Old Havelock North Houses – Kim Salamonson

Jim Watt: Good morning. I’m the Deputy Chairman at the moment of the Duart House Society. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to this historical talk, one of a series. Today we welcome Kim Salamonson. Kim’s ancestors have been here since the 1870s; Salamonson, I just learnt this morning, is a Norwegian name, and in fact his interest in history started with his family history.

Kim Salamonson: That’s correct, yes.

Jim: Okay. So Kim, it’s especially good that you could come and talk to us today. Kim started his career in computer sciences, but then moved on through family history into sort of the history of Havelock North and other places; and he’s going to talk to us this morning about historic buildings around Havelock North. Kim, welcome and thank you.

Kim: Thank you, Jim.

[Applause]

Okay, well thank you all for coming. Yes, as Jim said, when I first started compiling this on historic buildings of Havelock North, including Whare Ra; I finished my presentation and went through it, practising with the wife at home. It actually was well over an hour, so I thought … well, I needed to actually edit it somewhat to get it down to a reasonable size. So some buildings I’ve actually taken out completely because I didn’t have a lot of information on [them], and others I’ve edited a bit. So anyway, without further ado, I hope you’ll enjoy the talk. I haven’t, didn’t get a little remote so I’m going to have to keep on pushing the button here on the computer to change the slides. But yes, my talk is on Whare Ra and other historic buildings of Havelock North.

[Shows slides throughout]

Okay, so Whare Ra is located at 2 Tauroa Road, Havelock North. It is Chapman-Taylor’s most intriguing and mysterious building. It was the name of the building which housed New Zealand’s branch of the Order of the Stellar Matutina. It was designed and made by one of New Zealand’s most famous architects, and also a senior member of the Order at the time, James Walter Chapman-Taylor. It was designed and built at the request of Dr Robert Felkin, to house his wife and family as well as a temple for the Work. Members of the Havelock North Work and Golden Dawn proposed the building be built in two stages; the first stage, a large temple at ground level, and stage two, the upper floor to be the residence for Dr Felkin and family. It was his first concrete building, and the largest commission he had received in his career at the time. Now the photo that’s there we do actually have in our archives, and the majority of these come from our archives unless otherwise stated. That’s one a bit later, taken in 1970. Chapman-Taylor took an architectural and builder’s role in the construction of Whare Ra. The two-storeyed building was sited on an east-west axis as in biblical times; and it was also aligned with [the] natural contours of the land, making the temple appear as a semi-basement and therefore less obvious to visitors; keeping it more of a secret place only to be revealed to initiated followers. I’m only covering this briefly, I think Judy [Siers], who’s here today, has already actually covered this a lot more [in] detail in her talk, when she talked about the life and times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor with her book. And certainly, Judy, feel free if you have anything to add.

The front of the house and most of the upper rooms face north, with two entrances from Tauroa Road; one centrally positioned, that led to the home, and the other on the western side that led to his consulting rooms. [Shows slides] Now that there is inside in the dining room. Again, another angle of the dining room; another one in the lounge, which again, you can see all the wooden beams in typical Chapman-Taylor style. The front of the house and most of the upper rooms face north. The ivy creeper was planted to grow up the outer sides of the walls, and all this added to the secrecy and mystery of Whare Ra, which you probably saw in one of the earlier slides.

And this here is actually the temple; couple of photos of the temple underneath; the ground floor, or one that was semi-basement. The vault was to be hexagonal in shape, with precise measurements which Dr Felkin would’ve supplied, one presumes. The area was carefully measured and laid out. This was to be the place where the rituals and ceremony took place; it was formed with concrete beams and recesses – a marvellous design achievement of the times. And that one there was taken somewhat later, after Whare Ra had actually closed down, but a bit more of the sort of recessed area which was used for storage. The temple below was very different internally than the upper floor. Apart from the timber stairwell that had carved newels, it was plain. The concrete ceiling was flat as it formed the floor above, and the concrete walls were plain, ready for the Golden Dawn adornments to be hung.

While it was easy to identify the Chapman-Taylor design features, they were delivered in such a style at Whare Ra that has [they have] not been repeated in architectural history. The current owners, Alan and Diana McDonald, still occasionally have public viewings of Whare Ra; they have been few and far between – there was one recently on a tour that was about. If you’re interested to see a bit more of it, just watch out. And there’s another one there – even in later years the ivy’s still there on Whare Ra.

Right – the next one we’re moving into is the Havelock North Transformer house, village toilets and village info [information].  And actually, researching this I found out also it was used for something else before the Transformer house actually appeared there. The site upon which the village toilets, Transformer house and village info now rests, was first purchased by William Colenso, the famous New Zealand explorer, missionary and writer in nineteenth century New Zealand, around 1860. And it was used initially as a dog pound, [chuckles] mainly where dogs could do their business. With the development of electricity in Havelock North, it was found necessary to build a Transformer house to house the electrical transformer. The Transformer house, as it was first known, was to be a tribute to the work of T Mason Chambers for the Hawke’s Bay County Council, and it would occupy a central position in the village.

The Havelock North Town Board then called for designs, then in August 1914 formally accepted architect William Chapman-Taylor’s design. However, William J Rush, a Havelock North architect and painter at the time, also submitted a design that his daughter, Sybil, later claimed was the same, or very similar, to the design that was used for the Transformer house.

Chapman-Taylor wanted to build on the Englishness of Havelock North and on the Craft style; a design that suited the village and its surrounds. The gabled building was built in concrete with a roughcast whitewash finish, dark stained doors, wooden framed windows complete with terracotta tiles and topped with a bell tower. We have got one [photo] in the archives with the bell tower, and there was also one mentioned in Judy’s book as well, with the actual bell tower. There was actually a little bell tower at the top before the clock actually appeared. It was completed in 1915. In 1937 a bracket clock was bought from the Hastings Borough Council, with [coughing] Mr and Mrs Baird paying half the cost. It was installed on top of the Transformer house. Now I couldn’t actually find out whether they actually took down the bell piece at the top, or whether maybe it’d come down in the [1931] earthquake. I don’t know if you have any ideas on it Ju[dy] … no, I couldn’t find anything in my research either … whether it was taken down or whether perhaps it … ‘cause it was 1937; obviously it was after the earthquake, so whether it had fallen down then and they’d replaced it I’m not sure. I couldn’t actually find anything so to verify that. By the 1960s the Transformer house appeared to have become the village toilet, but the exact date is not clear; one report from 1981 refers to electrical equipment still being housed in the back of the public conveniences. But what is clear [cough] is that the site has now returned to the purpose that the village dogs no doubt used it for [chuckles] – a public convenience. I’ve been nagging Bart at the i-SITE, and even have emailed Colin [Hosford] at … probably should’ve emailed Chris [Johnson] actually, at the Council, to find out exactly when the i-SITE actually opened out here. But I couldn’t get an exact date; I’m still waiting on that so I don’t know exactly when that opened. But the Chapman-Taylor building, built to house a transformer, now serves as an information centre for the village of Havelock North, as well as some modern, up-to-date public conveniences.

Question: Has the transformer gone completely?

Kim: That I haven’t been able to establish either. Not a hundred percent sure on that; I’ve been trying to make some queries, [enquiries] but even Chris Johnson couldn’t actually confirm that – wasn’t a hundred percent sure. But certainly he said it wouldn’t be in use, whatever’s left in there. So we’re not a hundred percent sure yet. There’s actually a central building, and there it is by night – still looks quite glorious, and lit up at night as well.

And the next one, Turama; and there’s one photo here I’ve actually scanned and taken from Judy’s book, as I was unable to find a photo of it in our archives – from ‘The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor’. So yes, I have acknowledged that there. But it is another one of his buildings.

Comment: It’s [in] Duart Road.

Kim: Turama, yet another James Walter Chapman-Taylor building, located [at] 82 Duart Road, Havelock North; built for Ruth and Reginald Gardiner in 1916, completed in 1917. Turama was a two-storeyed, five-bedroomed Arts & Craft styled house. It reflected Chapman-Taylor’s distinctive style. The main structural material was brick, complete with its own medieval charm. The house plan was compact and economic; an asymmetrical design with large, high-pitched roof complete with impressive tall chimneys. Adjoining the hall was a sitting room which could be closed off with triple doors. All other rooms were grouped around the hallway or the stairwell for the stairs for [to] the upstairs rooms. Chapman-Taylor’s house design was reminiscent of large manor houses of England. The front entrance opened into a main hall of four archways; a very masterful arrangement. The diversity of the materials included concrete floors, mesh and plaster on the upper floors and exterior walls, and woodwork interiors, mostly of rimu or totara.

Question: You said there was two storeys, so was that two storeys?

Kim: It was two-storeyed, yes. Can’t quite see it, but it is up in the roof there. There’s actually … must be a window round the other side that you can …

Comment: [Inaudible]

Kim: Oh, so no wonder it looks different. Yeah, there we are, you can see the window up there.

Comment: Thank you.

Kim: Oh yes, there is too, over the other side.

Okay. So it moves us on to the next one, Sunbourne, which is also a James Walter Chapman-Taylor building, located in 18 Duart Road. It was Chapman-Taylor’s fifth house, and built with a technique he named ‘honeycomb’. The fourteen inch thick concrete walls were made with the use of four-gallon petrol cans which he collected from the side of the road, [chuckles] and reinforced with old iron bedsteads. The windows were glazed with photographic plates; the base is square and archways were used for the interior decor. The house was square and the space inside was divided by three archways, with minimal doors separating each space. This provided heat conservation in the winter, and cool air in the summer by arranging the doors to be opened – and windows – to catch the breeze. The walls and the ceilings were whitewashed and, in his usual style, [he] stained the woodwork. He went to town in the inglebrook, [inglenook] stencilling in the plaster with a biblical verse. As I say, I’ve taken a few things out, and I thought, ‘Judy’s covered that in her talk in the past.’ The walls were decorated with paintings of bright yellow sunflowers, symbols of the Felkin movement – hence the name Sunbourne.

Now there’s another one, Woodcroft – yet another one which I scanned from out of Judy’s book; not very good … it doesn’t do her photo in the book justice, actually. But anyway, Woodcroft is located at 51 Simla Avenue. It’s a large Chapman-Taylor house built in 1921, again in the Arts & Crafts style which he specialised in. Woodcroft sits splendidly on a knoll half-way up Simla Avenue. It’s a two-storeyed house, again with a high-pitched roof; concrete, and with a tiled roof. As much as Woodcroft itself commanded attention, so did the views from Woodcroft; even actually going up Simla Avenue and looking back, you can actually see some nice views. Chapman-Taylor photographed the house in the 1950s and he called the collection of images ‘Giant at Rest’. Woodcroft was the Davidson’s third house since arriving in New Zealand from Scotland, but this was to be their dream home. The design of the house was to optimise the sun while minimising any effects of the wind. Chapman-Taylor used the honeycomb effect for the second time; the first of course being in Sunbourne. Once again, he [?coated it?] with the petrol cans from the side of the road.

Audience comment inaudible

Well … yes, I wonder if it was the start of recycling. [Chuckles] It took twelve months for Woodcroft to be finished; the size of the building was three thousand, five hundred square feet. It was a large and challenging feat for the time. It was an expensive house, and it’s evident today, nearly ninety years on, that no expense was spared. The quality workmanship and fine materials, and attention to detail is still apparent. Woodcroft remains largely unchanged, and I think there is a more recent one.

Okay, moving on now to another one which I’m sure you’re all familiar with … Rush Cottage. It’s well-marked with a tall palm, grown from seed brought home from Egypt after World War I. So like I say, it’s quite tall.

Comment: That’s called a Washington Palm, I’m told.

Kim: Oh, okay.

Comment: We’ve got one here as well. [At Duart House]

Kim: It was built by the Te Mata Station staff, under the direction of W J Rush. When the house was being built it was pointed out that there was no access from the ground floor to the second floor, [laughter] which is very interesting – how they planned to get up there, I wasn’t sure. So obviously the stairway was an afterthought, and it’s a very steep one, intruding seriously into the living area … obviously, I think, designed in a hurry. It was made from scrap iron collected from around the Station, and used as reinforcing in the poured concrete walls. No provision had been made for the windows and they were chipped out after the boxing was removed. [Laughter] So again, I think, obviously made in a rush, by Rush, yeah. [Laughter] It was rushed, yes.

Comment: And there were only windows at the two end gables; the windows that were put in by Andy Coltart when he bought it.

Kim: Oh, okay. Yes, when John Henry Joll married, he bought a block of Te Mata including the cottage. His son, John Mackey Joll, married in 1926 and lived there until 1953. As you can see, another one [photo] there with the little figures beside it. Of course, in the heart of Black Barn Vineyard, Rush Cottage now looks right across Hawke’s Bay from the beautiful sun-drenched slopes of Te Mata Peak; it’s now a boutique accommodation cottage.

Comment: On the right there it looks like a big giant standing there.

Kim: Well it does a bit, doesn’t it? Yeah, with the sculptures there. It’s now fully equipped with all modern appliances; it has two upstairs bedrooms, and sleeps a maximum of four people.

Comment: Beautiful.

Kim: And there’s some photos of the interior.

Okay, moving on to Endsleigh – Endsleigh is located at 22 Endsleigh Road [Correction: location is 16 Given Street; Endsleigh Cottages is at 22 Endsleigh Road] in Havelock North; it’s a large single-storeyed house on the left, where Thomas and Julia Tanner lived after Riverslea when their house was burned down. Thomas was active in local affairs until his death in 1918. The building was originally name Dilkoosha, and built for W Beecroft who was the first owner of Lucknow Lodge where he established the original public transport service to Hastings. Again, I couldn’t quite establish, or find, who owns the original cottage now, but it certainly seems the cottages up there are, again, bed and breakfast cottages as well, so it’s something I’m endeavouring to find a bit more on; it was one of the ones I left in which I didn’t have very much on.

Question: Where is Endsleigh? Is that in Endsleigh Road?

Comment: I think it’s Given Road, isn’t it?

Kim: Well, I have 22 Endsleigh Road.

Comment: Given Street.

Kim: In Given Street, is it?

Comment: [There’s] a historic sign on it, in the middle of Given Street.

Kim: Okay. Well, I’ll to go down and have a look then. Okay, ’cause it was certainly one that I was lacking a bit of information on.

Okay … Muritai, located at 66 Duart Road in Havelock North. It’s now part of the boutique accommodation scene. It’s again one that I’m still trying to find some more information on; I didn’t have a lot, but it is actually registered under Historic Places Trust, but they didn’t provide any information either, so … there wasn’t even a picture on the Historic Places Trust site, even though it was listed as a registered Historic Places Trust place … provided very minimal information there.

Comment: Herricks lived there.

Kim:  Yeah, so Muritai was section number ten, which J H Williams who managed the orchard and canning at Frimley, had bought in 1888 and built his home, Muritai on; part of which [he] transported from Waipuna in Hastings to Muritai. This part was built in 1880. Muritai was finally completed in 1889, and the Williams family moved in. The house is a large [single] storeyed structure; there are five double bedrooms, one single and two twin, with five bathrooms and a separate bathroom for non-guests. But other than that, that was all that I actually had on Muritai, but certainly I’ve been delving around trying to find some more. But if anyone certainly has any more I would be pleased.

Question: Who was the architect of that?

Kim: Again, I haven’t been able to find the architect either – there was nothing mentioned on Historic …

Comment: I think it’s Natusch …

Kim: Is it?

Comment: And I think that a lady from Bayley’s used to live there, if it’s the right house.

Comment: Inside Muritai Margie and Denis [Hardy] have got quite a lot of bits and pieces about the [cough] history of Muritai. So if you phone them up …

Kim: Okay …

… they’ll happily show you, and share what they’ve got.

Kim: Okay. Oh, well that’d be worth a visit then, thank you.

Okay. Arden Lodge, located at 107 Kopanga Road; built in stripped classic style, [it] was designed by William Gummer for Maurice and Miriama Chambers in 1926. It’s an elegant composition, built of reinforced concrete and brickwork with a plaster finish. C [R] Ford engineered the building, the senior draftsman was [F] G Wilson, who later became a New Zealand Government architect. The house exhibits many similarities with Spanish Mission modern houses in California, which combined the [re]strained use of the Spanish features and a paired-back approach to detailing. Both architects, Gummer and Ford, had spent considerable time in California, and their influence is present here. It’s sturdily constructed of reinforced concrete and brick, with a cavity wall, stucco exterior, and it’s registered with the Historic Places Trust. And once again, they didn’t have a photo or anything much about it, but I did find on the web that it had actually recently been renovated and re-painted, and there was an article there by Resene; and obviously some Resene painters had used it, and some specially designed paint to preserve the building had been used. They were a couple of pictures after it had been repainted, and there’s another one there.

Okay, moving along … Te Mata Homestead; though, once again the very first one there I haven’t found out a lot of [about]. Again, it was made of rimu in traditional cottage style. [Shows series of photos] And that one there is the same photo that appears in the book ‘In Other Days’, written by the Chambers Family, from there. Unfortunately, it was all I had found on that. Moving along here, the homestead was extended in 1920 and two wings were added to each side of the original house, which you can clearly see … well, maybe not so clearly, but the original house in the middle and the two extra wings built on the end. And the final one there now is the Historic Places Trust Category 1; it’s registered and, once again, it was lacking a photo and information as well. There’s all these wonderful buildings actually registered on Historic Places Trust site, but it’d be great if there were some photos on there as well. A few have photos, and I’m pleased to say Duart [House] actually has a photo on there.

Right, moving along. While the exterior shutter windows and the tiled roof continued the Californian and Spanish theme, the interior painting and detailing was more conventionally neo-Georgian. The balconies are now supported on slim, wooden square columns, and the balcony is decorated with a wooden lattice. As I said, it’s registered with the Historic Places Trust, at Category 1 – and there’s a photo there – which was a Gummer & Ford design, but there’s a photo, more recent, that I took, and that should be in there; but you can still see it there today.

And of course, although not quite so old, I thought it wouldn’t be complete without actually mentioning Coleraine as well, or Buck House as some people refer to it. Buck House [Coleraine] is an important example of modern movement architecture in New Zealand. The house represents a culmination of a body of work by Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s most important twentieth century architects. Athfield has established a reputation for work, and [it] is noted for its inventiveness and considered a reference for both national and international canons of twentieth century architecture. The house was designed for the Buck Family; Wendy, John and their three sons. It draws on the architectural traditions of modernism, Spanish Mission style, and the rural vernacular. The style of the house is celebrated for its innovativeness. The building is a complex composition of cube-like forms, hip gables, verandas, curved chimney forms and semi-enclosed spaces, punctuated with a symbol fenestration. The complexity of the form of the building is contrasted with the simplicity of the materials and the plain white colour; and certainly a one-of-a-kind – nothing like it seen before. So although one may not consider [it] historic, it was certainly, I thought, worth a mention.

Question: What’s the roof? What materials were used in the roofing?

Kim: That I wasn’t sure of. I’ve actually just this morning received an email from Buck himself; I’d emailed him the other day and I finally got a reply back. There was an attached document with a screed of information which I didn’t have time to read this morning, but I was asking him about Coleraine and the actual architecture, and yeah, materials that the roof and other things were made of. I wanted a bit more information and history and background on the building. It’s taken him about three weeks to reply, but he has replied with quite a comprehensive reply, so I think it was worth the wait, but I didn’t have the time to actually read through it today before I came here. But, as I say, I certainly thought I had to include it.

A building I’m sure we’re all familiar with, Tauroa, located in Hikanui Drive. The first house built on the site by T Mason Chambers was destroyed by fire in 1914. The present building was designed by William Gummer, in New Cubist style and was completed in 1916. It caused quite a stir by its size and modernistic approach at the time. It was built for Mason and Madge Chambers. Tauroa was built with double-thick walls, with a cavity between the ferro concrete [ferro-cement] pillars and beams, which added to the strength of the house. Tauroa was one of New Zealand’s most distinguished homes; its design was adventurous, as all of its rooms radiate along two axes from a point at the base of the staircase which sweeps up both sides of the circular hall. The dining room has curved walls, and, accordingly, Mason Chambers at the time had furniture made especially for the room. Many of Tauroa’s rooms open either onto pergolas or porches. The house’s flat roof is obscured behind parapets of differing heights. It was distinctly modern for its time; the exterior was equally extraordinary. It’s many shuttered windows give it a Georgian look, while the upper storey balconies are of Californian Spanish influence. In 1983, it was purchased by Hamish McHardy. You can see the plans there; so obviously looking down on it, and you can see it was certainly different.

Kopanga … a J A Lewis, [correction: Louis Hay] Architect, design. He designed Kopanga in 1912. It was a huge concrete home built for Selwyn and Violet Chambers in the hills above Havelock North. It was built, unusually, of solid concrete, and sustained minor damage in the 1931 earthquake. Hay loved the panoramic views of the Heretaunga Plains from the hills so designed, a north-facing façade with deep verandas of concrete, combined with groups of large, double-hung sash windows. The upper storey’s flat and central gable with its wide overhanging eaves already indicated Hay’s familiarity with the Californian bungalow; later the home of Russell and Elizabeth Chambers, and then Neil and Catherine Chambers; not sure who currently owns it.

Comment: They still do.

Kim: Oh, they still do? Okay.

Audience: Excuse me, Kim, who was the architect of Kopanga?

Kim: J A Hay.

Comment: Oh, Hay. Louis Hay.

Kim: Oh, sorry, yes – Louis Hay.

Comment: It was said to be the first concrete house that was built, but that’s wrong, because Chapman-Taylor built Whare Ra before then; a date in history which I’m very keen to see corrected. [Laughter]  For obvious reasons. [Chuckles]

Kim: Now, Lucknow Lodge was again another one of these buildings which I struggled to find much about. And it’s still relatively the same, but a few changes over the years. Lucknow Lodge, built in 1895 on a site that was used since 1855 as a stopping place for bullock drays which were freighting wool bales to ships that were anchored at East Clive, and later to the Port of Napier. The Lodge started as a livery stable, and then later as a depot for horse-driven buggies and buses. John Nimon purchased the site in 1900 to use as a depot for his bus company. By 1912 the Nimons buses were running Studebaker buses between Hastings and Havelock North. Later they expanded to operate a coach service throughout New Zealand, as well as an extended local service; but unfortunately, they’re not now, apart from any special buses. So there’s been a few photos; there it is there again in [19]69, and 1984. And today the Lodge houses the Rua Longley Gallery, exhibiting the works of notable artists. Now I’ve been down there, but unfortunately the lass in the gallery at the time, about a month ago, didn’t know much about the history of the building at all; nor did she have anything there. So again, it’s one that I’m still researching and trying to find some more information on, and again it’s registered by Historic Places Trust as well. And, yet again, no photo.  So I’m wondering whether some of the photos in our archives that … maybe we can loan to them so they can put them on the site to make it look more interesting.

Right … Keirunga, or Stadacona, as it was first known. The homestead was built in Californian style around 1907 – I couldn’t actually find an exact date for it – by Robert Holt on part of Tauroa Station. The first owners were Reginald and Ruth Gardiner, who named it Stadacona.  Charles Tanner purchased the property and changed the name to Keirunga. Then George Nelson bought Keirunga in 1928 and the grounds were developed into a park by the new owner. He then donated it as a public park in 1956 in memory of the early settlers. On his death in 1964, the entire property passed to the Havelock North Borough Council. It’s now part of Hastings District Council’s list of heritage buildings, and I couldn’t actually find that one listed on the Historic Places Trust site; I was surprised – I thought it would be, but it’s not.

Comment: Because there’d be no history to confirm it.

Kim: Oh, okay. Well the others didn’t have any history on the website. Whether they’ve got it … They certainly don’t put it …

Comment: Well, can I just speak there for Historic Places Trust? I think you’ve actually got to go in further, because there’s quite a lot of objection by owners …

[Speaking together] Kim: Oh, okay.

… about the information being accessible publicly. But if you rang Historic Places Trust and said why you wanted to know this and what you were doing, I think you would be able to access the whole of the site and use that information. So I think there’s another level of discovery for you.

Kim: Right. I did also wonder if you’re actually a member whether you might access more information as well.

Comment: You can. You can, and when you can request hard copy you can get the whole document. Keirunga I know, ‘cause I asked myself when I came here to the Bay why Keirunga wasn’t listed; and first of all no one’s listed it … no one’s requested that it be listed; and there was very little information ‘bout why it hadn’t a registration. So it’s a job for you. [Chuckles]

Kim: Well, okay, ‘cause I was curious myself as to why it wasn’t. I thought, ‘Gosh, a national treasure like that …’

Okay. Peloha, or Swarthmoor as it was originally called. Swarthmoor or Peloha, 302 Te Mata Road, was built in 1904 for John and Margaret Holdsworth, the sister of J Bernard Chambers. The house was originally named Swarthmoor in honour of ‘The Friends’ school in England. It was purchased in 1942 by Dr Herbert Sutcliffe and renamed Peloha, an abbreviation of Peace, Love and Harmony; the first two letters of each word. He established the International Sutcliffe School for Radiant Living, with Peloha as the headquarters in Havelock North. In the 1970s the property became a charitable trust. In 1988 it was purchased by Weleda, who manufacture herbal, homeopathic and anthroposophical medicines, mostly grown from plants there on site. By the 1990s it actually appeared in the Weleda catalogues, and a few years later appeared on a TV advert for Weleda, according to the Weleda website. I’ve asked them if they can actually send me a copy of the advert – I was curious to see about it. Some photos there of Peloha when it was the Radiant School of Living. And there it is in 1984, Weleda.

Question:  Can you see that from the road?

Kim: No, not from the road – you have to drive down the long driveway.

Okay, and as I say, no talk would be complete without mentioning our three historic private schools in Havelock. The first of them, Hereworth – it was first called Heretaunga, and it was founded in Hastings by William Rainbow in 1882, at the bequest [behest] of William Nelson. The decision to move to the present site was made in 1912, and W J Rush was commissioned to design the buildings. Rush built it in the old English Manor style. In 1926, declining numbers forced the merger with Hurworth School, Wanganui, and the new school received its composite name, Hereworth. The chapel was designed by R Muston, and dedicated to St James by Bishop Norman Lesser, and was opened in 1958. I may’ve actually shaved too much off this one, but there was a lot there. And there’s a more recent photo of it.

The next one, Woodford House; founded in 1894 by Mabel Hodge. The late Thomas Mason Chambers of Tauroa Station gave the land for the school when it outgrew its original site. The first building there was designed by W Rush in pseudo-Tudor style, and it re-opened in February 1911, being blessed by Bishop Averill at the opening. The chapel, of Gothic style, was dedicated to St Francis and was consecrated in 1928. Woodford House sustained quite a bit of damage in the 1931 earthquake. Some areas were relatively minor, but the main building was a bit heavier. However, it needed extensive repairs and these were achieved in record fast time. You can see some of the damage there, but surprisingly, by the end of February they had actually repaired all the damage and it was being used. I was quite astounded; looking at that damage there, one would’ve thought it would’ve taken a lot more than maybe three weeks to actually repair it. I thought it was extremely quick.

Audience: Who was the architect?

Kim: It was Rush … William James Rush.

And last but not least, Iona College. W J Rush designed Iona College at the request of the Reverend Alexander Whyte. Rush designed the buildings in Spanish Mission style, complete with archways and a mesh finish. The foundation stone was laid in 1913, and the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable W F Massey, opened Iona College on February 24th 1914. It’s the oldest Presbyterian school in New Zealand. Iona opened with a roll of forty-eight pupils, who were accommodated in buildings that were habitable, but somewhat unfinished at the time, so although the school itself was finished and open, the actual accommodation part of the building hadn’t been entirely completed at the opening. But the girls were ready to start, so it was opened. The opening day was a fulfilment of dreams for Mr Hugh Campbell of Breadalbane in Havelock North, who offered the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand eight acres of land, initially for the establishment of a Deaconess College … later becoming Iona College. The Reverend Alexander Whyte, the Minister of St Columba’s Church, Havelock North from 1898 to 1910, saw the need for a Presbyterian girls’ school, and he petitioned the Presbyterian Church to establish one, and Miss Isabel Fraser, who was Principal of Wanganui Girls’ College at the time, whose dreams were a Christian education for young women, offered her services to the Presbyterian Church should a girls’ boarding school be established. Iona College buildings were seriously damaged in the ’31 earthquake, but restoration work was successful. [Showing slides] As you can see, apparently there was certainly some more severity on some of the other classrooms; that was the only photo that I found in our archives of the earthquake period. That’s one with the scaffolding up afterwards; but that was the classrooms there which sustained more damage than the main tower; that’s obviously it happening. Now unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information as to how long it took actually to restore and repair, but I suspect by the amount of scaffolding and stuff there, it may’ve taken a lot longer than Woodford House. And the chapel, which was built later, was built by Eric Phillips, and dedicated to Saint Martin.

[I’d] just like to acknowledge Judy Siers for her book there – ‘The Life and Time of James Walter Chapman-Taylor’; Chris Johnson, Council’s Archivist, for his little history piece on the Havelock North Village toilet in Transformer House; Matthew Wright, ‘Havelock North -The History of a Village’; Syd Grant, Havelock North – some Heritage Trail brochures, and photographs from Havelock North Library Community Archives; they’re all from there unless otherwise stated; there was [were] a few which basically came out of [cough] Judy Siers’ book, which I’ve acknowledged there. So, thank you.

[Applause] Is [Are] there any questions?

Jim: I’m sure Kim’s available afterwards …

Question: Does Whare Ra have any particular meaning? Obviously Whare is house; but …

Kim: Ra is sun – it’s the House of Sun, which is the Māori name for it; that’s what it means; and obviously as in Sunbourne and everything else. Dr Felkin and obviously the Order of the Golden Dawn is all to do with the sun as well. Hence the name – I mean, Golden Dawn’s to do with the sun – hence the name Whare Ra, House of Sun. Anything to add on that, Judy?

Judy Siers: Well they were searching for enlightenment.

Kim: Well of course, yes.

Judy: You could write a book about just that.

Kim: Well, yeah.

Judy: Very deep and meaningful.

Question: Where did it originate, this organisation?

Kim: I mean, depending on how far you want to go back – some say it originated from Egypt. The Order of the Golden Dawn, or Stella Matina [Matutina], I believe from what I’ve researched, was actually European, but made, I guess more popular, in England and by Dr Felkin and a couple of others. But I mean it came from Germany originally; some of the stuff, which they had then brought to England, and it became large in England. And then later, when there was a few sort of squabbles and fights and it split, some took it to America; and as I say, Dr Felkin ended up bringing it out here to New Zealand. And when Whare Ra closed here, or before it closed, it was actually the one up in Taupo – Tauhara, which was open there – a lot of the stuff of Dr Felkin was taken up to Tauhara; and of course, [that’s] currently still open at the moment. There is one, I believe, in Hamilton, a temple up there for the Order of the Golden Dawn – at least, according to the website it’s there; doesn’t actually give any indication as to how active it is.

Judy: You’ll notice a lot of the houses’ve got Māori names, but they’re English-looking. Perhaps they wanted it to have a New Zealand identity; so probably they thought carefully about what they would call their homes. But it’s quite interesting – a lot of them do have Māori names.

Kim: Oh, it is, yeah. Yes, I’m not sure … were the names from the owners themselves, or from James Chapman-Taylor?

Judy: Well Turama for example – the Gardiners, as I understand it, named Turama; but it means The Lantern. [Inaudible]

Jim: Paddy, would you be kind enough to propose a vote of thanks? Paddy Crone …

Paddy: Ladies and gentlemen, throughout my short life [chuckles] I have been fascinated by the influence of the Scandinavian people on the history of the world. It is said they were the first discoverers of America. Some of them sailed up one of the rivers of what is now Russia; founded the city of Kiev and the Russian nation. Some others of them shot round and established two town[s] in the land of my birth – Belfast is a Viking foundation, as is Dublin. Some of them went across to France, slaughtered the people – I don’t know if they were called French in those days, but they pinched a large slice of land which became Normandy. That wasn’t enough for them; they shot over from Normandy, clobbered the then Anglo Saxons and divided the land up among [amongst] themselves. And their descendants shot around the world, were influential in the Crusades, created the British Empire; the greatest the world has ever seen. From the language they established, now you can’t switch on the television but Charlie Chan is speaking perfect English to you. [Chuckles] If you walk into the Congo, it’s English. If you tune into a Chinese broadcasting station, it is English. An amazing race, the Scandinavians. And now, we have a latter-day branch raiding around.  [Laughter] Fortunately he hasn’t stolen the treasure; he’s gallant enough, and enables us to know what treasures we actually live among. For all his labour, I’m sure we owe him an enormous amount of thanks. Kim, from the Duart House Society, a small donation and a vote of thanks, and I’m sure, from you all. [Applause]

Jim: That concludes the morning’s programme.