The house at 18 Petticoat Lane is one of a group of bungalow cottages built in 1936-37 at Mangaore Village for workers at the Mangahao Hydroelectric Power Station. It has historical heritage value for its relationship to the significant Mangahao power scheme, which, supplying Wellington, Horowhenua, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa, was the first of many large hydro power stations to be built in New Zealand under a Government-resourced plan to provide a national electricity supply. It also has some architectural importance as an example of worker cottages constructed by the Public Works Department.

The beginning of a permanent settlement at Mangaore dates to 1919 when construction of the Mangahao hydroelectric power scheme began. In addition to more modest worker housing, the original settlement at Mangaore also included a ‘village’ of permanent five-room bungalows. These were built for engineering staff working on the construction and, later, maintenance of the power plant. On 22 November 1935, the Engineer-in-Chief of the Hydro-Electric Branch wrote the Minister of Public Works, stating: ‘for some time past, the necessity for additional housing accommodation at Mangaore has been…increasingly evident.’ This was followed by a request for ‘monetary authority’ to construct seven cottages and one quarters ‘so that the majority of the employees [may] be housed on the site.’ The proposal received approval on 30 November and a request for tenders was issued in February 1936; the contract was subsequently awarded to H. E. Townshend Ltd of Palmerston North.

A desire to ‘build as many new cottages as possible on the available land which can be serviced by the present sewerage system’ severely limited the siting of these additions. A 1923 site plan casts light on the challenges of building within the existing village. Three parallel streambeds ran across Mangaore, two forming the north-western and south-eastern boundaries and one cutting across its middle. A large recreation reserve occupied the village centre and most of the sections fronted onto the reserve. Creative solutions emerged to fit eight new buildings into the village. Two vacant rectangular sections on the south-western side of the reserve were reapportioned into five irregularly shaped sections, a drive, and a plot for a five-stall garage. Across the road, two sections were carved from the recreation reserve. Finally, an eighth section was wedged between the existing bungalows at what is now 10 and 12 Blackwood Drive.

The constricted sections and the existing bungalows shaped the design of the new cottages. Except for the hip-roofed house on Section 19, which was an entirely different design, the overall footprint was approximately the same size as the earlier bungalows. Their facades were organized in a similar way with a front-facing gable roof and an inset porch, although this feature received simplified trim. Indeed, during construction, the windows were altered from ‘plain casements’ to casement-fanlight combinations to maintain consistency with the earlier bungalows. The interior arrangement of rooms remained generally similar with the major deviations being the movement of the washhouse from the outbuilding into the lean-to and the full separation of the kitchen from what became a standalone dining room.

The eight new dwellings were completed by January 1937. The houses at Mangaore were owned by a succession of government entities until sold off in the mid-1990s as part of the privatisation of New Zealand’s electricity sector. The house at 18 Petticoat Lane appears to be in good condition, to have no significant changes, and retains its original outbuilding.