Construction Professional
Biography
No biography is currently available for this construction professional
Biography
No biography is currently available for this construction professional
Biography
No biography is currently available for this construction professional
Biography
No biography is currently available for this construction professional
Biography
'Wilson, Francis Gordon', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2000. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5w36/wilson-francis-gordon
Name
Grinter, Albert George
Biography
Albert (Bert) George Grinter (1882-1974) worked as a builder on his own account in the South Island from circa 1910 until 1922 when he set up business in Auckland. By 1945, when it was renamed A.G. Grinter and Son Limited, the firm diversified into the manufacture of joinery to meet its own needs and those of other builders. During the Second World War (1939-45), the company specialised solely in construction.
Grinter undertook a wide range of construction work including schools, churches, hospitals and residential projects including private dwellings and blocks of state housing. In 1925-6 Bert Grinter won a contract for the construction of Stoneways, the Epsom residence of eminent Auckland architect William Gummer. In 1930, Grinter also erected a brick electricity substation for the Auckland Electric Power Board at The Drive in Epsom.
Biography
John Thomas Mair (1876-1959) was born in Invercargill and began his career with the New Zealand Railways on the staff of the Office Engineer, George Troup. In 1906 he travelled to the United States of America where he studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He then worked in the office of George B. Post in New York before travelling to England where he was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He became a Fellow in 1940.
On his return to New Zealand he entered private practice, one of his first buildings being the Presbyterian First Church, Invercargill (1915), a prominent building of Romanesque character. He then practised in Wellington, carrying out largely domestic commissions.
In 1918 he was appointed Inspector of Military Hospitals by the Defence Department, and in 1920 he became architect to the Department of Education. Following the retirement of John Campbell in 1922, Mair was appointed Government Architect, a position which he held until his retirement in 1942. During this period he was responsible for a variety of buildings, including the Courthouse, Hamilton, the Post Office in High Street, Christchurch, Government Life Office and the Departmental Building, both in Wellington, and the Jean Batten Building, Auckland. Such buildings show a departure from tradition, with the emphasis on function, structure and volume as opposed to a stylistic treatment of the building fabric.
A Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, Mair was made a Life Member in 1942. His son John Lindsay Mair also practised as an architect.
Construction Details
Type
Original Construction
Description
Construction of Headquarters
Type
Original Construction
Description
Parade Ground established
Description
Flagpole erected by this year
Type
Refurbishment/renovation
Description
Fire in Headquarters, repairs completed
Description
Rear door addition to Headquarters
Description
Extension to the Headquarters
Description
Phoenix Palm Trees planted
Description
Ventilation installed in the Headquarters
Construction Materials
Reinforced concrete with textured plaster finish
Steel
Rimu (extension floors only)
Plaster board (extension walls and ceiling only)
Historical NarrativeEarly history of the site
The Hobsonville Peninsula is of significance to Te Kawerau a Maki who occupied the site before European arrival. The area has numerous middens around the coastline which was used for its access to the Waitemata Harbour and sources of food. There were major inlets and water sources which were important to the iwi/hapū that occupied the area during fishing and food gathering expeditions. The lands were suitable for the planting of kūmara. Across the harbour channels, to the east and north were the permanent kāinga and pā. The Crown purchased the peninsula from Tairua and Tinana of Ngāti Whatua in 1853.
The RNZAF Headquarters and Parade Ground are situated within the former RNZAF Air Base on Hobsonville Point. The site formed part of Allotment 12 Waipareira Parish for which the Crown grant was issued to David Bruce. Bruce was a Presbyterian minister associated with St Andrews Church on Alten Road, the first Presbyterian Church established in Auckland. In 1891 he subdivided Allotment 12 and the majority of the lots were purchased by two sons of Rice Owen Clark, the founder of the Clark pottery south of Allotment 12 at Limeburners Bay. Rice Owen Clark and his family were the first settlers to move to Hobsonville in 1853. In 1895 Lots 1-6 DP 961 were owned by Henry Clark and Lots 8-13 DP 961 were owned by Rice Owen Clark Junior, expanding the family’s land holding at Hobsonville.
Henry Clark farmed his land until 1925 when the lots were purchased by the government for a land and sea base for the newly established New Zealand Permanent Air Force. Rice Owen Clark Junior died in 1905 and his land passed to his wife Mary Clark. The land was surveyed for subdivision in 1913 and in 1920 Mary sold most of the land to William McGarvey. In 1936 McGarvey owned the majority of the lots except a few which had been purchased by local businessmen. One of these lots was Lot 62, part of the future site of the Headquarters, which was purchased by James Walter Sinton in 1926 and subsequently sold to Hugh Peck in 1930. Peck ran a shop with an attached residence on Lot 62. In 1936 the government purchased most of the land which had been originally held by Clark to expand the neighbouring Air Force Base.
RNZAF
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) was first established as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force (NZPAF) in 1923 as a branch within the military. An air force base was established at Wigram in 1923 and in 1925 the Hobsonville site was chosen for a land and sea base as it was very flat and had frontage onto the Waitemata Harbour. The water access at Hobsonville enabled the NZPAF to use seaplanes intended for naval cooperation. By August 1928 construction was well underway at Hobsonville with a jetty, slipway, hangars, garages, offices and cottages in place by the following year. With the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, government spending was curtailed, including on military installations.
The NZPAF was renamed the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in 1934 following assent from the King. In 1936 it was increasingly evident that a war was imminent and improvements and developments in aircrafts led the government to commission the Cochrane Report to advise on organisational changes to update the Air Force. Following this report, the RNZAF was re-established as a separate branch of the military. Cochrane also recommended an expansion of the air force facilities around the country. New bases were constructed at Whenuapai and Ohakea and later at Woodbourne, and the facilities at Wigram and Hobsonville were greatly expanded.
Hobsonville’s status was changed to an exclusive military base and it became a Repair and Equipment Depot and Seaplane base. In 1936, to accommodate the required changes to the air base, the government purchased multiple lots to the west of the established air base. With the expansion of the base a new building program was embarked on that included the Headquarters to provide for the administration needed to support the base. By 1940 Hobsonville was one of five permanent air bases around the country; the other bases were located at Wigram, Ohakea, Blenheim and Whenuapai.
RNZAF Headquarters and Parade Ground
The peacetime building programme in 1938 recognised the need for the Royal New Zealand Air Force Headquarters to provide for the increased administrative needs of the expanded base. Administrative headquarters were an essential part of the organisation on the major air bases around the country and during 1939 Headquarters buildings were constructed at three Airbases; Wigram, Hobsonville and Ohakea. . The building was constructed on part of the amalgamated lots taken in 1936, at the approximate location of Peck’s shop which had been sold and removed from the site. The design for the Headquarters by John Mair was the same as the Headquarters which was being constructed at Wigram Air Base. The tender to construct the building was given to A.G. Grinter for £5940 in February 1939, with work commencing shortly afterwards. The Headquarters was completed by August 1939 before the outbreak of the Second World War.
As erected the Headquarters was built of reinforced plastered concrete in the Art Deco style with a focus on symmetry and horizontal lines. It was a single story building with a flat roof. The Art Deco architectural style had associations with technology and progress and was used extensively in the expansion of the air bases around the country, as well as in other civic building projects in the 1930s. The style was also identified with airplanes and was often used in the designs of airports worldwide. Through the use of less expensive materials and minimal ornamentation the style was cost effective which may have contributed to its usage.
During the war years the Headquarters was the main administration building on base with offices for the commanding officer and accountant among others, as well as the orderly room, records room and a conference room. A large safe was also kept at the Headquarters. Some minor changes were undertaken during these years, such as converting the door of the pay accounting office into one with a counter and a flap during 1940.
In December 1940 the Parade Ground in front of the Headquarters was being used for car parking and was criticised by the Chief Engineer as unsatisfactory in appearance. The Engineer instructed that it was to be put down in grass and that a car park was to be built nearby. By 1947 the grassed Parade Ground was established opposite the Headquarters, the same arrangement as at Wigram Air Base.
A fire in the Headquarters on 12 August 1947 did not cause any structural damage but did require repairing of interior damages to the women’s bathroom, telephone exchange and some rooms including the stationery room. This work included re-plastering and painting, two new doors and new window frames and sashes for the hallways, as well as replacing glass and linoleum. The repairs were completed by December that year.
By 1950 the Hobsonville base had become an Air Force main training station. The associated increase in personnel meant the Headquarters did not have enough space for the required administration staff to support the base, and so an extension was needed to address the overcrowding of staff in the Headquarters. The extension was designed by R A Patterson, government architect and C E Price, the District Architect, and was authorised and budgeted for that year. There was a delay in the construction of the extension because the tenders received exceeded the budget. In the meantime the telephone exchange was moved to the nearby Guard House to maximise the space available and an external access door was added to the rear of the building to reduce the congestion at the main entrance. In 1953 an acceptable tender of £3300 was received from Strid Bros of Te Atatu Road, Henderson and work began early that year. The extension was planned to extend from the additional rear door behind the Headquarters but during excavations it was discovered that the floorplan would interfere with the underground power cables from the adjacent substation. The extension was re-sited to the north side of the building and work restarted in July 1953 and was completed in December. The offices were reorganised with the new rooms and the orderlies and typists were relocated to the extension along with the stationery room.
After 1953 the Headquarters was used continuously as the administration centre for the base until its closure, with few changes to the building. In 1968 the conference room was converted into the machine room and so it was necessary to soundproof the room for its new function. Ventilation and heating was installed in the main pay office in 1979 as the large room which housed 12 accountants was liable to either be too hot in summer or too cold in winter. The Headquarters continued to be used by the air force for administration purposes.
During those years the Parade Ground was developed further. By 1947 the flagpole was erected in its current location, directly opposite the main entrance to the Headquarters and the semi-circular planting pattern surrounding the flagpole was established by 1955. The flagstaff was identified in the original 1938 plan for the base but was not erected until after the war began. Later work on the Parade Ground in the 1960s introduced the line of Palm trees which follows the curve of the Parade Ground where it meets Hobsonville Point Road.
By 1962 the Hobsonville base was being used less by the Air Force as the replacement aircraft that were being purchased were land based and water access was no longer a requirement, although a respite came with the purchase of Iroquois and Sioux helicopters.
In 2000 the Government announced that Hobsonville was no longer required for defence purposes and would progressively be closed. The helicopters were sent to Ohakea, and Hobsonville ceased to be an operational base. By 2005, the majority of the land had been transferred to Housing New Zealand with a wholly-owned subsidiary, the Hobsonville Land Company being established to develop the former base for residential purposes. In 2007 the Parade Ground was vested in Auckland Council as a recreation reserve. On April 28 2012, as part of the 75th Anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Air Force celebrations in Auckland, the RNZAF Old Boys Association unveiled a memorial behind the flagpole to all the personnel who had been based at Hobsonville between 1928 and 2002. The memorial was dedicated by Air Vice Marshal Peter Stockwell in a formal ceremony which was attended by former servicemen and women. In 2014 the Headquarters and the nearby RNZAF Institute Building (List No. 9710, proposal) were selected to be transferred to Auckland Council for community purposes and in 2016 the land parcel was surveyed off and vested in the council.
Physical DescriptionCurrent Description
Context
The RNZAF Headquarters and Parade Ground (Former) are located at Hobsonville Point, Auckland. Hobsonville Point lies in the north west of Auckland beside the Upper Harbour Highway and is being redeveloped as a residential suburb. It retains some of the original buildings from the RNZAF base and some earlier buildings related to the clay works in the area. Other buildings in the immediate area include the RNZAF Institute (Former) to the east of the Headquarters (List No. 9710, proposal), the Catalina Barracks (not listed), Catalina Hangar (not listed), Sunderland Avenue houses (not listed), Marlborough Crescent houses and Oval (not listed), and the Mill House (not listed). Recorded archaeological sites at Hobsonville Point include middens around the coastline.
The site
The site of the former Headquarters and Parade Ground is comprised of a generally rectangular lot on the north side of Buckley Avenue and a triangular lot on the south side of Buckley Avenue and west of Hobsonville Point Road, with a portion of the Parade Ground extending into the Buckley Avenue Road Reserve. The lot north of Buckley Avenue contains the 1939 building in its southern and central parts, and the 1953 extension on the northern part of the site. The grassed Parade Ground covers the lot south of Buckley Avenue with a portion, including the flagpole, in the Road Reserve.
The Headquarters Exterior
The Headquarters is a plastered, reinforced concrete structure of Art Deco design with a later extension. It is predominantly rectilinear in form. The original section and extension are single story in height with a flat roof. The 1939 building is largely symmetrical with the northern extension breaking up the symmetry of the design.
The main elevation to Buckley Avenue is centrally focused on the front entrance which has stepped moulding and dentils framing the recessed porch, a stepped parapet above and ornamented plinths level with the window sills on either side of the entrance. The main double doors still have the original long curved brass handles which run from the centre of the doors to the bottom of each. On either side of the entrance are three steel framed windows with mock quoins between them and a fourth window at each end of the building. There is a decorative indentation which runs parallel to each window sill. Beneath the windows, extending from each plinth is a box hedge with a painted curb enclosing the planting. On the far left of this elevation is the 1953 extension. The extension has a double door entrance up a flight of concrete steps and is set back from the front elevation.
The south elevation is plainer than the front with two pairs of windows linked with mock quoins and a continuation of the parallel indentation under the window. The east elevation has a number of windows with only the decorative parallel indentation. This elevation has two doors. The southern door has simple recessed porch with a single pane window above the entrance and three concrete steps up to the porch. The northern door, which was added in 1950, has wooden steps leading to a simple entrance with no decoration. The L-shaped addition adds some further length to the building before extending back east further than the original line of the building. The extension, in the east and north elevation, has a number of windows without the decorative elements of the original building. The remaining window in the north elevation of the 1939 building still retains the decoration of the original design.
Headquarters Interior
The interior of the 1939 building contains a central axial corridor running from north to south with office rooms, bathrooms and a kitchen coming off the corridor. The interior walls have concrete upper and plaster lower sections and the rooms have concrete slab ceilings. Each room has multi-pane windows set in the shared wall with the corridor. The bathrooms are located directly opposite the main doors and are tiled with brick wall tiles and mosaic floor tiles. There are also built-in storage cupboards off the corridor and a built in cabinet in the southernmost rear office. All the interior doors are timber; some are stable entry doors, and retain their original door handles. The main entrance has a short central foyer opening onto the corridor and there is a second short passage to the southern of the rear exits. The 1950 additional rear door exits from the kitchen.
At the north end of the building the corridor opens into the extension entry foyer with ply panelling on the walls and then through a door into the largest room in the building which was originally used by the orderlies and typists while the base was operational. This room had a carpeted timber floor with plaster ceilings and walls. There is another storage room which exits from this large room and sits on the east side of the extension entrance foyer.
Parade Ground
The Parade Ground is a grassed area opposite the Headquarters. The triangular space is paved around each side, along Buckley Avenue and Hobsonville Point Road. A line of phoenix palm trees is planted on the banked curved of the eastern edge of the Parade Ground beside Hobsonville Point Road. These palm trees are associated with the Art Deco style of the Headquarters. At the centre of the north end of the Parade Ground is the flagpole.
Flagpole
The flagpole is placed directly opposite the main entrance of the Headquarters with a paved base. Around the flagpole is a box hedge in a semicircle from the pavement on either side of the flagpole, with additional plants within the enclosed space. A rectangular stone memorial is erected behind the flagpole, parallel to the footpath. It reads
‘To All Who Have Passed This Way
From 1928 to 2002, in wartime and peace, NZ and overseas personnel were based at Hobsonville for training and in the provision of support services to New Zealand Defence Forces.
This memorial was erected by the Hobsonville Old Boys Association, Royal New Zealand Air Force and Hobsonville Land Company Limited and was dedicated on 28 April 2012 by Air Vice Marshal Peter Stockwell, Chief of Air Force’.
Comparisons
Administration Headquarters were constructed at all the major Airbases around the country while they were in use. In 1939, as well as at Hobsonville, administration headquarters were built at Wigram and Ohakea and later at Whenuapai.
The Headquarters at Wigram was built from the same plans as the Hobsonville building before the 1953 extension and also was in close proximity to the Parade Ground and flagpole on the base. In recent years this building has been demolished. . The administration building at Ohakea was a different design to those constructed at Hobsonville and Wigram. A building which is visually similar in many respects but used for a different purpose is located at the Whenuapai.
ReferenceCompletion Date
1st February 2017
Report Written By
Alexandra Foster
Information Sources
Ross, 1955
J M S Ross, Royal New Zealand Air Force, War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1955.
Dawson, 2007
Dawson, Bee, Hobsonville; Portrait of a Seaplane Station, Random House, 2007
Dawson, 2012
Dawson, Bee, Wigram: The Birthplace of Military Aviation in New Zealand, Random House 2012.
Martyn, 2012
Martyn, Errol W., Swift to the Sky: New Zealand’s Military Aviation History, Penguin 2012.
Lester, 1947
Lester, A.G., History and Development of Royal New Zealand Air Force Station Hobsonville 1915-1945, [compiled in] March 1947, [held at Archives New Zealand, Wellington Office – ADQA 17372]
Report Written By
Other Heritage Recognition:
Auckland Council Cultural Heritage Inventory No. 19907.
A fully referenced New Zealand Heritage List report is available on request from the Northern Region Office of Heritage New Zealand.
Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.
