Christchurch Modern » The Hills

127 Major Hornibrook Rd. Cowey House / O’Neill House

admin — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 08:17:38 +0000

Don Cowey designed this Mt Pleasant house for his mum in 1953, He was straight out of architecture school, aged 25, and built it together with his mates Allan Mitchener and Allan Wild. Sixty years later it was sadly demolished due to earthquake damage and lovingly reimagined by Bridget and Duval O’Neill.

Here’s the story from Duval, it’s a good one:

Despite the obvious deterioration, and a series of alterations that the house had been subjected to, there was something about this house and the site that just felt right. Having moved from living on the hills in Wellington, we also liked the elevation and views. Discovering the house had been designed by Don was a bonus, and led us to becoming friends with him and his wife Jocelyn.

The house faired reasonably well in the February earthquake, a true testament to Don, however it was deemed uneconomic to repair.

Sadly, the earthquake was to claim Don’s life. When the earthquake struck, Don was in the back garden of his recently completed Redcliffs home, picking raspberries for his beloved wife Jocelyn.

Don had designed the original house around 1953 when he was only 25. He and a friend also built it, as you did back then. Don was proud of his design and explained to us the way he wanted to unveil the views as you walked through the house. He positioned it to preserve those views. He also created a private rear garden that was accessed by a small stone bridge that his father built. As the years passed, both house and garden evolved to suit the changing needs of the various occupants.

I don’t know how many alteration concepts we created, dating back to when we first bought the house in 2005. Some were dream-schemes and there was always the ongoing struggle as an architect to formulate a final solution. The earthquakes added a further dimension to this, and of course another level of constraint was working with the insurer. Once we had the decision to rebuild, the design strategy was largely an initiative in maintaining the essence of the original Don Cowey design, while taking the opportunity to adapt it to more modern living, whatever that has come to mean. We didn’t want a big house, despite having a pretty constant flow of family visiting us. Excluding the enclosure of the carport as a garage, we added just 36 metres over two levels.

In many ways this project was an alteration, the restriction being the original house, the opportunity being the unique solutions that arose from working within those restraints. I think Don would have approved, he was after all a modernist architect, a very generous man, he would have embraced it.

Thanks to HMOA for the tip and Russel Kleyn for the new pics.

895 Cashmere Rd. GH Gould House. Warren & Mahoney.

admin — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 06:38:01 +0000

This is the second house S’Miles designed for his buddy Garth Gould on a sunny spot above Halswell Quarry. The first house, its neighbour, was sold and subsequently messed with quite a bit, but this one is very original (kitchen and family room aside) with lots of good W&M detail. Garth talks about the old days below.

In 1959 I was having an evening meal at the Coffee Pot on New Regent Street with Miles. During the course of the meal I informed Miles that I had decided to build a small house on a section of my property at Halswell because I was ‘sick of living in a town flat without any area of garden’. His large eyebrows shot up to the top of his forehead and I was fixed with what can only described as a baleful stare. ‘Who, might I enquire, is designing this establishment for you?’ he enquired. When I produced with some reluctance a piece of graph paper on which I had inscribed my ideas, he contemplated it for a few seconds, folded it and put it in his pocket. ‘Gould’ he said, ‘I will not have you living in a builder’s bungalow and I will send you a drawing in a week’s time.’

The plan duly arrived a few days later, and it was so obviously superior in every respect that I could only agree to proceed. It differed from the normal small bungalows of those days with innovative features like insulated concrete-slab flooring, exposed beams supporting the roof, open areas of ceiling extending to kitchen via glass panelling, exposed concrete-block walls, and doors of vertical wooden strips. When built the effect was of a much larger and airier house than the small bungalow that was the reality.

The pleasure which I derived from living in it arose from a combination of practical and aesthetic features: the good insulation arising from the slab and the linings of the walls and roof; the validity of the structure and its materials, which were all visible; and the sheer practicality of the basic design of a minimalist house. Today all this appears quite normal and ordinary, but in 1957 it should be remembered that, due to the war and the Depression, virtually nothing had been built since about 1928, and most of the concepts, particularly relating to the use of concrete, were new.

When some years later my wife and I built a larger house on the adjoining site we incorporated the same basic ideas — perhaps the only major improvement being covered ceilings which I think give a more pleasing balance to the rooms.

Christchurch Art Gallery B.156

24 Macmillan Ave. Griffiths, Moffat & Partners.

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:04:55 +0000

A good house, essentially untouched since the 1950s, is hard to find. And this simple, low-pitched number is an understated treasure with a great view. Air the place out, sell the chandeliers, reinstate the fireplace, and move right in.

5 Westenra Tce. Architect Unknown.

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 01:23:14 +0000

Straight from the 70s Warren & Mahoney style book – white concrete block, recessed square windows and deep concrete beams. Is it the real deal? Perhaps a junior W&M designer taking a job on the side? Or a colleague’s flattering tribute to the Cambridge Tce studio?

216 Centaurus Rd. Tony Athfield House. Ian Athfield.

admin — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 02:56:03 +0000

Hiding right under our noses is this very early Athfield design, now heavily disguised as a shitty, faux-Med house. Sketched for his brother in 1963 whilst Ath was studying in Auckland, to see it today, painted yellow with a second storey and portico causes acute intestinal gas.

The house is mentioned in Julia Gatley’s book Athfield Architects:

Concurrent with his university work, Athfield produced sketch designs from Auckland but did not have time to do anything more and Tony used the Canterbury Draughting & Design Service for the developed design and working drawings. Some changes were made to the initial design before construction started.

A separate studio (Tony is a musician and photographer) was designed by Ath and built out back in 1975. Still there?

235 Mount Pleasant Rd. Boulton House. Pascoe, Linton.

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:46:19 +0000

Two houses overlooking the Estuary. The brief was for “two bedroom apartments suitable for retired couples”. Not wildly exciting, but the architects did a pretty good job in comparison to the vomitous ‘over 60s’ duplex buildings scattered all over Christchurch.

17 Michael Ave. Langley House. Warren & Mahoney.

admin — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 05:20:17 +0000

On the flat, the W&M roofs were steep and the chimneys monumentally tall. Here on the hillside, this 1965 house is low, boxy and clad in timber. The full width concrete balustrade is pretty tasty and a nice link to W&Ms more brutalist, commercial work..

843 Cashmere Rd. Walker House. Cowey & McGregor.

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:04:34 +0000

A well hidden gem up on the Cashmere hills designed for a Lincoln University Professor and his wife. It’s a killer house and unusual for Christchurch with it’s extensive use of glass and steel influenced by the American Case Study Houses. Excellent stuff.

Features in Zoe Roland’s film Four Houses from Four Decades.

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71 Te Awakura Tce. Stewart Minson.

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:57:55 +0000

Original, unmolested modernist homes of the 1940s are pretty hard to come by in Christchurch which makes this Stewart Minson design a real find. The combination of the L-shape, flat-roof, weatherboard, and flagstone are a fine mix and the way the roofline steps down the slope is super sharp.

29 Cannon Hill Cr. Minson, Henning Hansen.

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 08:40:33 +0000

If we had a dollar for every ugly aluminium conservatory / sun room added to a Christchurch Modern home we’d have at least $64. The house is guilty – $65 - but the original unpainted concrete blockwork outside and stunning timber detailing inside leaves all forgiven. The fireplace in the living room is a behemoth and a thing of beauty.