Early history of the site
The site is located on the lower western slopes of Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), which incorporates the former pa of the eighteenth-century Waihoua chief Kiwi Tamaki. Maungakiekie was part of the broader Auckland Isthmus taken over by Ngati Whatua in the early eighteenth century, preceding colonisation and the founding of Auckland as capital in 1840. Subsequently known as Epsom, the area to the west of Maungakiekie was subdivided following the transfer of the Waitemata-to-Hobson and Waitemata-to-Manukau blocks in 1841 and became renowned for its fertile farmland and large country homes.
The land that later became Gardner Road and Emerald Street was part of an 1847 Crown Grant of approximately 22 hectares, taken up by James Williamson (1814-1888) who later established a substantial residence on his Pah Farm estate nearby. Epsom farmer William Gardner (1829?-1899) bought the 22-hectare block in 1866, having leased it since 1859. In 1887 he subdivided the parcel into a number of large allotments, laying the basis for the creation of Claude, Crescent and Gardner Roads, and Emerald Street. Following Gardner's death, the Emerald Hill subdivision was created on part of the holding in 1904. The land on which the Whittome house was subsequently built was part of a residual area to the east of the Emerald Hill subdivision, and lay within the curtilage of an earlier homestead with associated structures sited to the east.
Purchase of the site by Ada Whittome (1922)
In 1922 Ada Whittome (1891-1977), wife of Frank Whittome (1885?-1965), purchased the corner site on which the couple's family home was constructed three years later. This was located at the junction between New Street (later renamed Emerald Street) and Gardner Road. Manufacturer Frank Whittome was the sole heir of Arthur Whittome (1859?-1916) the co-founder of Whittome, Stevenson and Company whose condiments and pickles enjoyed New Zealand-wide distribution and were exported across the Tasman. Many large residences were constructed in Epsom by prominent Auckland businessmen and industry leaders in the early twentieth century, reinforcing the suburb's reputation as a desirable middle class area. The desirability of South Epsom may have been reinforced by its proximity to Cornwall Park, an amenity gifted to the people of Auckland in 1901 by John Logan Campbell (1817-1912) an early founder of the city.
Frank Whittome had come to New Zealand with his parents Marion (1858?-1935) and Arthur in 1888. Norfolk-born Arthur was evidently engaged in the timber trade, but entered the wholesale pharmaceuticals business upon arrival in the colony. He later established a manufacturing enterprise and went into partnership with Colonel J.P. Stevenson.
Whittome, Stevenson and Company established a condiments factory in Campbell and Ehrenfried's old Domain Brewery building in Newmarket in 1901, a period of developing industrial production in the Auckland province to supply domestic markets. The company's main product, sugar vinegar, was used in many of its foodstuffs which included tomato sauce, Worcester sauce and pickles. Competing against imported products to supply a national market, in 1911 the company moved to attractive purpose-built brick premises in Carlton Gore Road designed by architect Hugh Cresswell Grierson (1886-1953). Whittome senior died in 1916 and was succeeded by son Frank, who may have served in the First World War (1914-18).
Construction of Whittome House (1924-5)
A short while after purchasing the land, work was underway on creating a family home. Plans and specifications for the Whittome House were prepared in September 1924 by Grierson, Aimer and Draffin. The architectural firm had been formed in the early 1920s, and enjoyed particular prominence in the wake of selection of its design for the Auckland War Memorial Museum, construction of which commenced in 1924. The monumental Greek Revival-style landmark overlooking the city was later awarded a Gold Medal by the New Zealand Institute of Architects (1929).
The Arts and Crafts design for the Whittome House was a marked contrast to the Edwardian timber villas predominant in the Gardner Road locality. It also varied from the commercial and civic buildings in the Stripped Classical (and later, Art Deco) style for which Grierson, Aimer and Draffin were known.
In New Zealand, the English Arts and Crafts movement held particular appeal for those who saw themselves as building a new Britain. The years immediately after the First World War (1914-18) were a time of strengthened economic and other ties with Britain, when many in the Dominion looked to England where the Arts and Crafts movement was enjoying a new lease of life in a climate of increasing hostility to European architectural innovation. The Queen Anne Revival and Old English styles popular in the mid to late nineteenth century had become the basis for suburban houses designed by speculative builders in early twentieth-century Britain. After the First World War the derivative form moved upmarket to provide instant respectability for the nouveaux riches.
Colonial architects such as Grierson and Draffin, who had furthered their architectural education at the London Architectural Association before returning following the war, are likely to have been well-placed to design local residences that drew upon an idealised image of English traditional culture.
The contract for Whittome House provided for a six-month construction period and was let on 19 November 1924. Erected partly on the Gardner Road street frontage, the two-storey structure was executed in a buff-coloured brick incorporating clinker and other tints, and was of imposing appearance. It employed small-paned metal-framed windows, and terracotta chimney pots. Penman and Jeffrey Marseilles Pattern tiles, a local product, were used for the roof.
The residence incorporated utility rooms including a laundry directly along the Gardner Road frontage, accentuating the massing and vertical proportions of the south elevation and strongly suggesting English architectural influences. The effect was complimented by a high wall connecting to a freestanding two-storey garage to screen a service court. Access and courtyards associated with the service functions of the house were located towards the southeast end of the property, a private realm strictly segregated from the residence's formal entrance near the southwest corner of the site.
The front entrance, reached from Gardner Road via a small terraced courtyard, was located within a porch recessed within the walls of the main structure. On the north elevation, a single-storey loggia with round arches ran from a generous two-storey bay, eastward across the garden front of the house. Above the loggia was a verandah that may have been enclosed from the outset. Small-paned French casements formed the predominant window style of the house.
In houses constructed in the inter-war years, the Old English theme often flowed into the main interior spaces through the use of panelled wainscoting, beamed ceilings and large fireplaces. Yet in other instances, houses with Arts and Crafts-designed exteriors were given restrained neo-classical or neo-modernistic interiors.
Internally, the major rooms of the Whittome House appear to have been a living room and billiard room (interconnected by sliding doors) and a breakfast room. Living room cupboards had glazed leadlight doors. The fireplace in the billiard room and that in the living room were evidently faced in marble. Upstairs were a master bedroom and children's bedrooms. A maid's room was also part of the design. The halls were panelled with matai. Floors in the hall and main living rooms were of stained and polished timber.
Installation of electrical wiring for lighting and household appliances was still comparatively innovative in the mid 1920s. While much reticulation was undertaken in Epsom streets around this time, use of electricity for domestic purposes was still uncommon due to the high cost per unit. Although a domestic tariff was introduced in December 1924 in an effort to popularise electricity use in anticipation of power from Arapuni, its use in the home remained limited well into the 1920s. The stove installed in the Whittome house ran on gas.
Little is known about builders Methven and Foster, who erected the Whittome House.
Subsequent use and modifications
In 1926, during the onset of the Great Depression, Grierson, Aimer and Draffin designed additions, including a vinegar tower, for Whittome, Stevenson's Newmarket factory. The Whittome's Epsom property was enlarged in 1927 with the addition of part of an adjoining land parcel to the north on Emerald Street. The Carleton Gore Road factory was further altered in 1931 to Draffin's design, the prominent architectural practice having ended around 1930.
Whittome, Stevenson and Company diversified into jam production in 1934, adopting 'Kia Ora' as a brand name. Its plans to use fruit pulp from Australia, spurred James Wattie (1902-1974) to take up the fruit cannery business. The first product packed by J. Watties Canneries Ltd (4,000 kilograms of gooseberry pulp for Whittome, Stevenson) launched what was to become New Zealand's largest food-processing company, the contract having enabled Wattie to raise capital to found the company.
The Whittome residence's brick garage was extended in 1950, work undertaken by building firm A.G. Grinter and Son. In 1963, two years before Frank Whittome's death, Whittome, Stevenson and Company became a subsidiary of the British Cerebos Group. The Gardner Road residence remained the Whittome family home until the death of widow Ada Whittome in 1977. The Grierson-designed condiments factory in Newmarket was demolished in 1978.
A freestanding conservatory structure built within the outdoor living area in 1984 enclosed a pool installed to the north of the loggia. Brick retaining walls, terracing and an off-street parking area were developed at the northern end of the Emerald Street frontage in 1999. By this time the upper level of the garage adjoining Gardner Road had been modified to provide accommodation for family guests. A number of changes are said to have been made to the interior of the house in the decades prior to 2007, the year the kitchen, dining and foyer were incorporated into a single space. The property remains in residential use as a private home.
