Halfway up the steep incline of Thorndon’s St Mary Street, at number 14, Randell Cottage is a humble dwelling constructed by William Randell between 1865-68. The cottage has architectural and historical significance as a representative example of a single-detached working-class dwelling built in nineteenth century New Zealand, which could easily be added to as a family or their income grew. Its aesthetic and architectural values contribute to the significant number of Victorian and Edwardian houses that characterise Thorndon, one of New Zealand’s oldest suburbs and an important heritage area in Wellington. Through its simple design and its social history, Randell Cottage has historical and social value for the way it offers insight into the life of a New Zealand colonial family, while also providing a place of creativity and cultural exchange in its current role as a home for visiting writers.
Originally from Dorset, England, William and Sarah Randell arrived in Wellington in 1855. Only weeks earlier, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake had altered the landscape of the Wellington region and caused significant damage to chimneys and foundations. As a stonemason and bricklayer, William’s skills were in high demand for repairs and new construction. Initially the Randells lived on Ghuznee Street, before purchasing the leasehold on a cottage on the Wesleyan Reserve in Thorndon, now part of the Wellington Botanic Garden. In May 1865 William purchased part of the nearby Town Acre 624, on the eastern slopes of Te Ahumairangi (Tinakori Hill), and over the following years levelled the site and built the cottage, as time and funds allowed. In 1868 the Randells sold the Wesleyan Reserve cottage, presumably once their St Mary Street home was ready for occupation.
Randell Cottage has been identified as a simple box cottage (rectangular plan) double gable design, consisting of two long timber ‘boxes’ built perpendicular to the street, each one-room wide and with a gable roof, joined by a central wall. The eastern box contained two bedrooms and a hallway leading from the front door to the western box, which held the long kitchen-living-dining room and a third bedroom. Another one-room wide gabled box was added in 1874. Constructed at the south end of the cottage, running parallel to the street, it created two more rooms for the family of twelve.
One of William and Sarah’s daughters, Harriet, became a celebrated soloist and gave singing lessons in one of the newer rooms. In the 1880s, an exterior door was added to this room to allow her pupils to come and go without entering the main part of the house. After Sarah Randell left the house in about 1912 the windows were altered by her son, but despite various owners during the twentieth century, the house remained largely unchanged. In 1994 William’s great-granddaughter Beverley Randell, a writer, purchased the cottage with her husband Hugh Price and their daughter Susan. They carefully restored the cottage and a collection of household items found during the renovations is held in the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa. In 2001 the cottage was gifted to a trust, which works with partner organisations to host one French writer and one New Zealand writer each year.
Originally from Dorset, England, William and Sarah Randell arrived in Wellington in 1855. Only weeks earlier, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake had altered the landscape of the Wellington region and caused significant damage to chimneys and foundations. As a stonemason and bricklayer, William’s skills were in high demand for repairs and new construction. Initially the Randells lived on Ghuznee Street, before purchasing the leasehold on a cottage on the Wesleyan Reserve in Thorndon, now part of the Wellington Botanic Garden. In May 1865 William purchased part of the nearby Town Acre 624, on the eastern slopes of Te Ahumairangi (Tinakori Hill), and over the following years levelled the site and built the cottage, as time and funds allowed. In 1868 the Randells sold the Wesleyan Reserve cottage, presumably once their St Mary Street home was ready for occupation.
Randell Cottage has been identified as a simple box cottage (rectangular plan) double gable design, consisting of two long timber ‘boxes’ built perpendicular to the street, each one-room wide and with a gable roof, joined by a central wall. The eastern box contained two bedrooms and a hallway leading from the front door to the western box, which held the long kitchen-living-dining room and a third bedroom. Another one-room wide gabled box was added in 1874. Constructed at the south end of the cottage, running parallel to the street, it created two more rooms for the family of twelve.
One of William and Sarah’s daughters, Harriet, became a celebrated soloist and gave singing lessons in one of the newer rooms. In the 1880s, an exterior door was added to this room to allow her pupils to come and go without entering the main part of the house. After Sarah Randell left the house in about 1912 the windows were altered by her son, but despite various owners during the twentieth century, the house remained largely unchanged. In 1994 William’s great-granddaughter Beverley Randell, a writer, purchased the cottage with her husband Hugh Price and their daughter Susan. They carefully restored the cottage and a collection of household items found during the renovations is held in the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa. In 2001 the cottage was gifted to a trust, which works with partner organisations to host one French writer and one New Zealand writer each year.
