Houses

2 Footscray Avenue, 4 Footscray Avenue, 6 Footscray Avenue

2-8 Footscray Avenue, Te Aro, Wellington
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2 to 8 Footscray Avenue (Image: Charles Collins, 2015)
2 to 8 Footscray Avenue (Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2015)
8 Footscray Avenue (Image: Charles Collins, 2015)
8 Footscray Avenue (Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2015)
6 Footscray Avenue (Image: Charles Collins, 2015)

6 Footscray Avenue (Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2015)

4 Footscray Avenue (Image: Charles Collins, 2015)

4 Footscray Avenue (Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2015)

2 Footscray Street (Fire-damaged) Image: Charles Collins, 2015

2 Footscray Street (Fire-damaged) Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2015

Extent: Cityview GIS 2013
Extent: Cityview GIS 2013
Map

  • Constructed

    c.1896 - unknown

  • Heritage Area

    Cuba Street Heritage Area

  • Architect(s)

    Guido Schwartz

  • Builder(s)

    Unknown

  • These four identical cottages on their original sites, represent some of the best preserved 19th century worker’s houses in Te Aro. They were built before 1900 and are in the NZAA Central City Archaeological Area R27/270 which means it’s likely that archaeological material (domestic, historical) will be present.

    They are all privately owned.

  • close History
    2-8 Footscray Avenue is a group of four identical cottages built in 1896 by Thomas Bloomfield Jobson (1846-1935). Jobson arrived in New Zealand from Melbourne in 1870. A commercial traveller, he purchased the land, part of Town Acre 98 fronting Abel Smith Street, in 1896, from Richard Ledger and Peter Hickson (of Wellington) and Caroline Ward and Comyns Berkely (of England). Some accounts suggest that the land was at that time occupied by the Wellington Bowling and Tennis Club. The land was certainly not occupied by any building in 1891, and the club does not appear in the Wellington edition of the New Zealand Cyclopedia, published the following year. 

    Jobson named the street Footscray Avenue after the inner-city Melbourne suburb that he grew up in. At the same time that he built the cottages, he constructed two houses directly in front of them and facing Abel Smith Street. One house was for his use, and the other was for his three daughters. The sisters were still occupying the house after World War II. 

    A right of way was granted in July 1896 and is shown on a drainage plan dating from that year. Each of the cottages had an outhouse (washhouse, toilet, and coal storage), which were paired on the boundary of each set of (two) houses. The cottages each had four rooms, and their profile, footprint, and layout were exactly the same. The builder was Charles Palliser. 

    The drainage plans also show an interesting detail, it is signed in the corner by architect Guido Schwartz, which almost certainly means he designed the houses. The cottages are frequently assumed to have been speculator houses, but this evidence means that they were locally designed. Schwartz was a German immigrant, and he designed numerous Wellington buildings and houses, including a fine house at 23 Pat Lawlor Close and several hotels. He also designed Jobson’s two houses on Abel Smith Street. 

    These cottages were built as rental accommodation for workers and each have had a number of different occupants. Ownership of the houses remained with Jobson until his death in 1940. The properties were then transferred to South British Guardian Trust as executors of the Jobson estate. They also retained ownership of the houses at the front of the section. 

    The Trust managed the Jobson estate until it sold the property to the Ministry of Works and Development in 1972. By then the MOWD had settled on the path of the motorway extension and although it was only to cut the corner of the property (only affecting 8 Footscray Avenue) the land was gazetted for motorway purposes in 1974. The two front houses were commandeered by the Wellington Education Board, which already owned a property on the Western boundary. 

    By this time, the Footscray Avenue cottages had acquired a growing importance for their heritage value. The Wellington City Council mooted listing the cottages on the district scheme in 1978, before finally doing s in 1982. In 1984 the New Zealand Historic Places Trust published a report on the cottages and classified them as a part of a heritage area. 

    In the meantime, changes to the alignment of the motorway tool away the threat to Footscray Avenue appeared. The Wellington Education Board wanted to build a new building on the site of the two Jobson houses at 61 and 63 Abel Smith Street and on part of the land occupied by the cottages. The Wellington City Council and the HPT regional committee stood firm against the Board. Eventually the new building was confined to the site of the old Jobson houses and the Footscray Avenue cottages were spared. 

    By the late 1980s, with planning for the urban motorway continuing, a second threat to the cottages came from what was known as the Education Residual Management Unit. Faced with losing some departmental accommodation to the motorway extension, it decided that it required the area occupied by the cottages for parking. A stand off ensued and continued until new offices were found in Thorndon, and the threat to the cottages was removed. 

    In 1994 the Gazette Notice over the land occupied by the former Wellington Education Board building and 2 Footscray Avenue was lifted and the property was sold to Wilbur and Paul Surridge, George and Helen Stavrinos and Charles Wainwright the following year. Number 2 is the only one of the four cottages in private ownership, with the other three having been restored by Transit New Zealand and incorporated into the Tonks Grove/Footscray Avenue precinct. The cottages are now all in private ownership. 

    In 2007 the cottage at 2 Footscray Avenue was undergoing restoration when a large fire occurred, damaging the cottage severely in some places, and less badly in others. While there was considered to be significant damage, the majority of the exterior claddings, primary structure, sarking, and interior fittings remained in reasonable and readily restorable/repairable condition. As of 2013 it is not clear what the outcome of this situation will be.   


  • close Architectural Information
    • Building Classification(s) close

      Not assessed

    • Architecture close

      These cottages are four identical cottages on a narrow lane off Abel Smith Street, and are part of the Tonks Grove heritage precinct. Each of the cottages are roughly square in plan and occupy a small rectangular section with a tiny open area and toilet/shed at the rear.

      The front elevations are distinguished by unusual and distinctive verandahs, in particular the central gabled portions, supported on slender gable posts, which frame the main entrances. This elevation, which is symmetrical around the front door, has sets of two double hung sash windows on either side. The front elevation is clad in broad rusticated weatherboards.

      The hipped roof, rear, and side elevations are clad in corrugated iron a means of fire protection that was once common in Wellington. There are no windows on the side elevations.

    • Materials close

      Corrugated iron cladding and roofing

      Rusticated weatherboard frontage

      Timber joinery

      Timber frame

    • Setting close

      The setting of these cottages has changed dramatically over time. With the completion of the inner city bypass in 2007, Footscray Avenue became a part of a new arrangement of buildings and streets at the southern end of Cuba Street. This reconfiguration includes Tonks Grove, lined by relocated heritage buildings (also smaller workers cottages), and which meets Footscray Avenue as a T-junction. These buildings create an attractive heritage precinct.

  • close Cultural Value

    These cottages are architecturally significant as they are four identical cottages that represent some of the best preserved 19th century worker’s dwellings left in Te Aro, and are one of the best preserved groups.

    These cottages have significant group values due to their homogeneity of form and as a part of a heritage area. There are no other groups of cottages in the central city that have remained on their original sites, and as such these cottages are a highly important group.

    These cottages were built pre 1900 and are included in the NZAA Central City Archaeological Area R27/270. They are also the only workers cottages in the central city that remain on their original sites. It is likely that archaeological material (domestic, historical) from the late 19th and early 20th century will be present.

    • Aesthetic Value close

      • Architectural

        Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

        These cottages are architecturally significant as they are four identical cottages that represent some of the best preserved 19th century worker’s dwellings left in Te Aro, and are one of the best preserved groups.

      • Group

        Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

        These cottages have significant group values due to their homogeneity of form and as a part of a heritage area. There are no other groups of cottages in the central city that have remained on their original sites, and as such these cottages are a highly important group.

      • Townscape

        Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

        These cottages have considerable townscape appeal and value as part of a highly visible and publicly visited heritage precinct.

    • Historic Value close

      • Association

        Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

        These cottages have had modest individual histories, having been tenanted for much of the time since their construction. They do have an important representative history as the homes of people who worked in the area, and of the early history and development of Wellington.

    • Scientific Value close

      • Archaeological

        Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

        These cottages were built pre 1900 and are included in the NZAA Central City Archaeological Area R27/270. They are also the only workers cottages in the central city that remain on their original sites. It is likely that archaeological material (domestic, historical) from the late 19th and early 20th century will be present.

      • Educational

        Does the item have educational value for what it can demonstrate about aspects of the past?

        These cottages can provide insight into the way that workers in the central city lived in the late 19th and early 20th century.

      • Technological

        Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

        These cottages were constructed in materials and using techniques that were common to the period which is well represented in Wellington.

    • Social Value close

      • Identity/Sense of place/Continuity

        Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

        These cottages have been recognised for their contribution to the city’s heritage places and their retention and restoration has helped them to continue to contribute to the city.

      • Public Esteem

        Is the item held in high public esteem?

        Footscray Avenue is now a visible public space as a result of the building of Tonks Grove from Cuba Street. Their increase prominence and association with the urban motorway mean that they are held in high public esteem.

    • Level of Cultural Heritage Significance close

      • Authentic

        Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

        While No.2 has been damaged by a fire, its heritage values have not been significantly diminished although they are not to extent that they once were. Like the other cottages, prior to the fire, No. 2 retained considerable amounts of original material including joinery, finishes and features. No’s 4-8 have been sympathetically restored and retain this authenticity of materials, craftsmanship, design, and setting.

      • Rare

        Is the item rare, unique, unusual, seminal, influential, or outstanding?

        These cottages have some rarity value as they are the only cottages in the central city that remain on their original sites.

      • Representative

        Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

        These cottages are excellent representatives of small workers dwellings that accompany areas of industry. They have an important representative history for early Wellington and are significant for their homogeneity.

      • Local/Regional/National/International

        Is the item important for any of the above characteristics at a local, regional, national, or international level?

        These cottages as a group are an important part of the city’s heritage. There are no other groups of worker’s cottages in the central city that have remained on their original sites and as such these cottages are highly significant. As a group of homogenous architecturally designed cottages these cottages have important townscape value. They contribute greatly to the Cuba Street heritage area as well as being recognised individually for their heritage merits. The cottages have important representative historic values for early Wellington and are of archaeological and educational value in conjunction with this.

    • Local / Regional / National / International Importance close
  • close Site Detail

    • District Plan Number

      16/ 122

    • Legal Description

      4-8 – Pt Sec 2 SO 37288, Sec 2 SO 417263, 2 – Pt Sec 99 Town of Wellington (Note: WCC encumbrance on title)

    • Heritage New Zealand Listed

      2/ Historic Place 7034

    • Archaeological Site

      NZAA Central City Archaeological Area R27/270

    • Current Uses

      Residential

    • Former Uses

      Residential

    • Has building been funded

      No

    • Funding Amount

      Not applicable

    • Earthquake Prone Status

      Outside Earthquake Prone Policy

  • close Additional Information

Last updated: 7/12/2016 11:04:29 p.m.