Highden is a large estate located in the quiet of the Manawatu, at Awahuri near Feilding, surrounded by a flat, rectangularly arranged rural landscape. The section is irregularly shaped and the house is sited towards the farthest boundary. Approached from the east along a kilometre-long drive, glimpses are seen between trees until the southwest forecourt and Main Entrance come into view. The house is long, and impressive in height and articulation. The exciting turret and verandahs are out of sight. To one side are later buildings associated with the Novitiate; opposite to the south are smaller structures associated with services. Roundabout, the gardens and paths, orchards and drives, are landscaped with dignity and purpose.
The house is two storey timber building, positioned with its long axis running almost (but west of) north to south. At the entrance the house is an imposing symmetry of gables and bays however the overall form of the building is more complex. The main section of the house is the northern part. It has two primary gables which run parallel with the long axis. At the same height, two further cross-gables extend out to the west presenting the grand symmetry of the Main Entrance. The northern most cross-gable also extends beyond, meeting the far gable. At the most northern corner, at the junction of gables, is an octagonal turret with extending, repeating octagonal-shaped verandahs. All around the roof are additional secondary gables and dormers of differing sizes in almost all available locations. This visual activity is a striking sight, giving a commanding presence.
The northern part of the house is the larger part. It was once the major part. At the south end, the two wings were small, parallel gables extending back. However the clever additions of the early twentieth century added about one third the size again in a matched and seamless manner. Originally, the south end of the main part of the house structurally terminated and joined what was the service wing of the house, part-two storey, part-single storey with a reduced height. The extended upper floor covered the entire single storey wings. The original Service Wing of the house is now a substantial, two storeyed double-wing making up about 40 per cent of the entire floor area. While the gables, windows, detail and form repeat the essence of the main part of the house, the scale and complexity are diminished. More recently small concrete additions on the south end have been added.
Highden shows the influence of styles of architecture that was designed to house the affluent middle class. The Queen Anne style, which drew on the Gothic forms being used at the time, makes the greatest impact and the turret is a pre-eminent feature of the house. Decorative effects (gable and verandah decorations, weatherboard motifs and shingles) show designs, both original and modified, that were influenced enthusiastically by styles in current usage. Queen Anne, Edwardian Free Classical, Victorian Gothick and the American Eastern Stick style all feature - illustrating the use, typical during this period, of aesthetically pleasing elements which were often irrespective of loyalty to one style.
The physical presence and style of the house is most clearly seen on the long elevations. The house has a steep corrugated iron roof, a timber-framed structure over a perimeter concrete foundation, rusticated and decorated timber weatherboards, timber joinery and clear glazing.
The west facing long elevation at the Main Entrance has two prominent two storey gables either side of the projecting gabled Entrance Porch. Large hip-roofed bays with double hung sash windows, toplights and dentils, extend from the gables at ground floor. The symmetry of the gables is maintained with decorative diagonal stickwork and secondary upper level window arches and finials. At roof level, two dormer vents with finials sit symmetrical over the entrance. On this, the main part of the house the weatherboards are highly decorated. Stickwork is applied at eave level and upper-floor dado level with horizontal, vertical, bracketed and arched shaping. Scalloped shingles feature within the upper window gable arch and also below the ground floor windows. Dentils are fitted to the primary gable.
Windows feature a variety of styles however on this face all windows are double hung and tall with toplights. A mixture of styles is used - the square Edwardian shape; the rounded Roman shape and the flatter Tudor shape on the ground floor. At the north corner is the large ground floor paned window in the conservatory style. At the upper floor, applied brackets give the appearance of an arched sash. A surprising sunrise motif appears on the upper level gables and the porch gable.
To the right the Service Wing of the house steps back from the main part and the ridge line steps down, twice. Two secondary gables extend out - one with a repeat gable over its windows. Gable ends and weatherboards have a reduced measure of stickwork decoration. Windows are double hung but without toplights, more widely spaced, smaller and (for the upper floor) at a different height reflecting the dropped floor level inside.
Directly on the opposite side of the house is the long façade of the building that faces east across the extensive park lawns. On this elevation, the prominent main part of the house is emboldened by the corner turret. It rises as an extension of the octagonal rooms below. It has walls panelled with a petal diaper pattern, and neo-Classically fashioned ribbon motifs of the Adam style. Its roof is sheet metal, a mix of overlapping metal slates and finely corrugated sheet. Corner brackets support the eaves.
From the roof, five secondary gables extend out, all with diagonal or vertical decoration. Further dormer vents mark the roof. Deep verandahs sweep around the octagonal north corner and halfway down the length of the building at both levels with glazed doors leading to all rooms within.
The verandahs are timber and highly decorated. The upper verandah has double posts, chamfered and grooved with Gothic arch motifs a between them at their heads. Above, the lintel decoration is timber fretwork fashioned to form arches of the Classical style. A large brass bell has been hung from the upper lintel during the Marist's occupation. Balustrading is similarly formed into arched openings, each with a silhouette cross. The double posts are directly supported through to double posts, similarly chamfered, below. Here, at the ground level verandah, lintel trellising has been applied and the balustrading is solid. Large windows and doors are visible within the depth of covered space and the south end of the lower verandah has been enclosed (since the original design) and has received large, tall, paned windows.
While the effect of the corner turret and decorated verandahs, on this substantial part of the house, is one of playful grandeur and a commanding show of presence, the lower second part of the house is modest in comparison. Again, in a manner similar to the west side, this half of the double-wing has reduced stickwork, limited weatherboard decorations, and a greatly diminished window allotment. The change in structure with the lower ridge line is evident. While the change from owners' quarters to service wing is clear in the change from embellished to modest, the 1908 additions are harder to pick. The careful attention to detailing of the timber, the matching form and progression of gables and a similar arrangement of elements suggest additions that were designed to look as if they had always been a part of the house. Given the passing of time, the weathering and the patina of use, this assumption increases.
In contrast to the long facades, the two shorter facades are mere ends. At the north of the house, the verandahs turn the corner and terminate at the gables of the west. This façade includes the distinguishing features of walkways at both levels across to the Novitiate Accommodation Building - an open balustraded upper walkway above a timber colonnade.
The south end of the house is the termination of the double service wing. The two wings (two storey) are separated by several metres. Doors and windows open out into the long corridor-like atrium space. The space, which once was open between two single storey wings, is glazed and partly enclosed from above by roof and rooflights, and at the end by a large roller door to a later two storey concrete addition (in style of a lean-to).
Interior
Ground Floor
The ground floor of Highden is a vast array of all the various sized rooms that a large country house might have. The main Entrance Porch is a small room of timber panels, glazing and panel doors. Beyond, the Hall is reached - a magnificent display of exquisite craftsmanship in the use of native timber. Totara, rimu and matai (primarily) has been used throughout in both the structure of the interior as well as linings, joinery and fittings. As spaces, ceilings are high and lavish, floors are richly timbered, and joinery is graciously fitted. Internal doors are generally clear-finish six-panel doors; architraves, skirtings and scotias are elaborately moulded; and fixtures (such as light fittings) and furnishings reinforce a grand elegance. While both natural finishes and painted finishes feature in the house and some restoration work involves new fittings (an example is the fireplaces) the overwhelming impression of this part of the house is of grand reception, elegant living rooms and generous bedrooms.
The Hall is a large timbered reception room of exceptional craftsmanship. Tall Tudor-arch style windows face out on the entrance courtyard and through the Entrance Porch. The ceiling is coffered, floorboards are exposed and walls are panelled and match-lined. At one end, a timber fire surround and chimney breast project out from the wall. At the other, a wide and splayed staircase rises with a gentle lavishness. The stringer and stair dado curve to take in its height. Balustrading is turned; newels and drop newels are solid and turned with an urn-shaped top on the newels.
The size of the upper floor area is supported by a post - to take weight from joists overhead. It is an immense but elegant structural element that is finely carved to add grace to the room. At is head it joins the beam with a capital, finely carved in the Edwardian style with acanthus motifs. The length of the post is chamfered and reeded; its lower portion is carved with panels showing a vine motif; and at its foot is a carved acanthus pedestal.
Further carved timber is found in the panelling and reeding around the room, in the wall panels, the finely carved candled brackets and in occasional motif work, particularly the three small mantelpiece panels.
From the Hall, several rooms can be directly entered. North of the Hall directly to the left of the Entrance Porch, is the Drawing Room, a large living room with the bay and its tall windows facing out onto the Entrance Courtyard. Doors on its north side give access the lower verandah. The room has freshly-smooth plaster walls and ceiling, a deep rolled scotia and an ornate fire surround.
From the Hall, beyond and across to the far side of the house are two large rooms that were once separate and are now joined to form a large Banquet Room with a new large opening between them. To the far corner is the room that includes the octagonal alcove. It has the finishes and trimmings of the Drawing Room but has opening doors in both directions, a tiled fireplace with timber mantel, and (most remarkably) a flat plafond ceiling with mouldings that repeat octagonal shapes, divided and embellished. With its corner position and ample glazing, the room is bright with light despite being beneath the verandah.
Alongside is a room of similar size but much simpler decoration. Windows are fitted into the wall facing out over the park lawn. This is an added wall where the verandah has been in-filled. The ceiling is marked by simple beam-and-joist divisions, lined between in plaster. A dado trim runs around the room. Flooring in both rooms is natural finish timber which occasionally shows its wear.
From the Hall, directly south and incorporating the other bay window facing the entrance courtyard, is the Office - a smaller room with plastered walls and modest trim. Scotia, picture rail and skirtings are less ornate however the windows which feature as an exterior visual statement add great dignity to the room. An exterior door gives direct access through a small gable porch to the outside garden. The porch also allows direct access beyond to the service wing of the original house.
From the hall, and under the stairs, the Buffet Room is reached. This is formed from a hall and two small rooms of the service wing with freshly plasters walls showing the remnants of the original rooms and floors showing the considerable wear they endured.
Ground floor Service Wing
Beyond the Buffet Room along the west service wing are further rooms which once would have contained the operations of a large home. They now provide that facility for the house as a venue. The first room is large with match-lined walls and ceiling, dado trim and two windows facing east. Beyond the service wing, it divides into the stairwell and rooms with access onto the atrium. This is the part that was once single storeyed.
Directly next to the Banquet Room and with access to the Buffet Room is the Kitchens and Pantries. These are commercially fitted out with wall sections, linings and any decorative finishes removed. The kitchen is located in the original service wing of the house and the pantries in the addition. Joinery and finishes are not recently fabricated however the cabinets and stainless steel benches have long since replaced the original layout of both walls and fittings.
First Floor
There are two stairs from the ground floor to first floor level. The main staircase in the Hall leads up at the south end of the main part of the house. The Servants' Stair in the service wing (the position of this has been change from the original design) now rises at the northern end of the Service Wing. Thus the two parts of the house have independent means of access.
Generally the walls above are directly supported by the walls below - a feature which has enabled the load of the floors to be transferred through to the ground. The upper level is almost entirely sleeping accommodations. Where en suites have been installed they have generally been incorporated within walls that already exist, reducing the overall number of bedrooms. Nevertheless there are at least 12 bedrooms upstairs, varying from the sumptuously large to comfortably cosy. The standard of room presentation is extremely high in every room, achieved by careful retention of room features such as rolled scotias, panel doors, the native timber floors and the windows and doors. Fireplaces or fire surrounds remain a feature in some rooms although no longer operating as a functioning heating device and in some cases recently installed to provide a decorative focal point. Picture rails or frieze rails feature in a number of rooms. Architraves, skirtings and scotias vary according to appointment - from the deeply moulded to the brief.
For the bedrooms within the main part of the house, the joinery providing light and access to the balcony is similar for each. Doors are panelled with, alongside, a double hung sash window of the same width. Above these are toplights, and below the window sill the weatherboards are scalloped. The height of the joinery is at its maximum reaching to the underside of the match lining of the verandah roof. The consistency of design of the doors and windows, and their ability to provide easy climate control, adds a sense of elegance to the bedrooms.
There are currently five bedrooms in the main part of the house, the original owners' quarters. They are accessed, as was customary, via the Hall, the Main Staircase and the Upper Hall. Four of the rooms have direct access onto the long verandah balcony.
The Service Wing currently has seven bedrooms. While these are no longer servant's (or possibly children's quarters) they still can be accessed via the Servant's Stair. More often now they are reached through the passage that passes between the two parts of the house.
At the top of the Main Stairs is the large Upper Hall. In size it is identical to the Hall beneath. It has panelling, flooring doors windows and coffered ceilings that are equal also. The staircase with its turned balustrading and magnificent newel posts is a notable feature of the room. The coffered ceiling, while a little lower, is match lined with its beams and lintels expressed with mouldings. Walls are match lined with dado panels beneath and a rolled dado trim. The depth of colour of the timber finish is brightened by six large windows - those windows that appear either side of the Main Entrance.
From this hall there are doors to five bedrooms and a door that goes through the connecting passage.
The Turret Bedroom is the largest of the bedrooms and incorporates a fire surround, the highest level of trim timbers and most importantly the added space and windows of the turret room. Access to the balcony can be gained in both directions - north and east, and the views are both out towards the park lawn and also towards the novitiate Accommodation Building. The bedroom is well lit both from the double hung windows and glazed panel doors as well as the chandelier fittings.
An en suite to the Turret Bedroom has been provided in the room immediately to the west, which may have once been a dressing room -a bathroom with modern and restored fittings, a painted timber wainscot and the window and trim timbers that were part of the original room.
In the extreme northwest corner of the upper floor is the bedroom next in size - a large room with two windows within the gable that marks the front entrance so distinctly. The windows look out over the entrance courtyard. The room is smooth with new finishes but also retains the timber floor, skirtings and an original shape. A door in the far corner leads out to an en suite, positioned in what would once have been verandah space but has long since been enclosed. Access to the balcony is both from the bedroom as well as the en suite.
Across the hall (and into the room within the other corresponding front entrance gable) is a moderately-sized bedroom, with its two windows (within the gable) looking out onto the entrance courtyard. Trim timbers and joinery are retained - well maintained, and the flooring is polished. The en suite for this room passes through where there was once a fireplace and into one of the service rooms of the Service Wing. Here the walls are fresh and fittings are new. A wainscot runs around the room. The window is double hung with a diamond pattern division of its glass.
The remaining two bedrooms of the main part of the house are moderately-sized double rooms that appear on the original plans (and remain) interconnected. Each has a door to the hall and joinery to the balcony. The joinery and finishes match the authenticity of other bedrooms. The fireplace has been removed however both rooms sport mantelpieces. The further bedroom has a door through to the en suite that serves them both and is located in the Service Wing. The en suite which may have once been a Linen Room is long and narrow with a simple window looking out to the park lawn. Finishes are similar to other en suites.
Servant's Wing
From the Upper Hall of the Main part of the house, a door allows passage through to a lobby and down four or five stairs to the Upper Hall of the Servants' Wing. The lobby is fully timber match lined with rolled scotias, heavy lintel brackets and a large skylight the roof space above.
From this point the halls diverge into the two wings. On the east side the hall stretches away with 4 bedrooms of differing configurations (with their en suite arrangements). The bedrooms reflect the different status of this part of the house. While the original materials are consistent, the current condition is high and refurbishment luxurious, the complexity and scale of the elements in this part of the house are modest and mirror the exterior differences. Windows are a single simple double hung sash in each room. Architraves, scotias and skirtings are less complicated. The Servant's Stair drops down next to the atrium (the space between wings) and other rooms await refurbishment.
On the west side is the second wing. The hall diverges back and down a short flight of stairs to the second wing with its three further bedrooms (one with a connecting living room) and a bathroom. Again the decoration and elements are modest however the windows face out towards garden of the entrance courtyard and the floor timbers richly show the continuation of the structure of the house.
Other Features
There are several other buildings and site features that are worthy of note. From the Main Entrance there are three buildings to the north side relating to the house's time as a novitiate: the Chapel, the Accommodation Building and the former Recreation Hall, now a residence. In the gardens there are two spiritual alcoves featuring statues of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Good Shepherd.
Directly in line with the Main Entrance doors and a hundred or so metres to the west is the grotto. The white statue of Our Lady of Lourdes stands on a raised dais within a roughly cemented grotto featuring the Marist crest, surrounded by a cloak of ivy. This was constructed in 1936. The grotto faces towards the house (almost west) and would be visible with the absence of trees between.
Opposite the circa 1900 concrete steps between a pond and the eastern boundary of the property, and on an axis through the centre of the rose garden to the house's turret, is another white statue depicting the Good Shepherd. This too has a niche, but its surround consists of a gabled timber structure with trellis walls.
The Chapel is a small single gabled stucco building with a smaller gable to a large vestibule. It is aligned with the house and is a bordering structure to the courtyard. The front doors are up several steps from the Main Entrance Courtyard and face the open space. However, the original entrance was on the side of the porch. A flagpole is mounted to one side. The chapel has a symmetrical form and a rectangular floor shape. The exterior positioning of a series of windows corresponds to the spaces between large rafters, of the interior. The interior is generous but not lofty. An altar table is set on a raised dais.
The Accommodation Building is a two-storeyed gabled structure of similar construction to the Chapel - timber framed, stucco finished. It is aligned with the Chapel and the house. The entrance at its south end is directly in front of the house. The arrays of timber windows on its east and west facades corresponds to the arrays of single rooms on the interior- at both levels and on both sides of the long building. The rooms are generally identical in their layout and joinery and are distinctive to their purpose as a bedroom with study or devotional space.
The Former Recreation Hall, of similar construction to the Chapel and Accommodation Building is located in line with the two other stucco buildings. While its association to the Novitiate is evident in its appearance, there have been considerable alterations in turning the building into a residence.
