Frederick Henry Chinn

Frederick Chinn was a prolific draftsman and architect who is perhaps best known for the design of the Salisbury Garden Court (now a WCC Heritage Area) in 1929-1936.

Chinn was born in Dunedin, and moved to Wellington near the turn of the century.  He studied building and architecture at the Wellington Technical School, and worked as a draughtsman for builders J & A Odlin from 1904 to 1911. Chinn designed a number of speculative/developer housing for Odlins and may have also designed their office and warehouse on Cable Street (1907). He practised as an architect from his home in Heretaunga and worked for theatre designer Henry White, and for the Ministry of Works.

In 1929 builder, Herbert Stanley Pillar, commissioned the design of 16 bungalows on a steeply sloping hillside on Cecil Road, Wadestown.  The development was based on American suburban housing layouts, and on the principles of “Garden City” residential design. Salisbury Garden Court involved the construction of a number of small (affordable) houses set around a central court of gardens and grounds.

 

Sources:

Mew, Geoff & Adrian Humphris. “Raupo to Deco: Wellington Styles and Architects 1840 – 1940” (Wellington: Steel Roberts Aotearoa, 2014) 

Salisbury Garden Court Heritage Area (WCC report, 2008).