Early history of the site
Prior to European colonisation, the site formed part of a headland overlooking Waiwhakaata or Waiatarau (later known as Freemans’s Bay) to the east and Kotakerehaea (St Mary’s Bay) to the west. In the early eighteenth century, a large pa known as Te To was located at the northeastern end of the headland, held by Te Waiohua. Following the conquest of the area by Te Taou hapu of Ngati Whatua, the pa was associated with the rangatira Waitaheke.
After the establishment of Auckland as a colonial settlement, the site formed part of a property of 42 acres obtained as a Crown Grant by William Graham in 1844. In 1851, the property was bought by a prominent local body politician James O’Neill (1819-?1902), who erected a timber house on the property which he named Clanaboy. The estate was soon purchased by Bishop Jean Baptiste Francois Pompallier (1801-71) as the nucleus of a headquarters complex for the Catholic faith in the Auckland Diocese.
Early Catholic use of the Bishop’s House site (1852-1870)
Bishop Pompallier is said to have occupied O’Neill’s house from December 1852. Pompallier is regarded as the founder of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, having arrived in this country in 1838 as the first vicar apostolic of Western Oceania. He was present at the first signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and established a number of mission stations in the North and South Islands. In 1848, the New Zealand mission was separated into two administrations, with Pompallier taking on leadership of the northern diocese as Bishop of Auckland. His responsibilities encompassed care for both indigenous converts and new settlers, and covered the northern half of the North Island and the Kermadec Islands.
In August 1854, the bishop lent his residence - renamed St Anne’s - to the Sisters of Mercy for use as a school for girls of Maori and mixed-race parentage. Led by Sister Mary Cecilia Maher (1799-1878), the Sisters of Mercy had been the first canonically consecrated religious women to become established in New Zealand (1850), and are considered to have been an important influence in early colonial Auckland, especially in the fields of education and social work. By 1855, a convent and girls’ school had been built for the Sisters immediately behind the house. In 1858, the Church of the Immaculate Conception was also constructed on associated land as the first suburban Catholic church in Auckland.
The Sisters of Mercy moved to a larger convent and boarding school in New Street in 1862. Bishop Pompallier subsequently established a new group - or ‘congregation’ - of nuns, the Sisters of the Holy Family, who took over the education of Maori girls. Headed by his niece Mother Baptiste, they were housed in facilities that included a new convent and the Nazareth Institute for Maori boarders, again immediately to the rear of his house. The small group of members included Sister Mary Joseph Aubert (1835-1926), who had arrived in New Zealand in 1860 and was to become the first person in New Zealand to be recommended for canonisation by the Catholic Church. They also encompassed the first Maori nuns in New Zealand, Sisters Peata and Ateraita, who had previously been with the Sisters of Mercy.
In 1863, Pompallier sold off twenty acres of the broader property, leaving an enclave of four acres bounded by Green Street, St Marys Road and St Francis de Sales Street. He is said to have subsequently lived mainly at the residence, before departing New Zealand with Mother Baptiste in 1868. Sister Mary Joseph Aubert subsequently attempted to keep the Institute open, although the number of Maori children attending had declined as a result of the Waikato War (1863-4). After Pompallier’s resignation as Bishop in 1869, the Congregation of the Holy Family ceased to officially exist.
Private ownership (1870-3)
In 1870, the Diocese sold the current site and the wider property to John Bennett, a businessman with property and goldmining interests in Thames. Bennett lived with his family at Pompallier’s former residence prior to his bankruptcy in June. The following month, a large fire consumed a nearby dwelling that Bennett’s brother had evidently created by moving and adding to an earlier structure on the site. Pompallier’s residence was subsequently occupied by E.L. Bucholz, Auckland’s main importer of French and German wines, and also the German consul. In 1871, the property was again offered for sale. At this time, the residence contained twelve rooms, and was associated with outbuildings, a coach house and stables. The Church of the Immaculate Conception was still on the site at this time. It may have been removed soon after.
Re-purchase for use as the Bishop’s House (1873-93)
The land was re-purchased by Pompallier’s successor Bishop Thomas William Croke (1822/3?-1902) in 1873. Bishop Croke moved into the residence, re-establishing it as the Bishop’s House or Bishop’s Palace. A small timber building that survived until recently on the site may have been erected at this time, possibly as a coach house or stabling. From 1879 to 1881 the main house was occupied by Croke’s successor, Archbishop Walter Bishop Steins (1810-81). After Steins departed, there was a hiatus until the tenureship of a Benedictine monk from St Augustine’s monastery in Ramsgate, Kent - Bishop John Edmund Luck (1840-96). Luck’s arrival in November 1882 brought a lengthy period of stable, careful and constructive leadership enabling the resolution of administrative problems that had dogged the diocese since the 1850s. While Luck is remembered for his promotion of Catholic education and the introduction of several new religious orders into the diocese, more tangible monuments included the construction of numerous religious buildings in the Diocese. Plans for a new Bishop’s House formed part of this process.
Construction of the current Bishop’s House (1893-4)
In 1891-2 Bishop Luck visited Europe where he collected over ₤4,000, primarily for the construction of a new residence. Contributors included numerous religious leaders, including the Archbishops of Westminster, Dublin, New York, Boston, Toronto and Cashel (the latter being Dr Croke, the former Bishop of Auckland). Benefactors amongst the laity included the Emperor of Austria and the Lord Mayor of London.
While in Europe, Bishop Luck commissioned architectural plans for a new residence, which were brought back with him on his return. These were prepared by the notable British firm of Pugin and Pugin, who principally designed ecclesiastical buildings and worked almost exclusively for the Catholic Church. The firm continued the practice of the influential British architect and Catholic convert, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52), a key promoter of Gothic Revival design in early nineteenth-century Britain through his extensive writings and architectural works. Gothic Revival harked back to the styles of the medieval period, a time when the church was a powerful influence in European society.
As part of the preparations for rebuilding, most or all of the earlier timber residence was moved to a new location on St Marys Road. An imposing brick structure was erected with a slate roof and stone dressings. This was connected to a pre-existing kitchen on the site, which is of uncertain origins but may have formed a remnant part of the earlier house. The new residence was two storeys in height, with a basement and an attic. Like the earlier Bishop’s House, the building incorporated an H-plan layout. Of Gothic Revival style, it was simple in form and designed to its suburban setting, having verandahs on two fronts. In accordance with A.W.N. Pugin’s principles, it expressed its function through the form of the building and also exhibited the unadorned use of materials in its external appearance.
The design was by Peter Paul Pugin (younger son of A.W.N. Pugin), who had been educated at the Ramsgate Benedictine school during the period when Bishop Luck and his brother Francis Augustine Luck were monks and teachers there. Peter Paul Pugin was present at Luck’s consecration as Bishop of Auckland in 1882, and their friendship is said to have led to the firm of Pugin and Pugin being selected as architects. There were also other strong connections between the two families. Bishop Luck had moved to Ramsgate as a child when his father, Alfred Luck, bought The Grange, which had been constructed by A.W.N. Pugin as the latter’s own home in 1843-4. Luck senior subsequently built a monastery for the Benedictine community that from 1856 had occupied the adjoining St Augustine’s Church (also designed and built by A.W.N Pugin, and the building in which he was buried). By the 1890s, Peter Paul Pugin was a notable architect in his own right, having designed structures such as St David’s Church, Cardiff (1884-7) and St Joseph’s Church, Swansea (1888), now both cathedrals.
The successful tenderer for the Bishop’s House contract, worth ₤3,000, was Antonio Martin. The son of a Portuguese migrant, Martin had previously worked as a builder in Auckland and Melbourne. He defaulted part way through the contract due to bankruptcy. The work was evidently concluded by the initial sub-contractors for the timber and carpentry, the Kauri Timber Company, under the guidance of the supervising architect Thomas Mahoney. Mahoney was a notable Auckland architect who had been reponsible for important buildings in the city, including many of the structures instigated by Bishop Luck. These included the Church and Presbytery of St Benedict in Newton (1887-8), the Church of Our Lady of the Asumption in Onehunga (1887-9), and St Patrick’s Presbytery on Wyndham Street (1888) - which Bishop Luck occupied while his new residence was being erected. Created as a Melbourne-based syndicate in 1888, the Kauri Timber Company was the largest industrial combination to operate in the Auckland province in the nineteenth century.
Construction work took just under a year to complete. Bishop Luck laid the foundation stone for the building in May 1893 and took possession on Easter Sunday, 1894. A contemporary description refers to the structure as ‘Late Gothic’ in style. It has similarities with The Grange, home to both A.W.N. Pugin and, later, Bishop Luck’s family. In particular, its rear (west) elevation is strongly comparable, the main body incorporating a large crenelated tower that rises to a greater height than the rest of the structure. Parallels extend to the adoption of numerous Gothic-traceried windows on this elevation, emphasised through the use of stone dressings. In comparison, the front (east) elevation holds stronger similarities to the former Bishop’s House, with two prominent gabled wings flanking a central verandah. In this sense, the design can be seen as a fusion of influences from A.W.N. Pugin and Bishop Luck’s own home, and the structure occupied by Bishop Pompallier. In the same year that construction was started (1893), Peter Paul Pugin also undertook work on The Grange. He additionally designed St Joseph’s Chapel in St Augustine’s Church, and later went on to create a wing for the associated monastery.
The combination of European and New Zealand influences extended to the building’s construction materials. The building’s string-courses and ornamental eaves were erected of ‘Matamata stone’ (Hinuera Ignimbrite), the first experimental use of Hinuera stone in New Zealand. Slates and some other materials were imported. The relatively unadorned external finish contrasted with the comparatively opulent nature of the interior. Tiles on the floors of the verandahs, hall and corridors came from Marseilles, France. The floor of the centrally located reception room had a handsome border of parquetry in New Zealand woods, as did the Chapel - both borders being the work of Bishop Luck’s brother, Father Augustine Luck. The ornate marble altar of the Chapel was one of the most elaborate in New Zealand. Four stone tracery windows lit the Chapel. A library on the south side of the ground floor housed books that included some belonging to the late Bishop Pompallier.
The interior was not only ornate, but also technologically up-to-date. Parts of the building were lit by gas burners, fitted with patent electrical mechanisms for lighting and extinguishing the flame at each alternate pull of an attached chain. These had been obtained by Bishop Luck while travelling through the United States of America, and were believed to be the only example of their kind in the Australasian colonies. The secretary’s room on the ground floor was ‘fitted with every convenience for the transaction of business’. A fine carved ceiling with handsome cornice was a feature of the conference room on the first floor immediately above the library. The remainder of this storey contained bedrooms, which included the Bishop’s room. A large dormitory in the attic provided sleeping accommodation in times of ‘retreats’, when a large number of clergy had to be provided for. A promenade on the roof and an additional lookout on the tower provided extensive views across the harbour. It is understood that Luck observed activity from these vantage points using a Victorian naval telescope.
Within the grounds, an earlier circular carriageway associated with the former Bishop’s House was evidently retained. Trees were confined to areas on either side of this approach. Croquet or tennis lawns may have already been in place on the site of the former Church of the Immaculate Conception beside Green Street: at a garden party held in the grounds in January 1894, entertainments included lawn tennis, croquet and various other games.
The new residence was occupied only briefly by Bishop Luck before his death in January 1896. His successor, George Michael Lenihan (1858-1910), was to oversee an increase in the number of parishes from 20 to 34 between 1900 and 1910, and a rebuilding of the northern mission among Maori. In 1901 Lenihan was joined at Bishop’s House by the Dominican priest, Father Benedict (Alfred Tickell 1844-1905), who served until his death in 1905 as a companion and missioner for the Bishop. Changes at about this time included the addition of an upper storey verandah on the main elevation, and the enclosure of the lower verandah.
Subsequent use and modifications
Lenihan’s early death in 1910 saw the appointment of Henry William Cleary (1859-1929) Dunedin-based editor of the Catholic weekly the New Zealand Tablet, as Bishop of Auckland. Upon his return from three months chaplaincy work in the Flanders trenches during the winter of 1916-17, Bishop Cleary founded a rival Catholic paper, The Month, a reaction against what Cleary perceived as The Tablet’s contribution to increasingly divisive relations between Catholics and Protestants. The Month later grew into Zealandia. Both publications were written and edited at Bishop’s House. In 1919, in recognition of his war service and personal sacrifices during the 1918 influenza epidemic, Bishop Cleary was awarded the Order of the British Empire. The steady increase in Auckland’s Catholic population necessitated the appointment of coadjutor bishop, James Liston, in 1920. Bishop’s House was the venue of the first reported meeting of the Catholic Student’s Guild, forerunner of the University Catholic Society, presided over by Liston on 29 October 1922. Cleary is remembered for his success in reducing sectarian tensions during the difficult years following the Irish Easter uprising in 1916 and into the 1920s following negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He is also remembered for taking steps to bring the Catholic Church firmly into the mainstream of New Zealand life.
Changes to the residence during Bishop Cleary’s occupation included the extension of the attic library (1924); alterations to the kitchen and laundry in the timber section of the building (1925); an extension of the strong room in the main building (1926); and the closing in of a north verandah and other minor modifications (1928). In 1926, the lawns adjoining Green Street were occupied by the Ponsonby Croquet Club.
Bishop Liston’s 40-year residency at Bishop’s House, from 1929 until 1970, has been the longest to date. New Zealand-born Liston had graduated from Holy Cross College Dublin with a doctorate of divinity in 1903 and was ordained into the priesthood the following year. The next 16 years were spent teaching theology at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, the national seminary established by Dunedin’s Bishop Michael Verdon in 1901. Liston was appointed rector of the College in 1910. In 1922, less than two years after appointment as coadjutor Bishop of Auckland, he was prosecuted by William Massey’s government for allegedly making seditious utterances during a St Patrick’s night address in the Auckland Town Hall. After a two-day trial in Auckland’s Supreme Court in mid-May 1922, Liston was acquitted by an all-Protestant jury. During the 1930s Liston revitalised the diocese and hosted the 1938 centennial celebrations of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. In 1954 he was given the honorary title ‘archbishop’ for his services to the church. Upon his retirement in 1970, Bishop Liston moved from Bishop’s House to the chaplain’s quarters at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Epsom where he died aged 95 in 1976.
After Archbishop Liston’s retirement, Bishop Reginald John Delargey became Bishop of Auckland from 1970 until 1974. Bishop Delargey brought great change to the diocese following Vatican II. Bishop John Mackey was subsequently appointed head of the Auckland Diocese in 1974, an office he held for 10 years. This was followed by Bishops Denis Browne from 1983; and Patrick Dunn in 1994. During Bishop Dunne’s episcopacy the Bishop’s House was enlarged by the addition of a single-storey cafeteria and connected to a new Pompallier Diocesan Centre, erected to meet the growing needs of the diocese. Connected by glazed links to the north and western sides of the Bishop’s House, the Centre consisted of a large single-storey structure of sympathetic design to house administrative offices, the Diocesan archive and other functions. It was formally opened in December 1989. Its construction involved removing a study erected in 1970 as well as more extensive modiifications in the northern part of the grounds.
Following its creation, rooms on the ground floor of the Bishop’s House other than the Chapel and housekeeper’s quarters in the former kitchen became meeting rooms, but the building otherwise continues its original function as the residence of the Bishop.
