Christchurch Modern » Opawa

166 Richardson Terrace. L Fisher House. R H Fisher.

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Designed in 1966 by Wellington architect Fisher for his spinster sister, this modest home is a nice, modernist take on the brick bungalows of Opawa. It’s river frontage and North facing garden make a light, peaceful home.

104 Opawa Rd. Mahoney Snr House. Maurice Mahoney.

admin — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 06:38:55 +0000

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’.

9 Ford Rd. Frankel House. Ernst Plischke.

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:05:35 +0000

Modified almost beyond recognition, here’s an important house in New Zealand modernism, introducing the open, L-shape plan in the late 30s. Ernst Plischke, an Austrian Emigre, designed this home for his sponsors. It was his first private commission in New Zealand and completed whilst at the Ministry of Works in Wellington.

In his book Design and Living Plischke writes:

Since in a house of this size a separate study can rarely be afforded, the bedroom is equipped with a bed-recess closed by a curtain, and the room is furnished as a bed-livingroom. Far from being a show-piece on the street front the garden is domestic and private. It becomes even more private if the neighbouring houses have similar shaped plans, enabling the bedroom wings of the houses to create enclosed living courtyards. The back porch is not at the back of the house, but at the side. The delivery boy does not have to walk along the whole length of the house, but enters directly from the street front. This arrangement gives the garden still more privacy.

The idea of keeping everything as light and thin as technically possible carries through also in to the interior design. Each chair is made according to its use and purpose. The dining chairs are as light as possible; the reading chair is rather more comfortable. All of them can be easily moved.

The Frankel house circa 1940

The design was said to reference Frank Lloyd Wright’s Jacob house (above), but Plischke was not in agreement.

18 Butler Street. Maurice Mahoney.

admin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:34:41 +0000

Truly a home that reflect its surroundings, this severe glass and steel box blends surprisingly well into the landscape. It must feel quite exhibitionist on the inside and has the feel of Philip Johnson in mirrored sunglasses.