This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1993. The following text is from the original Recommendation for Registration considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. Baches were built at Taylor's Mistake and Boulder Bay during the early twentieth century on the 'Queen's Chain' of foreshore. The earliest baches were constructed in the late 1890s and around the turn of the century bach holders began to cut the Pilgrim's Way, a three kilometre track from Taylor's Mistake to Boulder Bay. By 1911 there were thirty baches in Taylor's Mistake and Boulder Bay, most of them cave dwellings. The first hut in Rotten row appeared in 1913, built by a blacksmith, and by 1920 another dozen or so baches had appeared. The busiest building period seems to have been the 1920s and 1930s, when more baches were built and most of the older places were substantially rebuilt and enlarged. The baches built at Taylor's Mistake and Boulder Bay were almost all used as holiday homes by Christchurch families, who spent their summers at the Mistake or the Bay. Most bach owning families seemed to have been lower middle class or skilled working people, making use of the small surplus income such families began to enjoy during the early twentieth century and taking advantage also of the tramway system and later the motor car. Rotten Row is a row of thirteen baches, constructed of a variety of cheap building materials, and which stretches from the car park to the strangely shaped rock known as The Crocodile. Most of these baches have been in place since the 1920s.
Location
List Entry Information
Overview
Detailed List Entry
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Area
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
7267
Date Entered
10th October 1995
Date of Effect
10th October 1995
City/District Council
Christchurch City
Region
Canterbury Region
Extent of List Entry
Extent includes part of the land described as Legal Road, Canterbury Land District and the thirteen buildings known as Rotten Row Baches at 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 Rotten Row thereon.
Legal description
Legal Road, Canterbury Land District
Location Description
The area comprises the row of thirteen baches stretching from the car park to the rock known as ‘the Crocodile’. The individual baches included in the historic area are numbers 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 (Rotten Row).
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