Early history of the site The northern shores of the Waitemata Harbour are of significance to several iwi, having been explored and occupied since early human arrival in New Zealand. According to oral tradition, the Arawa canoe under Tama Te Kapua investigated the Waitemata. The Tainui canoe also landed at Te Hau Kapua (Torpedo Bay) in present-day Devonport before travelling to its eventual heartland in the Waikato. Recorded archaeological sites at Stanley Point and the west Devonport foreshore include middens and oven stones. Following Ngapuhi incursions in the 1820s, much of the North Shore was depopulated, assisting its purchase by the British Crown after formal colonisation in 1840. A small Maori settlement at Te Hau Kapua remained inhabited until 1863. In the 1840s, a British naval station was established in Devonport. Crown land was subdivided into suburban farms in 1850 and went on sale in 1853. European settlement initially intensified close to wharves and boatbuilding yards on the waterfront, with larger-scale development emerging primarily during the economic boom of the 1870s and 1880s. With the establishment of good quality ferry services to and from Auckland, Devonport became a well-established residential suburb and a significant seaside resort in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was particularly noted for its sporting and other recreational facilities; and also maintained strong military connections, being referred to in 1902 as ‘the warrior warden or protector of Auckland’ for its artillery defences and ongoing naval presence. Civilian and military populations in Devonport intermixed, growing in association with each other. The land on which Philson House was erected is situated on Stanley Point, a narrow headland to the west of Devonport. The site formed part of Allotment 34, for which a Crown Grant was issued in 1851 to James O’Neill, a notable early Auckland businessman and politician who helped found some of the city’s leading institutions including the Bank of New Zealand. In 1887 the allotment, which encompassed all of Stanley Point, was subdivided into large lots by its then owner, David Robert Caldwell. Lot 8, immediately to the south of what became Stanley Point Road, subsequently passed through several short-term owners before a portion of more than four acres was purchased by Robert Logan in 1898. Robert Logan junior (1864-1932) was an important figure in the development of boat construction in New Zealand. He was a founder of the successful local firm R. & A. Logan, later Logan Brothers, who between 1890 and 1910 became boat builders and designers of international renown. From the late 1890s, the business commenced exporting yachts to Australia, South Africa and the Pacific region. Robert’s brother and business partner, Archibald Logan, has been considered ‘the pre-eminent yacht designer in the southern hemisphere’. In addition to his boat-building interests, Robert Logan became increasingly involved in property development. Logan subdivided Lot 8 into several smaller sections in 1900, the same year that a ferry began servicing Stanley Bay. Construction of Philson House (c.1903-4) Philson House was erected on one of the subdivided sections, probably in late 1903 or early 1904. Prominently situated in the centre of Stanley Point, its construction reflects an early stage in the residential development of the immediate area. At the turn of the century, there were few houses in Stanley Point or Stanley Bay other than along Calliope Road - one of the main residential streets in Devonport, occupied chiefly by the families of city men whose homes were ‘entirely removed and differing in aspect from the scene of their labours across the harbour’. Developing extensively in the early 1900s, Stanley Point gained a reputation as one of Devonport’s most desirable suburb, inhabited by members of the wider Auckland business and professional community. Philson House was designed as a high-quality, timber, corner-angle bay villa, suitable as a genteel family residence. It may have been constructed for Robert Logan by his uncle, the builder James M. Logan, immediately prior to the sale of the property in January 1904, or soon afterwards as part of an arrangement with its new owner, the businessman W.H. Worrall. James Martin Logan (c.1843-1916) operated as a builder in Devonport in the early 1900s, erecting several residences on Stanley Point between 1901 and 1907. Like his nephew, he had strong connections with the boat and shipping community - as well as being a builder, he was a ship’s engineer for the Northern Steamship Company, and had also run early steam ferry services to Riverhead and the Kaipara, as well as the first steam service on Lake Rotorua. The design of Philson House was visually elaborate, with a considerable amount of ornamentation. Its one-and-a-half storey layout incorporated a wraparound verandah, a prominent central lantern or belvedere, and pairs of dormer windows in its roofline. The building encompassed numerous decorative elements taken from American ‘Queen Anne’ and ‘Eastlake’ architectural styles. It can be seen to reflect the trend for New Zealand carpenter-architects to increasingly adopt ideas drawn from plan books imported from North America and Australia - where Queen Anne design, in particular, has been considered a reaction to the constraints of ‘academic’ revival styles. Exuberant ornamentation was also supported by the mass-production of wooden components by enterprises such as the Kauri Timber Company, at a time when the timber industry in northern New Zealand was at its height. The corner-angle bay villa form of Philson House facilitated a greater display of ornamentation through its emphasis on two, symmetrically-arranged main elevations. As a late refinement of the corner bay villa form, the corner-angle bay villa was one of several major variants of New Zealand villa design to emerge in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was characterised by incorporating an angled bay window at the main verandah corner, with gabled roof above, creating a more complex visual arrangement. This emphasised the new symmetry that had been introduced by the corner bay villa, which was based on a diagonal axis through the hipped corner rather than centred on the hall and front door in the middle of the building. Later house types, such as the transitional villa and California Bungalow, moved towards more simple and informal design. The visual sophistication and impact of Philson House was reinforced by its distinctive central belvedere. Upwardly projecting towers, surveying and visible from the surrounding landscape, were commonplace in the residences of New Zealand’s elite from the 1870s onwards. Smaller turrets and belvederes can be seen as their equivalents in the villas of the suburban wealthy. A number of houses incorporating such features were erected in Devonport, many said to have been ‘built by seamen’. At Philson House, the belvedere was internally accessed from an attic floor, which contained additional rooms lit by pairs of dormers - also affording views out to sea. The ground floor held the main rooms and service spaces, primarily arranged on either side of a central passage. The property may also have included a separate outbuilding at the rear, possibly a washhouse, from an initial or early stage. Initial occupation and use (1904-6) For much of its early residential life, Philson House was inhabited by Auckland businessmen or professionals and their families, many with connections to notable features of Devonport life - the sea, recreational sport and, to a lesser extent, military activity. The house was initially occupied by a successful crockery importer and retailer, William Henry Worrall (1864-1951), his wife Sarah Ann and five children. Prior to buying the property, W.H. Worrall had run a successful china, glass and earthenware business in Napier, selling goods imported mainly from England, Europe and America. He subsequently operated a similar business in central Auckland. In the 1920s, Worrall began importing bicycles, a business that his descendants continued to run. Like many residents of Devonport, Worrall was a keen cricketer and participated actively in marine activities - including some directly connected with Robert Logan. In 1906, he launched a new motor boat that had been built for him by Logan Brothers. In 1910, another boat created for him by Logan Brothers, called the Kirita, won the Whitney Cup race. Worrall served as a committee member of the New Zealand Power-Boat Association, and later became vice-president of the Auckland Head Centre of the Royal Life-Saving Society. He also had close connections with the commercial maritime industry - his stepfather, Captain Hugh Falconer Anderson, was chairman of the Northern Steamship Company, whose large fleet is said to have been ‘one of the institutions of the country’. During the Worralls’ ownership of Philson House in 1904-6, a grander residence was built for them on adjoining land at 37 Stanley Point Road. A complex series of boundary changes to accommodate access to their proposed home led to the eastern limit of the Philson House property being reduced to its current extent in December 1904. Evidence suggests that the Worralls soon moved to their new residence and that Philson House was briefly occupied - either towards the end of their residency or subsequently - by another individual with maritime connections, Charles Fleming (1859-1926). Fleming was Auckland’s newly-appointed Superintendent of Mercantile Marine, having previously worked in the same role in Dunedin for many years. He subsequently became a member or representative of other organisations linked with seafaring, such as the Sailors’ Home Council and the Shipwreck Relief Society. Occupation by the Philson family (1906-19) From 1906 onwards the property was occupied by longer-term owners, the Philson family, consisting of M. Thomas Philson (1849-1918), Catherine Jane Philson (1862-1909) and their four children. Thomas Philson belonged to a prominent Auckland family, being the eldest son of T. M. Philson, a notable colonial medical practitioner who had held ‘all the important medical administrative posts in Auckland’, and Matilda Philson, who had established an early ‘Old People’s Home’ in the former Lunatic Asylum in the Auckland Domain in the 1860s. Thomas Philson was a retired banker who had managed several branches of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ), including at Whangarei, Russell, and Hastings. He was also a talented sportsman, referred to as one Auckland’s ‘most prominent cricketers’, who undertook administrative roles for a number of sports clubs and community organisations. After the outbreak of the First World War (1914-18), Philson served on the committee of the Auckland branch of the Victoria League, a body that helped ‘foster the bonds of Empire’, and was treasurer during the period when funds were being raised for a New Zealand Wars memorial in central Auckland (List No. 4493; Category 2 historic place). His involvement in this organisation may have been at least partly prompted by the considerable impacts that the First World War had on his immediate family. The Philsons’ eldest son, Wilmett Napier Philson (1886-1915), was well known for his cricket, lacrosse and athletic skills prior to moving to the King Country in 1909. When war was declared in 1914, Wilmett was in the first batch of volunteers in the 16th (Waikato) Regiment which left New Zealand in October 1914. He was one of more than 100 New Zealanders killed on the first day of the Gallipoli campaign, on 25 April 1915 (now remembered as ANZAC Day). According to a newspaper report, he ‘was at the landing on Gallipoli, got over the hill, and then gave his life for the Empire’. Wilmett is commemorated in several war memorials overseas and in New Zealand, including St Augustine’s Memorial Church (List No. 4529; Category 2 historic place), built a short distance from Philson House in 1930. The middle son, Roger Tempest Poad Philson (1888-1963), enlisted in the Navy in 1916. He joined the new Royal Naval Patrol Motor-boat reserve at the nearby Calliope Dock - where improved facilities had been formally declared a naval base in 1909. Roger served as a sub-lieutenant, then Lieutenant in the Royal Navy’s Motor-boat patrol in the North Sea in 1917-18, before returning to New Zealand following the war. He subsequently owned and raced yachts and was an official in Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron races. Geoffrey Hope Philson (1893-1965), the youngest son, enlisted in in the Medical Corps in October 1914 and served in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western front. Acting as a stretcher-bearer, he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field. Geoffrey Philson subsequently competed in a number of sports at both a local and national level, including swimming, tennis, badminton and golf. The only daughter, Edith Philson (c.1896-1919), similarly trained in ambulance work in 1914, and donated money to a hospital ship during the war. After Thomas Philson’s death and the end of the war in 1918, all the surviving children lived at Philson House. However, after Edith’s death in November 1919, the property was sold. Valuation records suggest that few improvements were made to the property during its ownership by the Philson family other than possibly minor alterations at the time of initial purchase in 1906. Subsequent occupation and use The new owners, Gabriel and Constance Ross, lived at the house from January 1920 with their daughters, Kathleen, Joan and Isobel. Alterations may have been undertaken prior to June 1920. Gabriel Roslyn Ross (c.1864-1920) was born in Kent, England and worked for the Northern Steamship Company in New Zealand for over 30 years in various roles, including as superintendent providore. He apparently bought Philson House because ‘the wide outlook of the harbour appealed strongly to one accustomed to a seafaring life’. Gabriel Ross died at home just a few months after the purchase, although Constance Ross (c.1865-1947) and her daughters continued living in the house. In 1924, a four-room self-contained flat was advertised for letting, which may indicate that lodgers were taken in. An undated application by Constance Ross to add a new inside toilet at the rear of the house might also relate to this time. The house was advertised for sale in the late 1920s, just prior to the Depression, as a ‘superior family residence’ that might suit conversion for flats or a nursing home. Constance and daughter Isobel Ross continued to live in the house until the property was sold to William Edney in September 1942. Philson House continued to be a family home throughout the 1940s and 1950, while occupied by William Theodore Edney (c.1893-1963) and his wife Donaldina (1895-1973). Alongside his role as a ‘director’ and ‘secretary’ of various importing businesses, William Edney was also heavily involved in the military sector, as were many other Devonport residents at the time. In 1925, Edney was appointed as a Lieutenant during the establishment of the Auckland Division of the Naval Reserve, having served in the British Navy in the First World War. He was Commander of several subdivisions in the 1930s, taking part in exercises in the Hauraki Gulf. In 1949, a wooden garage was erected close to the east boundary of the property. A year after William Edney’s death in 1963, the residence was sold to L.D. Worthington, a ‘land agent’. Worthington leased the property to D.E. (Evelyn) Barbour, who converted the house into a rest-home for eight to nine people in 1965. Following the Second World War (1939-45), church-run and private homes had begun to emerge for elderly people, often war veterans, and consumer organisations brought about significant changes in services. Barbour was required to install additional bathroom facilities in the house in accordance with the newly introduced Old People’s Homes Regulations. In 1965, the property was thought to be one of just five rest homes in Devonport. By the 1970s, however, New Zealand had one of the highest rates of rest-home residency in the western world. In 1971, the property was transferred briefly to Peter George Hutton, a naval officer, who prepared plans for additions to a supervisor’s flat in the upper storey of the rest home. Changes included the reinstatement of two dormers in the building’s north and west elevations, removed prior to 1961, and the insertion of sliding doors to the verandah at ground floor level. The property was transferred almost immediately to several joint owners that included Frank and Jean Anne Crossley. The 1949 garage was demolished sometime after 1982. The residence, now known as ‘Shalimar Home for the Elderly’, featured in a number of articles in the press in the 1970s, which focused on its architectural appearance, belvedere and Victorian design. In the 1980s, the noted conservation architect Jeremy Salmond highlighted it as an exemplar of corner bay villa design ‘of ornate turreted style’ in an architectural survey of Devonport, and considered it to represent ‘the villa style at its peak of development’. The house was entered on the Devonport Historic Register as a Category III building in 1989. The house continued to operate as a rest home until c. 2000. The property has since been converted back to private residential use.

Context Philson House (Former) is located at Stanley Point, Devonport. Devonport is a marine suburb on Auckland’s North Shore, noted for its well-preserved late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century buildings, and other historic landscape elements. Stanley Point lies in the western part of Devonport and is predominantly residential. It retains a large number of early twentieth-century dwellings, erected at a similar time to Philson House. Other houses in the immediate area identified as having heritage significance for reflecting the residential development of Devonport include dwellings at 18, 27, 37, 37a, 39, 52, 70 and 78 Stanley Point Road; 1-4 First Avenue; and 15a, 15b and 17 Second Avenue. An apartment block a short distance to the south of Philson House (Former), at 45 Stanley Point Road, is also highlighted as reflective of later residential developments in Devonport. Recorded archaeological sites at Stanley Point include middens (NZAA Site Records R11/43, R11/2229) and the offshore wreck of the Gannet, which was originally constructed in 1905 (NZAA Site Record R11/1818). Immediately to the east of Stanley Point is a large naval base forming the headquarters of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Calliope Dock, said to have been the largest dry dock in the Southern Hemisphere when opened in 1888, forms part of this complex. The dock is associated with other elements of historic importance including a pump house. Other places of recognised heritage significance in the Stanley Bay area include St Augustine’s Church (Anglican) (1887 and 1930; List No. 4529, Category 2 historic place); a house at 14 Glen Road (c.1901-2; List No. 4531, Category 2 historic place); Claremont (c.1885; List No. 4528, Category 2 historic place), and the former Inglis House (1929; List No. 4527, Category 2 historic place, both located on Huia Road). Devonport’s more general importance as a well-preserved historic and cultural landscape is reflected by numerous places in the suburb’s commercial centre, and elsewhere, that have been formally recognised through entry on the New Zealand Heritage List / Rārangi Kōrero. These include the Esplanade Hotel (List No. 4481, Category 1 historic place); Victoria Theatre (List No. 7712, Category 1 historic place); former Bank of New Zealand (List No. 4511, Category 2 historic place); former Post Office (List No. 4510, Category 2 historic place); and a number of commemorative monuments including the First World War Memorial (List No. 4515, Category 2 historic place), the Alison Clock (List No. 4513, Category 2 historic place) and the Coronation Sea Wall (List No. 4516, Category 2 historic place). The suburb’s military connections are specifically recognised in fortifications at North Head - Takapuna (List No. 7005, Category 1 historic place) and, further afield, at Fort Takapuna - O Peretu (List No. 86, Category 1 historic place). O Peretu (List No. 7231, wahi tapu area) is a site of ancient historic, cultural and spiritual significance, and is of particular significance to Ngati Paoa. The site The Philson House site is rectangular in plan, and lies on the south side of Stanley Point Road. It contains a substantial timber house towards the front (north) end of the property, with a small front garden and a driveway on the east boundary. A larger rear yard incorporates a narrow, rectangular outbuilding, which adjoins the west perimeter. The front (north) boundary consists of a distinctive timber fence of close pickets of alternating height, the tallest being of ‘acorn’ design and the lowest incorporating small trefoils. The fence is supported by large posts with chamfered corners and elaborate tops. The latter incorporate applied, diamond-shaped detailing of floral design on each main face. House The house consists of a corner-angle bay villa of one-and-a-half storey design. In plan, it contains projecting bays flanking either side of a northeast-facing ‘corner’, which itself contains a small projecting bay window. The building features numerous decorative elements derived from American ‘Queen Anne’ and ‘Eastlake’ styles, such as turned verandah posts, spindlework friezes and fan motifs in gable ends, and a concave-roofed belvedere. The latter is a highly prominent feature. Two tall brick chimneys extend above the building’s complex roofline. The roof is clad with corrugated iron. The north (front) elevation contains a large gabled bay at its west end, which includes a centrally-placed, projecting bay window. A wraparound verandah extends around the rest of the front of the residence, including the projecting corner bay. It then runs down the east side of the building to another large gabled bay containing a similar window to that in the north elevation. The verandah incorporates a large amount of ornamentation, including stained glass windows enclosing either end; elaborately-turned posts; intricate tracery; and a balustrade that incorporates turned balusters of alternating height. The corner bay is surmounted by a gable that retains its finial. The roof contains adjoining twin dormers in its north and west sides: the first of these incorporates a single window that spans both dormer fronts. The gables of these dormers, where visible on the north side, each contain a quatrefoil design. Another pair of dormers, distanced further apart, exists in the south elevation. The belvedere projects some distance above the roof in the centre of the house. Octagonal in plan, it contains a window in each face. Every window has a decorative apron beneath its sill, of curvilinear design. Slender, timber corbels support the projecting eaves of the graceful, concave roof. Internally, the house incorporates large rooms to the east of a central passageway at ground floor level and smaller rooms to the west. Upstairs attic rooms are accessed by a staircase towards the rear of the hall, and are lit by the dormers. The interior space within the belvedere above these rooms measures some 2.74 metres (9 feet) across. Notes taken in 1993 described the building interior as spacious and ornate, containing a 3.66 metre (12 feet) stud height, a very decorative staircase, plaster ceilings, stained glass windows; and decorative fireplaces - including at least one that was tiled. Outbuilding A timber outbuilding at the rear is gabled, and orientated north-south. Rectangular in plan, its west side lies close to the western property boundary. Plans in 1965 indicate that the building measured 6 x 3 metres (20 x 10 feet) at this time, and was utilised as a laundry and outside toilet. In c. 1971, it was additionally used as a workshop. James M. Logan (possible builder)