coast south of Kaikora? The Wilding property, now an Angus beef farmstead called Te Mania, was built by some pretty hip graziers.

Thanks to Tim for the tip. Old pic by Peter Sheppard

Not sure about the design architect as Richard Harman died in 1927.

55 Orr Crescent. MJ Foster House. Warren & Mahoney.

admin — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 09:31:23 +0000

Turns out, there’s a little bit of Miles in the Hutt. For Wellingtonians who like a little Christchurch Modern, we present the first MJ Foster House – five years before going the whole hog in Havelock North, MJ commissioned this Lower Hutt pixie as a test run.

It looks really nice with it’s T&G walls, but the concrete lintels over the windows and doors really need painting a dark grey; the house looks like it lost its eyebrows in an undergraduate prank.

Thanks Will for the tip.

20 Connolly St Geraldine. Stafford House. Beaven & Heaney.

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:47:28 +0000

After returning from Japan, and prior to moving back to Christchurch in 1956, Peter was in partnership with Robert A. Heaney in Timaru. This is the first house we’ve seen of the partnership – they were recent graduates and mostly designed woolstores – and places it as early-to-mid 1950s.

Thanks to Peter Rush for the submission, and in his own words:

The house is mostly in original condition but the kitchen joinery has been replaced. All other joinery is still there. The house has been painted, there is evidence that originally all the internal / external western red cedar boards and oregon beams were unpainted. The fireplace brickwork was also originally unpainted.

The house is beautifully sited on a double corner block. The house has been pushed to the rear southern boundary and designed so that the bedrooms, kitchen and living space open to the garden and the sun. Magnificent, perfect!

I think it’s a rare complete design, thoughtful planning, passive solar design and beautiful spaces. Great site planning.

9 Fitz Place. Bayliss House. Allan Mitchener.

admin — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 06:44:56 +0000

Jackpot. Hiding in the bushes, just down the road from Lincoln University’s wonderful Corbusian Hilgendorf Building, is this certified peach. Everything we see by Allan Mitchener is good, the problem is we don’t see enough. We know he worked in Christchurch, designed the wonderful Le Bons Bay church moved north, taught at Auckland University, but that’s it. Who knows more? Commenting is free this month.

Update: Allan Mitchener’s obituary in Architecture New Zealand

For Sale. Park Lane. Humphrey Hall.

admin — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:07:10 +0000

Park Lane is up for sale. Who cares? You do. It’s arguably New Zealand’s first modernist house, designed in 1938 by Humphrey after returning from London. He was clearly impressed with Corbusier and designed this villa in the streamlined International Style complete with nautical details and an open sun-deck. Back when UV exposure, like smoking, was good for your health.This house is one of the most important modern homes in the country. Robin Simpson’s own Remuera House and Ernst Plishke’s Frankl House are of the same time, but quite different in style. Park Lane is really one-of-a-kind and features in pretty much all the books, including Julia Gatley’s Long Live the Modern and Douglas Lloyd Jenkins At Home. It also featured in New Zealand Home & Entertaining’s Top 50 homes of the Century list Top 50 Homes of the Century (pdf download).

Remarkably, the house looks pretty original. The built-in furniture and kitchen seem intact, the iron spiral stairs are present and all it really needs is a sympathetic hug and few swings of a sledgehammer to open up the roof deck again. Happy bidding.

View the Harcourts listing

Thanks Andrew for the tip