Erected by the early 1870s, Whitby Lodge is one of few surviving colonial dwellings in Auckland constructed of basalt. The structure is located in Parnell, a separate settlement to the south of Auckland during the nineteenth century and a centre of Anglican administration in New Zealand. The building was erected on land that had previously formed part of the Hulme Court estate. Its construction is probably linked with Parnell's early role as a desirable pastoral settlement on the fringes of urban Auckland.

Whitby Lodge and Hulme Court

Created soon after the foundation of Auckland as colonial capital of New Zealand in 1840, the Hulme Court estate was a high-status landholding, occupied successively during the 1840s and 1850s by future premier Sir Frederick Whitaker (1812-1891), Bishop George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878), commander of the British forces Colonel William Hulme (1788-1855), and the colonial governor Thomas Gore Browne (1807-1887). Effectively used as a temporary Government House during Gore Bowne's stay in 1855, the main residence was constructed in 1843 to a symmetrical Regency-influenced design with basalt walls and a slate roof. The estate was put up for sale in October 1856, almost a year after Colonel Hulme's death. At this time it was described as consisting of a large and commodious stone-built dwelling with gardens, orchard and lawn comprising 4¾ acres, all within a few minutes walk of the city. The property's extended frontages to what are now Parnell Road and St George's Bay Road presented advantages for future subdivision for disposal as building lots in a 'most favoured locality for suburban dwellings of a respectable class'. The property did not find a buyer at this time, however, as the Auckland economy was in a depressed state.

By the early 1860s, economic stagnation been replaced by a general buoyancy as Auckland benefited from military expenditure before and during the Third New Zealand - or Waikato - War (1863-1864). Encouraged by the financial upturn, William Aitken and Thomas Russell purchased Hulme Court Estate in October 1862. Sale of sections commenced at the beginning of May 1863. The site now occupied by Whitby Lodge - on part lot 4 adjoining Parnell Road - was purchased by George Fraser (dates of birth and death unknown), an accountant, on 23 April 1864 for ₤176. It was one of at least four sites he bought from the estate in the 1860s and 1870s. Little is currently known about Fraser, other than that he later became an estate agent and went bankrupt in 1888.

Construction of Whitby Lodge

Considerable uncertainty exists about whether a building already existed on the site of Fraser's purchase. Anecdotal accounts have suggested that the current building was erected as early as 1848 or 1852, and that it was used as an office by the private secretary of Sir Francis Dillon Bell (1822-1898) - a nationally prominent public administrator and politician - who lived in Hulme Court in the late 1850s and 1860s. John Kinder's 'Freehand Map and Plan of Auckland' of circa 1858 may show a building on or close to the site, but remains inconclusive. No buildings other than the main dwelling at Hulme Court are mentioned in the October 1856 notice advertising the sale of the Hulme Court Estate, and the cost of Fraser's purchase of the land is not such as to indicate the presence of a pre-existing building on the site, particularly one built of stone. Indeed, the property appears inexpensive compared to adjoining sections sold at the same time.

It is possible that Fraser erected a building on the site at the time of his purchase in 1864, or improved a building already under construction. He raised a ₤500 mortgage against the security of the land and 'buildings thereon erected', conditional on the buildings being insured for ₤400. By 1869, he owned a dwelling on the site, one of two houses respectively fronting Parnell and St George's Bay Roads, worth ₤360 and ₤350 each. The more expensive - probably that on Parnell Road - was noted as being occupied by Fraser himself.

In the early 1870s, Fraser increased the value of his holdings, with his property on Parnell Road being worth ₤738 by July 1873, double that of 1869. At this time, his residence was known as Beaufort House, and was described as having 'Grounds and Co with Stable and Orchard'. The grounds may have encompassed an adjoining lot, formally purchased by Fraser in February 1874 for ₤130. Some elements of the current building, such as its broad eaves and decorative eave brackets, appear more indicative of a date in the 1870s than the early 1860s. Combined with evidence about the property's increase in value, this may indicate that either a pre-existing building was modified at this time, or that the current stone building replaced an earlier timber structure on the site.

Observations in the late 1960s or early 1970s that existing internal studs are not fixed to the stone walls, and that kauri beams span the walls and carry the roof, have given rise to the suggestion that the building may originally have been constructed as a timber dwelling and clad with stone at a later date. An alternative possibility is that a stone structure has been modified by the addition of a later roof, which has been provided with additional supporting studs. Basalt construction was more commonplace in Auckland prior to the mid 1860s than in subsequent decades. Other basalt houses were erected in Parnell in the late 1850s and early to mid 1860s as military tensions in the Waikato grew. Whether constructed in the 1870s or before, the building's appearance can be seen to broadly mirror the architecture of the adjacent Hulme Court, with the reflected glory that this brought its occupant and owner.

To date, the earliest positive reference to a stone building on the site is the notice of a mortgagee sale in 1888, which gives the legal description of the property, and refers to the 'stone house thereon'. Fraser had overstretched himself and was bankrupted during the economic slump of the late 1880s. He was working as an estate agent in 1886 when he borrowed against his other properties, only to lose all to bankruptcy late in 1888 following the collapse of Auckland property prices.

Subsequent history

Following the mortgagee sale, the house was bought by Margaret Anderson in January 1889. Fraser had taken out an ₤800 mortgage from Hugh Falconer Anderson (1829-1906) owner of a substantial ship chandlery, from moneys belonging to Anderson's wife Margaret 'for her sole and separate use'. Captain Anderson had been one of the founders of the Northern Steamship Company - established in 1881 - which initially serviced coastal towns in the northern half of the North Island. By 1901, he was Chairman of the company, overseeing a fleet of 28 steamships.

Margaret Anderson died soon after purchasing the property, bequeathing it to her daughter Mary. Captain Anderson occupied the house for several years in the early to mid 1890s. A two-storey timber addition at the rear of the house is believed to date from this period, creating a grander dwelling. From 1896 the house had a new tenant, Alex Thompson, before Mary Anderson sold the house in 1903 to Margaret and Helen Keir, described as 'spinsters'. Subsequent owners included railway employee Denis O'Leary in 1911, and engine driver Robert Carroll in 1930.

At the time of Carroll's purchase, the property was described as a stone and wooden dwelling with usual conveniences and a concrete motor garage. It was onsold to Henry and William Early as tenants in common in 1934, by which time the building may have been in two flats. A survey plan prepared in 1938, shows what may be a porch over a doorway in the southern wall of the stone building, perhaps an entrance to a second flat. In 1951, 'spinster' Louisa Early - who had inherited the property from Henry and William - sold the building (still in two flats) to John and Ethel Good, at which time the structure appears to have been known as Whitby Lodge. By 1959 the concrete garage had been demolished and a timber lean-to garage constructed against the south wall.

In 1965 the couple's son, also John Good, and his wife Lexie became the owners, selling in 1978 to the Cook Islands Government. The building was occupied by the Consulate General as an Embassy from 1978 until 1 December 1994 during which time the most recent addition was made to the southeast corner of the building and a flat established in the basement. New Zealand's Pacific Island population had increased rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s as people immigrated in pursuit of better educational and employment opportunities. The 1970s were the major period of immigration from Rarotonga, the Cook Islands' main population centre. Completion of the Rarotonga International Airport in 1973 opened the way for thousands of emigrants. In 1971 there were 7,389 Cook Islanders living in New Zealand; by 1976 this had leapt to 12,223. After this, migration continued, but at a slower rate. Rarotongans, in particular, settled predominantly in Auckland, in inner-city suburbs where rental properties were comparatively inexpensive.

The property changed hands several times in 1995 and 1996, and is currently in office use.


Comparisons

Whitby Lodge is one of relatively few stone houses constructed in nineteenth-century Auckland. Most were built in Parnell. An early stone house survives in Mt Eden, the Coldicutt House (NZHPT Registration # 2606, Category II historic place), said to have been built between 1845 and 1853 by settler William Coldicutt. Two semi-detached cottages survive at 30-32 Airedale Street in Auckland's CBD (NZHPT Registration # 7089, Category I historic place), construction of the earliest of which may have commenced in circa 1857. Many of Parnell's stone houses were commissioned by Bishop Selwyn as part of the developing centre for the Anglican Church and/or were constructed by local stonemason Benjamin Strange (1803 - 1882). Apart from Hulme Court (1843), these include Kinder House (NZHPT Registration # 110, Category I historic place), constructed on the corner of Ayr Street and Parnell Road between 1856 and 1858; the house at 4 Takutai Street (NZHPT Registration # 2638, Category II historic place), which was constructed in 1859; and the house (former Deanery) at 17 St Stephens Avenue, which was completed in July 1859. The stone lower storey of Selwyn Court (NZHPT Registration # 23, Category I historic place) was also constructed by Strange, in 1863. In addition to constructing buildings for Bishop Selwyn, Strange built himself a semidetached house, today known as the Stonemason's House, in Falcon Street in the mid 1860s.

Auckland has few houses that might be described as of the Regency style. The most often-cited example is Hulme Court. Another might be Franklynne at 337 Massey Road, Mangere East (NZHPT registration # 685, Category II historic place), a brick building dating from 1853.