Cottage

222 Rutherford Street, NELSON

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The cottage at 222 Rutherford Street, one of a group of six houses constructed in 1886-87, has historic significance as a representation of the type of dwellings built for the working class rental market in the late nineteenth century. It retains a good level of architectural integrity and makes a valuable contribution to the historic streetscape of central Nelson alongside the other five cottages. Located in Te Tau Ihu, the top of the South Island, the Nelson region has a lengthy history of Māori occupation, with many iwi settling there and later moving on, often after being displaced by new arrivals. The area that comprises what is now Nelson city was known as Whakatū. It was one of the sites chosen for Pākehā settlement by commercial immigration firm the New Zealand Company and the first migrants arrived in 1842. Bricklayer and builder William Dear (1845-1915) came to Nelson in 1882, having first migrated to Wellington from England in 1874. After working as a contractor he engaged in his own speculative building projects, purchasing town acre 659 from lawyer and mayor of Nelson Charles Fell in 1887 and building six cottages on it intended for the rental market. The first, a brick cottage, was built in early 1886, prior to the land purchase, and may have been briefly occupied by Dear and his family. Dear commenced building another five (timber) cottages on the section by December 1886, prompting a report in a local newspaper that ‘the greatly improved appearance of Waimea Street [Rutherford Street]…is to a large extent owing to the enterprise of Mr W. Dear, who seems to be always engaged in putting up new houses.’ Dear’s entrepreneurial spirit was not, however, matched by financial capability - he seriously overreached himself with the cottages and was bankrupted in 1887, losing them to mortgage holders. The cottages had a range of predominately working class occupants from this point, such as labourers, tradesmen and farm workers, as well as single women and widows. They were collectively known as ‘Dear’s Cottages’ from construction and the name has endured into the twenty-first century. All six buildings were typical working class box cottages and had five rooms: a sitting room and bedroom in the front separated by a central hallway heading to the kitchen, and two bedrooms at the back. The timber cottages were clad in rusticated weatherboards, and had a gable roof with brick chimney; the central four-panel front door with transom window was flanked by two double-hung sash windows. Each had a simple verandah on the back elevation, which mirrored the front in the door and window treatment. They presented a highly uniform street front in their early years before owners started making changes. A front verandah was added to no. 222 at an unknown date. This is a sympathetic addition and the cottage still possesses original features, including the front door and windows.

Cottage, 222 Rutherford Street, Nelson | Heritage New Zealand
Cottage, 222 Rutherford Street, Nelson (then Waimea Street) with the six cottages built by William Dear, including no.222 third from left. Credit: Waimea St, Nelson, Gr 2 girls. Photographer: Henry Brusewitz. Nelson Provincial Museum Collection: C2820 | Nelson Provincial Museum

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

5158

Date Entered

2nd February 1990

Date of Effect

2nd February 1990

City/District Council

Nelson City

Region

Nelson Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Pt Sec 659 CITY of Nelson (RT NL44/108), Nelson Land District and the building known as Cottage thereon. Refer to the extent map tabled at the Board meeting on 27 June 2019.

Legal description

Pt Sec 659 CITY of Nelson (RT NL44/108), Nelson Land District

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