House

• 1901
• Building Constuction
• 1981
• 10 Farm Road, dwelling additions and alterations – laundry (00058:1323:C55758)

• 1901
• Walter and Emily Platt
• 1971
• Anthony and Ianthe Taylor
• 1978
• Alan and Gillian Jones

Not assessed

The house at 10 Farm Road is one of a row of single storey villas. It stands close to the road with several mature Ti Kouka in the garden. It has a gate surmounted by a large supine lion on the left, which gives the place its colloquial name of ‘lion house’. There is a garage on the right. The house is a single storey villa with a double gable roof form. There is a splayed bay window to each gable, with moulded panels below the double hung window and small attached columns running between them. Between the bays, a central front porch also has a splayed form. The porch is supported on two round Corinthian columns with cut-out fretwork panels between.

The foundations of the house are concrete, the cladding rusticated weatherboards, and the roof cladding is corrugated iron. The original chimney with corbelled brickwork is still intact, as are the fireplace surrounds inside. Interior spaces are reported to contain superb plasterwork including roses and cornices, with columns in the front hall. Interior linings are lath and plaster.

Rusticated weatherboard

Corrugated iron roofing

Brick chimney

Concrete foundations

Plaster

This house is situated on Farm Road in the suburb if Northland. It is not visible from the main thoroughfare of Northland Road or the Northland shops. 10 Farm Road has modest streetscape values, much enhanced by the local landmark value of the lion.

• 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?

  This house is of architectural value as a representative example of a bay villa built in the first decade of the 20th century. It has some special features, including the ornate decorative work of the bay windows and front porch, and the joinery and plasterwork inside.

• 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?

  This house has group value as one of four houses built for and by the Platt family in Northland. It is also valuable as one of a group of one storey villas on Farm Road.

• 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?

  This house is of modest townscape value for the visual interest that it contributes to the streetscape and as a local landmark due to the mature Ti Kouka in the front garden and the lion statue.

• Association

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

  This house is historically associated with the Platt family. The family business was responsible for decades of very fine interior and exterior plaster work on Wellington’s finest buildings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They also went on to become Northland’s most influential speculative builders, with houses dotted all over the suburb, all exhibiting the same attention to detail and quality plasterwork.

• Archaeological

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

  Risk unknown – Pre 1900 activity associated with area.

• Technological

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

  This house has some technical value for the evidence that it provides on the materials that were in use and the construction methods at the time, in particular as it was the home of tradesmen of some repute.

• 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?

  This house contributes to the sense of place and continuity in Northland due to the retention of its original features and its long standing place on the street.

• 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?

  This house retains a significant amount of authenticity having had few exterior modifications.

• Local Regional National International

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

  This house is of local significance due to its association with the Platt family, who were notable Wellington tradesmen around the turn of the century, as a representative of a bay villa, and for the contribution that it makes to the streetscape in Northland.

• Representative

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

  This house is a good representative of a timber bay villa from the turn of the century. It is constructed in materials, and using techniques, that were common to the period.

Not assessed

• Kelly, Michael, and Chris Cochrane. ‘10 Farm Road’. Unpublished heritage assessment, prepared for the Wellington City Council, 2001.
• 198110 Farm Road, dwelling additions and alterations – laundry
• (00058:1323:C5758)

• Inventory Report

Not available