Christchurch Modern » Christchurch City

119 River Rd. H F Redmond House. Peter Beaven.

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:08:10 +0000

Strange. Is this is a house, temple or the Albanian Embassy? Peter’s designs often defy categorisation and sometimes, it is what it is: Pagoda entrance, stone columns, textured cinder bricks & full-length water feature. Fullstop.

324 Oxford Tce. R Hyslop Flats. Warren & Mahoney.

admin — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:29:49 +0000

This building was designed in 1960 after the success of W&M’s Dorset St and Carlton Mill flats. All the W&M ingredients are there: strong geometric lines, concrete block and exposed in-situ concrete. Today the building is sadly unloved and being used primarily as a mounting point for SKY satellite dishes. Shame.

20 Templar St. Sutton House. Tom Taylor.

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:43:00 +0000

An artists sanctuary and studio on the CBD fringe designed for artist Bill Sutton by fellow artist and sculptor Tom Taylor in 1961. The two storey house is simple in design and feels very tranquil inside and out thanks to dappled light from the rambling garden.

Cheryl Bernstein recalls:

Years ago, I visited the artist Bill Sutton at his house in Richmond, Christchurch. I went to interview him about the Christchurch art scene in the 1960s, in which – as in several other decades, too – he was a major figure, variously as a teacher, practitioner, and champion of both the arts and fellow artists.

The house was fantastic: like the man himself, compact, modest, unassuming, well put-together. We sat in the lounge on low modernist chairs with wooden arms, facing a tiny conservatory area festooned with well-tended plants. I remember that after a while Bill brought out tea and biscuits: he turned the plate so that the pink wafer biscuits faced me, and smiled. “Perhaps you might like these,” he said.

I did.

Thanks to Vic for the tip.

Lovely model.

59 Perth St. Unknown Architect.

admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:49:28 +0000

Another submission, this time from Thomas who likes this house because it ‘addresses the street’. Rather than hiding behind a fence, it adds nicely to the streetscape. Two doors down is a more recent interpretation of the same idea by Stephen Fitzgerald.

Dorset Towers. Warren & Mahoney.

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:13:17 +0000

On the corner of Dorset Street and Park Terrace are two later mid-rise blocks of apartments. “Dorset Towers” is built in the typical Warren & Mahoney masonry style with walls of load-bearing reinforced concrete block cavity construction (1970 – 73).

Apartments occupy the entire floor and the the staggered towers allow every unit a balcony facing the park (although all the park-facing balconies are now enclosed, they were originally open).

Dorset St Flats. Miles Warren.

admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:19:56 +0000

These eight flats were produced for three young bachelor owners (including Warren himself), each having one flat to occupy and the others available to rent.

Designed before Warren & Mahoney was officially established, it employs the brutalist ideas Miles Warren brought back from Britain.
The result is a simple but elegant composition of concrete block, in-situ RC floor structures, full-height openings and low-pitched timber-framed roofs. The first conscious use of concrete block and fairface concrete inside a NZ house, the building was dubbed â€œFort Dorsetâ€ by scandalized locals.

Little known fact: Mile’s name tag is still on the fuse box of number 4.

Text by Andrew Barrie