The Alington house in Karori is a key work within the oeuvre of an important New Zealand architect, William (Bill) Alington, and is an important New Zealand example of Modern Movement architecture.
Alington designed the house for his family as a private job while working for the Architectural Division of the New Zealand Government's Ministry of Works (MoW) immediately after returning from his overseas experience. Undertaken after graduating from the Auckland University College's School of Architecture, Alington's travels allowed him to gain private practice experience with the noted British architectural firm of Robert Matthews and Johnson-Marshall in London (1956-7), as well as studying toward and gaining his Masters of Architecture at the University of Illinois in the United States (1957-9). Alington has made a considerable contribution to postwar architecture in New Zealand, in terms of his built work, which includes a range of government, civic, educational and religious projects around New Zealand, and in his contributions to the architectural profession and architectural education. He has been recognised internationally and nationally as a significant New Zealand architect.
The Alington house was built by the architect himself, with the assistance of local carpenter George Nicholls, in 1962. Although Alington was involved in the design of other major projects for the MoW at this time, the freedom of designing a small scale domestic project with himself as client meant that Alington was able to distil his architectural ideas into one project. Thus the Alington house can be viewed as a preliminary manifesto - a crystalisation of the ideas and qualities that came to typify Alington's architectural oeuvre, most notably in the combination of Modernist purity and Classical discipline that is a feature of his buildings.
The sensitively detailed post and beam construction and regular geometric form begins from the pavilion typology that evolved within the international Modern Movement. Alington reinterprets this tradition for the local context, in terms of the construction materials (timber, including native timber), the spatial/organisational planning for a New Zealand family situation, and in the relationship to its bush-clad site, including the neighbouring section 62 Homewood Crescent (which is also included in this registration).
The Alington house remained in the Alington family until 2005. It still contains some of the original furniture (including the original built-in furniture) and, although minor alterations have been carried out on the house and property by the architect, it remains in close to its original condition. The adjacent section of native bush at 62 Homewood Crescent is still in the ownership of the Alington family.
The house has been documented in a range of New Zealand publications. It has also been recognised by the NZIA, receiving a NZIA-Resene Local Award for Architecture in 2001 and a NZIA-Resene Enduring Award for Architecture in 2007. It has been identified by DocomomoNZ as one of the 19 key Modern Movement buildings of New Zealand.
The Alington house in Karori is a key work within the oeuvre of an important New Zealand architect, William (Bill) Alington, and has been recognised both nationally and internationally as an important New Zealand example of Modern Movement architecture. While the Alington house is noted for its sense of order, its controlled employment of geometric proportion, and its intimate relationship with its surrounding bush landscape, it also clearly illustrates typical responses to the changing domestic lifestyle and environment of postwar New Zealand society. It is celebrated as the culmination of mid 20th century post-and-beam pavilion style domestic architecture in New Zealand, and has survived as a relatively rare and pure example of this form of building.
Alington designed the house for his family as a private job while working for the Architectural Division of the New Zealand Government's Ministry of Works (MoW) immediately after returning from his overseas experience. Undertaken after graduating from the Auckland University College's School of Architecture, Alington's travels allowed him to gain private practice experience with the noted British architectural firm of Robert Matthews and Johnson-Marshall in London (1956-7), as well as studying toward and gaining his Masters of Architecture at the University of Illinois in the United States (1957-9). Alington has made a considerable contribution to postwar architecture in New Zealand, in terms of his built work, which includes a range of government, civic, educational and religious projects around New Zealand, and in his contributions to the architectural profession and architectural education. He has been recognised internationally and nationally as a significant New Zealand architect.
The Alington house was built by the architect himself, with the assistance of local carpenter George Nicholls, in 1962. Although Alington was involved in the design of other major projects for the MoW at this time, the freedom of designing a small scale domestic project with himself as client meant that Alington was able to distil his architectural ideas into one project. Thus the Alington house can be viewed as a preliminary manifesto - a crystalisation of the ideas and qualities that came to typify Alington's architectural oeuvre, most notably in the combination of Modernist purity and Classical discipline that is a feature of his buildings.
The sensitively detailed post and beam construction and regular geometric form begins from the pavilion typology that evolved within the international Modern Movement. Alington reinterprets this tradition for the local context, in terms of the construction materials (timber, including native timber), the spatial/organisational planning for a New Zealand family situation, and in the relationship to its bush-clad site, including the neighbouring section 62 Homewood Crescent (which is also included in this registration).
The Alington house remained in the Alington family until 2005. It still contains some of the original furniture (including the original built-in furniture) and, although minor alterations have been carried out on the house and property by the architect, it remains in close to its original condition. The adjacent section of native bush at 62 Homewood Crescent is still in the ownership of the Alington family.
The house has been documented in a range of New Zealand publications. It has also been recognised by the NZIA, receiving a NZIA-Resene Local Award for Architecture in 2001 and a NZIA-Resene Enduring Award for Architecture in 2007. It has been identified by DocomomoNZ as one of the 19 key Modern Movement buildings of New Zealand.
The Alington house in Karori is a key work within the oeuvre of an important New Zealand architect, William (Bill) Alington, and has been recognised both nationally and internationally as an important New Zealand example of Modern Movement architecture. While the Alington house is noted for its sense of order, its controlled employment of geometric proportion, and its intimate relationship with its surrounding bush landscape, it also clearly illustrates typical responses to the changing domestic lifestyle and environment of postwar New Zealand society. It is celebrated as the culmination of mid 20th century post-and-beam pavilion style domestic architecture in New Zealand, and has survived as a relatively rare and pure example of this form of building.
