LANDMARK BUILDINGS: 19 COLLINGWOOD STREET, PONSONBY

Three lots near Collingwood and Heke Streets were part of a large suburban residential subdivision under an 1859 Crown land grant.

The house is an example of a mid-colonial era, single bay villa which is a design that was common among artisans and an aspiring middle class. The residences were easily constructed from plenty of available timber and mass-produced joinery. They generally followed plans in timber company catalogues that bore some resemblance to the more elaborate designs in ‘Cottages for Settlers’ in Brett’s Colonists’ Guide published in 1883. The manufactured bay window on the Collingwood Street house was a popular feature lending elegance to otherwise plain residences. The arrival of steam-powered wood-working machines in the colony ensured that mantelpieces, doors, sashes, mouldings and Gothic tracery were cheaper than handmade.

Viewed from the street, the Drinkwater house appeared to be single storied but the sloping site allowed for additional rooms on a lower ground floor. Although the house followed the trend for a prominent picturesque gable with Gothic-style timber fretwork and a hipped roof, the lower story negated the need for an attic. The two broad, red-brick chimneys with cream-coloured bricks on the corners demonstrated an emerging fashion for ornamental chimney design. This mixture of styles was common from the 1860s until the end of the century. Internally the house had three or maybe four bedrooms and a front parlour on the upper story. The fireplaces were arranged back to back in the two front rooms and the pattern was repeated on the ground floor. A simple staircase led to the less formal lower floor which was the heart of family life and domestic activity.

A large living room overlooked the back garden behind which was a large wash-house with a storage area for wood and coal. The front room on the north side accommodated the kitchen and an internal workshop.

Drinkwater appears not to have operated his business from Collingwood Street but probably preferred to work for furniture makers till 1909 when Drinkwater and Sons ran a French polishing business at 87 Albert Street. The family continued to reside in the house for more than two decades during which time ornamental tree specimens including camellia and magnolia were planted near the back verandah. The house was mortgage free by the end of 1884. In 1903 Drinkwater sold it to a Roman Catholic Priest, James Francis Patterson, who continued to live in his Takapuna house and rented out the Freemans Bay dwelling. After his death, Patterson’s housekeeper inherited the property and sold it shortly after to a fireman’s wife for £1000. The sale advertisement described it as a “six-roomed, 2-storey at back, all large rooms, and exceptionally large back balcony, fireplaces in practically every room, gas throughout, range, etc, wash-house copper and tubs under one roof”.

The house at 19 Collingwood Street has architectural value as an example of a characteristic single-bay villa that preceded the more ornate double-bay villas that became popular later. It has social value as a residence belonging to a financially successful artisan. Historically, it reflects the timber industry’s mass production importance that contributed to the uniformity of local urban streetscapes. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)