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New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero – Report for a Historic Place Cottage, WELLINGTON (List No.9764, Category 2) Cottage, Kerryn Pollock, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, 12 February 2020 Michael Kelly and Kerryn Pollock Last amended 5 May 2020 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
1. IDENTIFICATION 4
1.1. Name of Place 4
1.2. Location Information 4
1.3. Legal Description 4
1.4. Extent of List Entry 4
1.5. Eligibility 4
1.6. Existing Heritage Recognition 5
2. SUPPORTING INFORMATION 5
2.1. Historical Information 5
2.2. Physical Information 14
2.3. Chattels 17
2.4. Sources 17
3. SIGNIFICANCE ASSESSMENT 18
3.1. Section 66 (1) Assessment 18
3.2. Section 66 (3) Assessment 19
APPENDICES 21
3.3. Appendix 1: Visual Identification Aids 21
3.4. Appendix 2: Visual Aids to Historical Information 25
3.5. Appendix 3: Visual Aids to Physical Information 26
3.6. Appendix 4: Significance Assessment Information 30
Disclaimer
Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero identifies only the heritage values of
the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of
its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary
conditions.
Archaeological sites are protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, regardless of
whether they are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero or not. Archaeological sites include
‘places associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New
Zealand’. This List entry report should not be read as a statement on whether or not the archaeological
provisions of the Act apply to the property (s) concerned. Please contact your local Heritage New Zealand office
for archaeological advice.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose of this report
The purpose of this report is to provide evidence to support the inclusion of Cottage in the New
Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero as a Category 2 historic place.
Summary
Cottage, located in the Wellington suburb of Thorndon, was built by 1863 and is an authentic and
intact example of a colonial working class dwelling. Constructed by recently arrived British immigrants
William and Sarah Cooper, it has historical significance as a reminder of New Zealand’s reputation as a
workers’ paradise, a place where people of modest means could afford to buy land and build their own
house. The place has additional significance for its place in the history of heritage preservation in this
country. Owned and restored by a local trust, it is valued by the Thorndon community for its historic
associations.
The Coopers arrived in Wellington in 1857 and purchased part of Town Acre 516 in 1864, having
already built the cottage. It was their home and was also the site of Sarah Cooper’s private school after
William Cooper’s death in 1866. By the end of the 1870s the neighbourhood had become densely built
up with many small workers’ cottages like the Coopers.
Cottage originally comprised three rooms: a living room and bedroom with a gable roof facing the
street and another room which contained the kitchen at a right angle facing west with a gable roof. It
was clad in plain lapped weatherboards and a shingle roof, which was replaced with corrugated iron by
the early 1880s, and had double-hung sash windows with multiple panes, a brick chimney, timber-
lined ceilings and hardwood floorboards.
Cottage was owned by Sarah Cooper until her death in 1898. She left it to close friends the Gillespie
family and it was owned by the Arlidge family for much of the twentieth century. Threated with
demolition in the early 1970s, it was purchased by current owners the Thorndon Trust in order to
preserve it. The building has not been significantly altered. In the early 1900s a modest lean-to
extension was built on the back of the cottage and a separate outhouse constructed at the rear of the
property. The outhouse was converted to living space and connected to the cottage by a glazed
passage in 1975, when the Thorndon Trust restored the building. Aside from the passage, Cottage
retains its early 1900s footprint and the original ca.1863 three-room layout of main building remains in
place.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 3
1. IDENTIFICATION1
1.1. Name of Place
Name
Cottage
Other Names
Cooper’s Cottage; Granny Cooper’s Cottage
1.2. Location Information
Address
30 Ascot Street
Thorndon
Wellington
Local Authority
Wellington City Council
1.3. Legal Description
Lot 1 A944 (RT WN97/268), Wellington Land District.2
1.4. Extent of List Entry
Extent includes the land described as Lot 1 A944 (RT WN97/268), Wellington Land District
and the building known as Cottage thereon (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry
report for further information).
1.5. Eligibility
There is sufficient information included in this report to identify this place. This place is
physically eligible for consideration as a historic place. It consists of a building fixed to land
which lies within the territorial limits of New Zealand.
1
This section is supplemented by visual aids in Appendix 1 of the report.
2
This land parcel is shown as Pt Sec 516 City of Wellington on RT WN97/268.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 4
1.6. Existing Heritage Recognition
Local Authority and Regional Authority Plan Scheduling
The place is not scheduled in the Wellington District Plan, operative 27 July 2000.
It is within the Thorndon Character Area, Wellington District Plan, Volume Two: Thorndon
Character Area Design Guide.
2. SUPPORTING INFORMATION3
2.1. Historical Information
The cottage at 30 Ascot Street, Thorndon, was built in ca. 1863. Prior to Pākehā settlement
the Thorndon area had been occupied by Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga iwi, all of
whom had migrated south from Taranaki in the 1820s and early 1830s during a period of
great upheaval associated with the introduction of Pākehā muskets into te ao Māori.4 Initially
based on the Kāpiti Coast, the Taranaki groups moved further south to present-day
Wellington.5 Kāinga (villages) were located in the Thorndon area, including Pakuao at the
north end of Tinakori Road, Raurimu at the intersection of Hobson Street and Fitzherbert
Terrace, Tiakiwai nearby, and Pipitea Pā on the shoreline.6 The Taranaki tribes were the last
arrivals in region with a long history of Māori occupation stretching back to the explorer
ancestor Kupe, who named islands and landmarks around the harbour.7 Prior to the entrance
of the Taranaki tribes, occupancy of Te Whanganui a Tara was concentrated in the eastern
and southern coasts, as the western portion of the harbour was seen as vulnerable to attack
from the north.8
3
Chris Cochran and Ben Schrader reviewed the historical information and physical description of this report.
4
Chris Maclean, 'Wellington region - Early Māori history', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2007a,
http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/wellington-region/page-5 (accessed 28 January 2020).
5
Morris Love, 'Te Āti Awa of Wellington - Migrations of the 1820s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2005,
http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/te-ati-awa-of-wellington/page-2 (accessed 28 January 2020).
6
Wellington City Libraries, ‘Ngauranga, Kaiwharawhara & Tiakiwai: Māori Sites of Te Whanganui a Tara’, and ‘Pipitea and
Kumutoto: Māori Sites of Te Whanganui a Tara’, n.d.,
http://www.wcl.govt.nz/maori/wellington/ngawaahingauranga.html and
http://www.wcl.govt.nz/maori/wellington/ngawaahipipitea.html (accessed 28 January 2020).
7
Maclean, 2007a.
8
Wellington City Libraries, n.d.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 5
Pākehā Settlement
Thorndon was part of the highly controversial and much disputed purchase of Te Whanganui-
a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara) by the New Zealand Company in 1839 for the site of what
became known as Wellington.9 After the New Zealand Company shifted the fledgling
settlement to Lambton Harbour from Petone in April 1840, the northern end became known
as Thorndon, after the English home of New Zealand Company director Lord Petre.10
The Company divided the new settlement into 1100 town and country sections, which were
sold to investors and potential settlers before they had even left England.11 Company
surveyor William Mein Smith prepared the plan for the settlement of Wellington. He chose a
rigid grid plan when the settlement was proposed for flat land at Petone, but the unruly
terrain at the southern end of the harbour meant a series of inter-connected grids was
required in Wellington.12
Development of Thorndon
An important route in Thorndon was Tinakori Road, which ran from the harbour south along
the base of Te Ahumairangi/Tinakori Hill, more or less following the earthquake fault line that
is such a defining physical feature of the place. It began as little more than a track that linked
Thorndon to areas of settlement and farming further afield, such as Karori.13 As Thorndon
became more intensively settled, Tinakori Road evolved into an established street, occupied
at the northern end by the well-off and at the southern end by the middle-class or, mostly,
working class; colonial Thorndon was socially diverse, with rich and poor living in close
proximity.14 The smallest cottages were to be found off the main road, adjoining narrow
streets and lanes and occupying tiny sections. These cottages provided cheap housing for
9
Chris Maclean, 'Wellington region - European arrival', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2007b,
http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/wellington-region/page-6 (accessed 24 January 2020).
10
Chris Maclean, 'Wellington region - The struggle to survive: 1840–1865', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2007c,
http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/wellington-region/page-7 (accessed 24 January 2020); Chris Maclean, 'Wellington places -
Western suburbs', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2007d, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/wellington-
places/page-4 (accessed 24 January 2020).
11
Redmer Yska, Wellington: Biography of a City, Auckland, Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd., 2006, pp.16, 22.
12
Rosemarie Tonk, ‘A Difficult and Complicated Question’: The New Zealand Company’s Wellington, Port Nicholson, Claim’, in
David Hamer and Roberta Nicholls (eds.), The Making of Wellington 1800-1914, Wellington, Victoria University Press,
1990, p.45.
13
Anthony Murray-Oliver, Historic Thorndon, Wellington, Wellington Regional Committee of the New Zealand Historic Places
Trust, 1971, p.6.
14
Dinah Priestly, Old Thorndon: Four Walks through Wellington’s Historic Thorndon, Wellington, Anchorage Press, 1988,
pp.20, 23.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 6
workers and their families close to places of employment in the city. As the city’s population
grew, more houses were packed into the suburb, particularly in its central and southern
areas.
Ascot Street
Ascot Street links Sydney Street West and Tinakori Road at the heart of the latter’s short
commercial section and was partly created out of a subdivision of Town Acres 516 and 518.15
It was a private right of way that gave access to the newly-built houses off Tinakori Road and
was very narrow, so could never be used for anything more than people on foot or horses. It
was nevertheless a useful thoroughfare until superseded in 1886 by the lower and wider
Glenbervie Road, which connected Tinakori Road with Kumototo Street (along today’s Bowen
Street). Initially the access way was simply known as the ‘lane’. The west part was soon
known as Karori Place; the harbour side of the street had various names but it was mostly
known as Sydney Street Cutting and Glenbervie Cutting.16 Finally, in 1927, after an enquiry by
a resident, the Wellington City Council decided to call it Ascot Street.17
The Cottage
Many of the street’s working class cottages were constructed between 1860 and 1875, with
only one lot remaining unsold by 1876.18 The transfer of Government from Auckland to
Wellington in 1865 seems to have been one of the spurs for the development of the area.
In 1860 part of Town Acre 516 was purchased by William Phelps Pickering, a former
Australian convict.19 In 1864 Pickering, listed now as a ‘gentleman’, sold a section of Town
Acre 516 to watchman William Cooper, who was his heir.20 Cooper had built the cottage by
then, so this transaction was formalising something which had already taken place. The date
of construction for the cottage is not certain but rate books suggest a date of no later than
15
Thomas Ward Map, Sheets 12, 13, 19 and Sheet 14, Wellington City Archives (WCA).
16
Thomas Ward Map, Sheets 12, 13, 19.
17
Evening Post, 21 June 1927, p.2. It was known for a long time as Ascot Terrace to most locals.
18
Chris Cochran, ‘Styles of Sham and Genuine Simplicity: Timber Buildings in Wellington to 1880’, in David Hamer and
Roberta Nicholls (eds.), The Making of Wellington 1800-1914, Wellington, Victoria University Press, 1990, p.124.
19
Jane Black, Chris Cochran and Michael Kelly, ‘Thorndon Heritage Project’, Wellington, Wellington City Council, 2008, p.55
https://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/services/community-and-culture/heritage/files/thorndonheritage-report.pdf.
Pickering served a sentence for ‘obtaining valuable security under false pretences’. See the criminal record of William
Phelps Pickering: http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON37-1-1,363,223,C,80 (accessed
12 February 2020).
20
Black et. al., 2008, p.55.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 71863, that being the year that rate book records began.21 It may well have been earlier. The
relative ease with which working people like William Cooper could acquire land and build a
house contributed to New Zealand’s reputation as a ‘workers’ paradise’ in the nineteenth
century.22
It is most likely that the house was built in one construction period, but the eaves of the two
gabled wings at right angles to each other do not align, suggesting the possibility of two
stages of construction. The whole roof was likely clad in shingles but by 1885 the main roof
was clad in corrugated iron, with only the porch still shingled.23 It was typical of working class
cottages that Charles Rooking Carter described in 1866 as:
‘…in a style of genuine simplicity … a door in the middle and a window on each side of the
door. The house was divided into two rooms … and was frequently supplemented with the
fashionable and useful lean-to … in the rear of these truly convenient and comfortable
colonial cottages, which being generally painted white, look neat, clean and fresh.’24
Though it does not conform exactly to this description, it nevertheless fits the character-
defining aspects of the style.
Sarah Cooper’s School
William and Sarah Cooper, who married in Birmingham, England in 1852, arrived in
Wellington in 1857 on board the Alma.25 One source suggests that Sarah came to New
Zealand to act as a governess for Charles and Helen Gillespie.26 She was described as
governess in her death notice.27 William died in 1866 aged 50, and his death may have
spurred Sarah to open a school in the house.28
21
Thorndon Ward rate book, 1863, Wellington City Archives (WCA). [Year: 1863, Street: Tinakori Road, east, from Glenbervie
Terrace to St Hill Street, Owner: W Cooper, Occupier: W Cooper, Description: House, Land value: 30, Buildings: 50].
22
Ben Schrader, 'City planning - Early settlement planning', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2010,
http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/city-planning/page-1 (accessed 12 February 2020).
23
Photograph by Alexander McKay, ca.1885, Alexander Turnbull Library, 1/2-021849-F
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22674847 (accessed 28 January 2020).
24
C.R. Carter, Life and Recollections of a New Zealand Colonist, vol. 2, London, R. Madley, 1866, p.7.
25
Alma passenger list 1857 http://stagebarn.com/naomi/alma2.htm (accessed 14 January 2020); Sarah Cooper death
certificate, 1898/3595, Births, Deaths and Marriages. The ages of Sarah and William Cooper on the Alma passenger list
roughly correspond to those given in William and Sarah Cooper’s death notices.
26
Priestly, 1988, p.36.
27
Evening Post, 7 September 1898, p.5.
28
Wellington Independent, 17 March 1866, p.4.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 8The first definitive record of this school was in a street directory in 1878, although it was
operating much earlier.29 Just what the school amounted to is not at all clear. In The Streets of
My City (1948), Fanny Irvine-Smith cited a contemporary witness describing the school as
consisting of a single room with a playground outside. Sarah herself was described as ‘a tiny
little teacher, spectacled and rosy cheeked, in print bonnet and voluminous skirts.’30 She
taught her pupils lessons in the alphabet (accompanied by singing) and basic skills such as
knitting. On Fridays, as a special treat, Sarah would reward the children with sweets such as
toffee or coconut.31
Marcus Marks (1863-1951) was an early student of Sarah’s. He recalled a woman of a quite
different stature:
‘…a tall, thin, grey-haired lady with “specs”. Mrs Cooper was a martinet; but her severe
method of dealing out punishment (rapping us hard over the knuckles with a lead pencil) was
tempered by the motherly way she regaled us every Friday afternoon – coconuts cut up into
small pieces with a bucket of fresh water from Grant Road to wash it down.’32
She may have been running what would be more readily understood today as a pre-school or
infant school for local children under her care, possibly including the Gillespie children. The
spaces in the cottage are very small so there would have been room for only a small group of
pupils. It is unusual that not one newspaper report or advertisement for the school has been
found; private schools were frequently featured in the media or were advertising for
students.
Street directories show her school in operation until 1901, but her 1898 obituary noted she
had closed it ten years prior, so it is hard to be sure of the accuracy of this date. There is no
clear evidence that Sarah Cooper was known in her lifetime as Granny Cooper, although this
name has been attributed to the cottage for many decades.
Sarah Cooper died in 1898 aged 76 and she had spent the final two years of her life living
with the Gillespies. 33 She left her property to Helen and Helen’s oldest son Andrew, although
29
Wises New Zealand Street Directory, 1878. Priestly suggests it was open as early as 1867 (1988, p.36).
30
Frances Irvine-Smith, The Streets of My City, Wellington, A.H. and A.W. Reed, 1948, p.84.
31
ibid.
32
Marcus Marks, Memories (Mainly Merry) of Marcus Marks, Sydney, Endeavour Press, 1934, p.13.
33
Evening Post, 7 September 1898, p.5; Probate of Sarah Cooper, AAOM W3265 6029 Box 112, Record: 6102, Archives New
Zealand. Charles Gillespie predeceased her.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 9only Helen’s name appeared on the title.34 The Gillespies never lived in the house and the
first occupant following Sarah’s death was Jane Cooper, whose late husband Thomas Cooper
had been a veteran of the 65th Regiment of the British Army.35 What the connection was
between the two sets of Coopers is not known, but it seems likely to have been a familial
one.
Later History
Following Helen Gillespie’s death, the cottage was transferred in 1910 to her son Robert
Morton Gillespie, an engineer living in Auckland.36 Later that year he sold the property to
driver Alfred Holt, who lived in the cottage.37 In 1914 it was bought by storekeeper Alfred
Bowden, who also occupied it.38 Bowden’s sister Catherine Arlidge bought the cottage in
1923.39 She and her husband Albert lived there but Albert moved out when they divorced in
1925. The couple’s marriage breakdown was covered by tabloid newspaper The Truth in
uncomfortable detail, as was Albert’s failed attempt to gain a share of the property through
court action in 1927.40
In 1930 Catherine Arlidge constructed a garage, which had a splayed side wall to make full
use of the small front garden, leaving just a narrow path to the front door.41 The garage plans
show that there was a separate structure behind the cottage which contained a workshop, a
washhouse, toilet and a coal bin.42 This was not on the site before 1900.43 A narrow lean-to
added to the rear (north side) of the cottage does not appear to have been there before
1900 either, although it does contain multi-pane sash windows which could easily have been
moved from the back wall of the cottage when the lean-to was added.
34
ibid; RT WN97/268, Wellington Land District.
35 th
The 65 Regiment was stationed in Wellington from 1846 to 1865.
36
RT WN97/268.
37
ibid.
38
ibid.
39
ibid; ‘There Ain’t no Flies on Catherine’, NZ Truth, 28 July 1927, p.7.
40
‘’Oh Jim you Love’’, NZ Truth, 7 November 1925, p.5; ‘There Ain’t no Flies on Catherine’, 1927, p.7.
41
’30 Ascot Street, Garage’, Building Application Form, File no.B9147 (20/03/1930), WCA. The plans show the garage was to
be built of brick with a corrugated iron roof but when it was demolished it was found to have a roof of reinforced
concrete (Thorndon Society, Newsletter No.1, 1973). Thorndon resident and conservation architect Chris Cochran
remembers that the roof was reinforced with the railings and ends of a number of brass bedsteads. They were too badly
damaged to be restored. Pers. comm. Chris Cochran to Michael Kelly, 29 January 2019.
42
‘30 Ascot Street, garage’, 0056:99:B9147, WCA.
43
Thomas Ward Map, Sheets 12, 13, 19.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 10The property remained in the Arlidge family until the 1970s but was not occupied
continuously by them. A long tenancy was held by Reginald Mather, a clerk, during the 1940s.
Slaughterman William Aldridge was also listed as the occupant during the 1930s. Rose Nelson
was the listed occupant during the 1960s.44
Thorndon Trust
In 1972, the cottage was put up for sale by the Arlidge family.45 By this time the Wellington
urban motorway was under construction and a number of houses to the east and north of
Ascot Street, including much of Sydney Street West, had been demolished.46 Other streets
were also badly affected by the motorway. The cottage was not under threat by the
motorway construction, but rather from a proposal to demolish the building to give access to
surrounding land-locked houses, particularly above to the north, at number 275 Tinakori
Road. These were to be demolished to make way for a large residential development.47
Alarmed at this, and the prospect of the continuing loss of the area’s historic houses, a group
was formed comprising architect Martin Hill, who had drawn attention to Thorndon's
heritage in newspaper columns in the late 1960s, television researcher Gillian MacGregor,
who was living in Glenbervie Terrace at that time, and lawyer Shirley Smith, whose husband
was the prominent economist William Sutch. Together, they formed the Thorndon Trust,
bought the cottage in 1972 against fierce bidding at auction and secured a mortgage through
Shirley Smith’s legal practice.48
The Trust began planning to raise money to restore and renovate the cottage with voluntary
help from the community; this was achieved by the Trust sponsoring the formation of the
Thorndon Society in September 1973.49 Membership of the Society was open to anyone,
whether a local resident or not, who shared the aim of preserving the historic ambience of
Thorndon.
One of the first activities of the Society was to demolish the garage, which took place during
Saturday morning working-bees. These and similar working-bees, and many social events
sponsored by the Society, engendered a strong community commitment to heritage, and laid
44
Occupation records taken from Stones and Wises street directories. Copy on Heritage New Zealand file 12013-1928.
45
Black et al., 2008, p.34
46
ibid, p.32.
47
ibid, p.34.
48
‘Conditions of sale, Estate Catherine Aldridge, 30 Ascot St’, Thorndon Trust archive.
49
Black et al., 2008, p.35.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 11the base for the town planning activism that was to save the area from wholesale
redevelopment. 50
Zoning
Following the cottage purchase in 1972, an intense period of research and lobbying was
undertaken by the Thorndon Trust, concentrating on the owners’ expectations for the future
of the densely built-up area that later became known as the Residential E Zone.51 This is the
area bounded by Bowen Street, Tinakori Road, Hill Street and the motorway, and included
Sydney Street West, Ascot Street, Glenbervie Terrace and Parliament Street.52 Research
showed that a large majority of residents liked living in the area and favoured preservation
over redevelopment, this despite the fact that the area was generally in a run-down
condition.
The Wellington City Council (WCC) was approached to rezone the area to protect its unique
townscape qualities, encourage restoration, and control new development so that it was
compatible with the old. While this was a novel idea to the WCC (and indeed, to New
Zealand), conservation zones were common in Europe and were used in the United States
and Australia.53 Citizen-led campaigns to preserve the historic character and communities of
Greenwich Village in New York (late 1950s) and The Rocks in Sydney (early 1970s) were high-
profile battles in an international movement that the Thorndon activists participated in.54
The acquisition of the cottage was the catalyst for the establishment of what became known
as Residential E Zone, which in turn pioneered a cultural landscape that subsequently
informed heritage practice in New Zealand. In 1973 WCC adopted a plan change to protect
the area, dubbed Residential E Zone.55 The change was rejected by the Planning Tribunal the
following year but revisions were made and the area (slightly enlarged) was finally adopted in
50
The Thorndon Society initiated the Thorndon Fair at this time, still a very popular event today, and organised Christmas
parties and other social gatherings, including a memorable hangi in the back garden of the Moorings in Glenbervie
Terrace. They organised an art exhibition in Turnbull House, and commissioned the landmark ‘people and houses’ series
of photographs from Robin Morrison. An inclusive community spirit was engendered by all these activities.
51
Residential E Zone became the Thorndon Character Area in the Wellington City District Plan.
52
Wellington City Council, ‘Thorndon Character Area Design Guide’, Wellington City District Plan, p.2
https://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/your-council/plans-policies-and-bylaws/district-
plan/volume02/files/v2thorndon.pdf?la=en (accessed 29 January 2020).
53
H.C. Norwood, ‘Wellington Attempts a Conservation Area’, Town Planning Quarterly, vol. 8, 1975, p.18.
54
Ben Schrader, ‘Residential E and the Saving of Thorndon’, in Christine McCarthy (ed), ‘“All the Appearances of being
Innovative”’: New Zealand Architecture in the 1970s: a One Day Symposium’, Wellington, Centre for Building
Performance Research, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Victoria University of Wellington, 2016, p.79.
55
Black et al., 2008, p.36; Schrader, 2016, p.79.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 121976. This was the first time in New Zealand that a defined area (urban or rural) was set
aside for legal protection for its built heritage values.56 Many more examples followed
nationally over the succeeding decades and Thorndon was cited as a precedent when
Nelson’s historic South Street was made a special character zone in 1980.57
In 2010, an attempt to extend protection to the western side of Tinakori Road was
abandoned following complaints from some in the community.58 The former Residential E
Zone remains intact today however, as part of a character area under the Wellington City
District Plan.59 The historic qualities of Thorndon and protective zoning have contributed to
its subsequent gentrification.60
Cottage renovations
Following the acquisition of the cottage, the Thorndon Trust planned major work to make it
more suitable for modern living. The cottage was in poor condition and the work required –
plumbing, electrical and carpentry repairs, and the upgrading of service rooms – was
extensive, both externally and internally. By 1975, renovations designed by architect Martin
Hill got underway; the outbuilding building was converted into useful living space containing
a toilet, bathroom and bedroom, new window joinery was installed, and a glazed passage
was built to connect it to the main cottage.61 A small porch was built over the front door, the
design based on an 1885 photo of the cottage.62 The glazed link and the replica front porch
were the only changes made to the footprint of the building, which has not altered since.
Architect Philip Porritt, a member of the Thorndon Trust from 2004 to 2019, designed and
oversaw many small-scale improvements to the cottage, including new kitchen fittings,
improved bathroom facilities, the cladding of the street elevation of the glazed passage to
improve privacy, and the construction of a retaining wall behind the outbuilding. The cottage
56
Schrader, 2016, p.78.
57
K.M. Galletly, ‘The Preservation of Historic Buildings in New Zealand’, MA thesis, University of Canterbury, 1982, p.60.
58
Alex Tarrant, ‘Thorndon Residents Revolt’, The Wellingtonian, 12 August 2010 http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-
post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/4013106/Thorndon-residents-revolt (accessed 29 January 2020).
59
It is noteworthy that there has not been a single house or cottage demolished in the area since 1975. As the result of the
security brought by the zoning, major upgrading work has been carried out on very many of the buildings; this has been
mostly by owner-occupiers, but also in some cases by landlords and developers.
60
Schrader, 2016, p.81.
61
‘30 Ascot Street, dwelling additions and alterations’, 00001:442:6/5128, WCA.
62
Photograph by Alexander McKay, ca.1885, Alexander Turnbull Library, 1/2-021849-F
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22674847 (accessed 14 February 2020).
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 13has had a number of tenants since 1975, the very first being ballerina Pamela Meakins of the
New Zealand Ballet Company in 1976.63
While the purchase of the cottage by the Thorndon Trust was critical in ensuring the
preservation of the area, and was its main concern during its early life, the Trust did buy
other at-risk properties, including 28 Ascot Street (next door) and 194 Sydney Street West,
later to be on-sold to sympathetic owners. Today, the Thorndon Trust is still active in the
area and owns the cottage and Rita Angus Cottage at 194A Sydney Street West (List No.
2291, Category 1 historic place).
Associated List Entries
N/a
2.2. Physical Information
Current Description
The cottage is located on the northern side of Ascot Street in the Wellington suburb of
Thorndon. Ascot Street branches off Sydney Street West and rises steeply to a summit near
the cottage; from the other direction, the cottage is 40 metres up a short rise from Tinakori
Road. The street itself is narrow, particularly near the top, and contains no footpaths.
Vehicular access is therefore very restricted. While the cottage sits in a steep and narrow
landscape, it has distant views to the backdrop of the forested Te Ahumairangi to the west,
the pōhutukawa-fringed Bolton Street Cemetery and Anderson Park to the east and south.
The area is characterised by small cottages on small parcels of land. Most of the houses are
Victorian in origin, dating primarily from 1860s and especially from the 1870s. They
demonstrate features typical of such houses, with lapped or rusticated weatherboards,
double-hung sash windows with multiple panes, dormer windows, steep-pitched gable roofs
sheathed in corrugated iron (many having replaced the original timber shingle roofs) and
narrow, ground floor verandas. Some of these have had significant additions (including 28
and 33 Ascot Street), with an impact on the scale of the streetscape, and there are several
later houses, dating from the middle of the twentieth century (including Lilburn House, List
No. 7645; 1951). The scale is still nevertheless of small units, none more than two storeys
high, juxtaposed in surprising ways and rising and falling with the complicated topography.
63
Shirley Smith to Gillian McGregor, 1 June 1976, Thorndon Trust archive.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 14The commercial buildings of Tinakori Road, including the Shepherd’s Arms Hotel, form the
western edge of the area.
Style
The architectural style of the cottage is typical of early Wellington working class homes and is
best described as Colonial. This style is characterised by a small domestic scale, simple
geometric shapes, plain details and readily available materials – timber framing and cladding,
and (originally) timber shingles covering the roof.
Plan and Materials
The main building is L-shaped, with one gable facing the street and running through to the
rear; the other is at right angles and parallel to the street on the west side. As the eaves of
the two gabled forms do not align, it is possible that the house was built in two stages.64 The
house is clad in plain lapped weatherboards and corrugated iron on the roof; this was
originally shingled. The brick chimney, with an unusual arched capping in brick, sits in the
middle of the main ridge.
This main part of the house contains three spaces, currently configured as a living room at
the front, bedroom behind (to the north), and kitchen (to the west) with its own gable roof.
The living room includes the front door, and two double-hung windows with multi-paned
sashes (nine in each); a fireplace with original timber surround and decorative painted finish;
a timber dado 1100mm high, timber-lined and coved ceiling, and original skirtings and
architraves, all of which are painted. The bedroom is at the rear of the main gable with one
double-hung window looking out to the yard and a casement window facing east; the ceiling
is coved as for the living room, but lined in Gib board, and follows the slope of the lean-to
roof on the northern side. The room has two small built in wardrobes.
The kitchen has two small casement windows, one facing on to the street, and a larger
double-hung window facing onto the courtyard on the north side; this is a modern window
but matches the original bedroom window on this wall. The kitchen has modern benches and
cupboards, generally in timber and sympathetic to the character of the cottage. The tongue
and groove flooring is hardwood, an unusual timber in a cottage of this type.
The former outbuilding/washhouse is connected to the main building by a passage, glazed on
the east and west sides and clad in weatherboards on the street (south) side. The rear ‘wing’
64
An examination of the roof framing would be needed to confirm a staged construction.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 15has rusticated weatherboards (indicating its later date of construction) and a mono-pitch roof
clad in corrugated iron; all the windows (with small panes) were installed in the 1970s but
are sympathetic in design. It contains (from west to east) a toilet, bathroom and second
bedroom.
Garden
There is a picket fence on the Ascot Street boundary, and a small garden enclosed by the L-
shape of the cottage with a path to the front door. This space is defined on the western side
boundary by the remaining brick wall of the garage built in 1930. There is a small brick-paved
yard between the main cottage and the outbuilding, which extends out to a grassed area and
garden on the eastern side of the cottage. There is also a brick-paved yard below this garden,
which is accessed directly from Ascot Street; it is framed by a brick retaining wall and paved
in sea-worn bricks.65 These were gathered and laid as another initiative of the Thorndon
Society around 1973. The original use of this space is unknown, although local lore suggests
that its original purpose was as a stable; fixings in the wall suggest that it was originally
roofed over. Today it serves as a quiet public rest area with a garden seat and large
overhanging pōhutukawa.
Construction Professionals
Martin Hill (architect)
Martin Hill (1926-2005) was born in England and migrated to New Zealand in 1951.66 He
joined the Ministry of Works and later worked in private practice for a number of
architectural firms. Hill was closely involved with the Thorndon Trust and Thorndon Society
and was an important figure in the campaign to preserve the historic Wellington suburb.
Philip Porritt (architect)
Philip Porritt is a Wellington architect who worked for architectural firm Jasmax from 1979-
2013.67 He was a Thorndon Trust trustee from 2005-2019.68
65
These bricks, which came from the Miramar gas works, were retrieved from the sea near Fort Dorset, where they were
dumped when the works was demolished in ca.1965.
66
https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/wfadi/facilities-old-archived/archives/perry-martin-hill-archive/perry-martin-hill-thesis-biography
(cached version accessed 4 March 2020).
67
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/philip-porritt-681b73a4 (accessed 4 March 2020).
68
Margaret Cochran, ‘The Thorndon Trust’, Newsletter of the Thorndon Society Inc., March 2019, p.3
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/philip-porritt-681b73a4 (accessed 4 March 2020).
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 16Construction Materials
Timber, corrugated iron, brick
Key Physical Dates
ca.1863 Original construction
ca.1885 Refurbishment/renovation: Shingle roof replaced with corrugated iron
ca.1973 Demolished – Redevelopment: garage
1975 Refurbishment/renovation: outbuilding converted to living space; glazed
passage constructed; replica front porch constructed
2004-19 Refurbishment/renovation: improvements including new kitchen, bathroom
renovation, cladding of street elevation of glazed passage, retaining wall at
rear of property
Uses
Accommodation House
2.3. Chattels
There are no chattels included in this List entry.
2.4. Sources
Sources Available and Accessed
Te Ara, the online Encyclopedia of New Zealand was the main source for information on
Māori occupation of Wellington and Thorndon, supplemented by the Te Whanganui a Tara
pages on the Wellington City Libraries website. Useful secondary sources included the
‘Thorndon Heritage Project’ report commissioned by the Wellington City Council (2008).
Newspaper articles from the website PapersPast, street directories and late nineteenth
century maps of Wellington’s town acres produced by surveyor Thomas Ward (1849-1934)
were valuable primary sources.
Further Reading
Black, Jane, Chris Cochran and Michael Kelly, ‘Thorndon Heritage Project’, Wellington City
Council, 2008 https://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/services/community-and-
culture/heritage/files/thorndonheritage-report.pdf
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 17Cochran, Chris, ‘Styles of Sham and Genuine Simplicity: Timber Buildings in Wellington to
1880’, in David Hamer and Roberta Nicholls (eds.), The Making of Wellington 1800-1914,
Wellington, Victoria University Press, 1990, p.45.
Priestly, Dinah, Old Thorndon: Four Walks through Wellington’s Historic Thorndon,
Wellington, Anchorage Press, 1988.
3. SIGNIFICANCE ASSESSMENT69
3.1. Section 66 (1) Assessment
This place has been assessed for, and found to possess archaeological, architectural,
historical and social significance or value. It is considered that this place qualifies as part of
New Zealand’s historic and cultural heritage.
Archaeological Significance or Value
Cottage has archaeological significance through the potential for archaeological investigation
of the building and subsurface surroundings to shed light on the nineteenth century
educational history of this place and answer questions about the type of school and students
that documentary sources have not resolved. An examination of the main building could
determine whether it was built in one or two stages. Such investigations could also provide
additional information on urban working class lives in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
Architectural Significance or Value
This place is an excellent illustration of the colonial New Zealand working class urban cottage
in scale, shape, materials and setting. While not unique, it has architectural significance as a
representative, intact and authentic example of a characteristic mid-nineteenth century
dwelling.
Historical Significance or Value
Cottage has historical significance as a reminder of the opportunities colonial New Zealand
presented to working class people to better their material circumstances. As a working class
cottage, it represents one of the historically-significant class groups of Wellington’s Thorndon
69
For the relevant sections of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 see Appendix 4: Significance Assessment
Information.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 18and provides insights into working class life. It also reflects the role of small, private
establishments in the provision of education in the nineteenth century. Cottage has national
significance as a catalyst for Residential E Zone in the Wellington District Plan, the first time in
New Zealand that a whole area had been preserved for its built heritage value.
Social Significance or Value
Cottage has social significance as a demonstration of the value placed on historic buildings by
the Thorndon community. Local people came together to purchase the building after it was
threatened with demolition and created a trust to own and manage the place. Popularly-
known as ‘Granny Cooper’s Cottage’ after the first owner, it was the first of a number of
historic buildings purchased and restored by the trust.
3.2. Section 66 (3) Assessment
It is considered that this place qualifies as a Category 2 historic place. It was assessed against
all criteria, and found to qualify under the following: a, b, c, e, i, k.
(a) The extent to which the place reflects important or representative aspects of New
Zealand history
Located within one of Wellington’s original town acres laid out by the New Zealand
Company, cottage represents the colonisation of New Zealand and the development of
urban centres. It is also associated with important developments in the history of heritage
preservation and practice in New Zealand.
(b) The association of the place with events, persons, or ideas of importance in New Zealand
history
Cottage serves as a material expression of the widely-held idea that nineteenth century
New Zealand was a workers’ paradise where immigrants could quickly realise the promise
of home ownership. Though the suburb in which it is located has been subjected to
gentrification and associated rises in home values, Cottage is true in form and materials to
its nineteenth and early twentieth century self and remains an authentic representation
of historic working class aspirations and lives.
(c) The potential of the place to provide knowledge of New Zealand history
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 19Cottage has the potential to provide knowledge of the history of working class dwellings
and home-based schools due to its intact and largely authentic exterior and interior fabric
and original footprint, and the garden is likely to contain subsurface archaeological
material related to these themes as the land has not been significantly developed.
(e) The community association with, or public esteem for the place
The Thorndon community has a meaningful association with this place, which remains
owned by the local trust which saved it from threatened demolition. Its purchase was the
result of activism on the part of a community concerned to preserve the historic
neighbourhood. The building has been sensitively maintained by the trust and restoration
work is sympathetic, indicating esteem for its historic value.
(i) The importance of identifying historic places known to date from an early period of New
Zealand settlement
Cottage was constructed by 1863 and reflects early organised Pākehā settlement and the
development of Wellington as an urban centre. Much of its fabric dates back to its original
construction.
(k) The extent to which the place forms part of a wider historical and cultural area
Cottage is a notable place within a Wellington suburb recognised for its collection of
historic buildings. It is one of a number of working class cottages in Thorndon, which is
also the location of grander dwellings. Together these buildings represent the suburb’s
diverse social history.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 20APPENDICES
3.3. Appendix 1: Visual Identification Aids
Location Maps
Wellington
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 21Map of Extent
Extent includes the land described as Lot 1 A944 (RT WN97/268), Wellington Land District
and the building known as Cottage thereon. Source: Google Earth with QuickMap overlay.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 22Current Identifier
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 23Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 24
3.4. Appendix 2: Visual Aids to Historical Information
Historical Photographs
Figure One: View of Ascot Street from Lewisville Terrace on the west side of Tinakori Road,
ca.1885. The cottage at 30 Ascot Street is indicated by the red arrow. Source: Alexander Turnbull
Library, 1/2-021849-F.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 253.5. Appendix 3: Visual Aids to Physical Information
Current plans
Figure Two: Floor plan of Cooper’s Cottage, 2018.70
70
This plan remains valid, except for the ‘proposed verandah’ and ‘proposed sunroom’, which were not built.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 26Current Photographs of Place71
Figure Two: east and north elevations.
Figure Three: Outbuilding and glazed passage at the rear of the property
71
All photographs by Kerryn Pollock, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, 12 February 2020.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 27Figure Four: original fireplace and surround (with modern painted decoration) in the living
room and the kitchen with original floorboards through the door
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 28Figure Five: living room with double-hung sash window and timber lined and coved ceiling
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 293.6. Appendix 4: Significance Assessment Information
Part 4 of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014
Chattels or object or class of chattels or objects (Section 65(6))
Under Section 65(6) of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, an entry on the
New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero relating to a historic place may include any chattel
or object or class of chattels or objects –
a) Situated in or on that place; and
b) Considered by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to contribute to the significance of
that place; and
c) Proposed by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga for inclusion on the New Zealand
Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero.
Significance or value (Section 66(1))
Under Section 66(1) of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, Heritage New
Zealand Pouhere Taonga may enter any historic place or historic area on the New Zealand
Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero if the place possesses aesthetic, archaeological, architectural,
cultural, historical, scientific, social, spiritual, technological, or traditional significance or
value.
Category of historic place (Section 66(3))
Under Section 66(3) of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, Heritage New
Zealand Pouhere Taonga may assign Category 1 status or Category 2 status to any historic
place, having regard to any of the following criteria:
a) The extent to which the place reflects important or representative aspects of New
Zealand history
b) The association of the place with events, persons, or ideas of importance in New Zealand
history
c) The potential of the place to provide knowledge of New Zealand history
d) The importance of the place to tangata whenua
e) The community association with, or public esteem for, the place
f) The potential of the place for public education
g) The technical accomplishment, value, or design of the place
h) The symbolic or commemorative value of the place
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 30i) The importance of identifying historic places known to date from an early period of New
Zealand settlement
j) The importance of identifying rare types of historic places
k) The extent to which the place forms part of a wider historical and cultural area
Additional criteria may be prescribed in regulations made under this Act for the purpose of
assigning Category 1 or Category 2 status to a historic place, provided they are not
inconsistent with the criteria set out in subsection (3)
Additional criteria may be prescribed in regulations made under this Act for entering historic
places or historic areas of interest to Māori, wāhi tūpuna, wāhi tapu, or wāhi tapu areas on
the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero, provided they are not inconsistent with the
criteria set out in subsection (3) or (5) or in regulations made under subsection (4).
NOTE: Category 1 historic places are ‘places of special or outstanding historical or cultural
heritage significance or value.’ Category 2 historic places are ‘places of historical or cultural
heritage significance or value.’
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9764 31You can also read
