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Bill McKay, in his 1999 paper, “A Possum in the Kiwi Bush”, critiqued the role
played by the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture in the formation
and promotion of one particular story of the history and development of modern
architecture in New Zealand. This story centred on Vernon Brown and the Group,
at the expense of a range of other players: Robin Simpson, Tibor Donner, Henry
Kulka, Brenner and Associates, Vladimir Cacala, Rigby.Mullen, Mark-Brown &
Fairhead, the firm of Newman, Smith & Greenhough, and others. McKay pointed
out, quite rightly, that because the Auckland School was New Zealand’s only
school of architecture until the mid-1970s, the line taught there was widely
accepted by the country’s practitioners and educators, until well after the
establishment of a second school. He has not been the sole critic of the Group-
centred canon or its formation: Lloyd Jenkins (1998), Clark and Walker (2000),
Clark (2004) and others have further elucidated the basic premise.

The purpose of this article is not to defend the School, its history or the canon,
but to consider the latter with reference to one of the School’s courses. In 2006
and 2007 I taught ARCHDRC 301 Measured Drawing, a third year elective that
requires students to measure extant buildings and to produce a set of plans,
sections and elevations based on their measurements. Many of the drawings
produced by students enrolled in this course since the 1930s are accessioned in
the University’s Architecture Library. They form an invaluable record of many
buildings for which original design drawings do not survive, as well as buildings
to which changes have been made over time.

As the Docomomo New Zealand Registers Coordinator, I have a particular interest
in the documentation and conservation of New Zealand’s modern buildings.
It seemed to me that Measured Drawing could be usefully focused on modern
buildings, at a time when their heritage values are becoming increasingly
recognized, locally, nationally and, indeed, internationally. The focus would
ensure that the students would be experiencing and analyzing not just any old
buildings, but exemplars of modern design, often with the clever planning that
characterizes post-war buildings as a result of materials shortages and building
size constraints. Positive roll-on effects would include a record of changes being
made to the measured buildings over time and, potentially, the extension of the
Library’s existing collection of measured drawings through the production and
acquisition of plans, sections and elevations for significant modern buildings not
measured and drawn in previous years.

To achieve this, I needed a sense of what had been studied in previous years.
I learnt that, to a certain extent, the Library’s collection of measured drawings
did accord with the thesis regarding the Auckland School’s privileging of the
Group. Up until 2005, the modern buildings that had been measured and drawn

New Measures
For Other Moderns

Julia Gatley

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New Measures
For Other Moderns

Julia Gatley

included seven houses by Group members: the Rotherham House (in 1983, 1990
and 1992); the Thompson House (in 1983); the First House (in 1984); Devonport
Navy housing (in 1988); the Catley House (in 1993); the Mallitte House (in 1995);
and the Worrall House (in 2002). Other architects associated with the Auckland
School whose buildings have been measured and drawn include: Richard Toy’s All
Saints’ Church, Ponsonby (in 1995); Mike Austin’s Chapple House (in 1995); and
David Mitchell’s Music School and Gibbs House (in 1987 and 2000 respectively).
Vernon Brown is a surprising absence from the collection. Other surprises,
given the canon, include the presence of Tibor Donner’s Ellen Melville Pioneer
Women’s Hall (measured and drawn in 1992 and 1995) and Savage Memorial (in 2000);
Newman Smith & Greenhough’s Wanganui War Memorial Hall (in 1994); and
Mark-Brown & Fairhead’s Newton Post Office (in 2000). Not enough to challenge
the thesis, but just enough to complicate it. It should also be acknowledged here
that more recent initiatives within the School such as Michael Milojevic and
Sarah Treadwell’s 2003 exhibition and catalogue, The House, and Charles Walker’s
2005 exhibition and catalogue, Models for Living, have demonstrated a more
inclusive approach.

My analysis of the Library’s collection of measured drawings confirmed that there
was plenty of scope for pursuing the measuring and drawing of modern buildings
within the course. Thus, in 2006, three of the 14 buildings measured and drawn were
modern: one at my suggestion, a second at a student’s suggestion, and a third at
another academic’s request. These included the Robin Simpson House in Greenlane
(1938-1939). A floor plan had been published in Home and Building in 1940, but it
is believed that none of Simpson’s original drawings have survived. Thus, the
measurements and drawings by Daniel Bosher, Patrick Loo and James Pearce have
a value above and beyond the learning objectives of a student assignment.

In 2007, I pursued modern buildings more overtly, writing to the owners of
15 such buildings (Group as well as non-Group), domestic in scale though not
necessarily houses, asking if I could include their buildings in the course. I was
delighted to receive eight affirmative replies. A student added a ninth building to
the list. Those measured and drawn this year were: Tibor Donner’s own house and
studio in Titirangi (1947 and ca. 1950s respectively); the Second Group House in
Takapuna (1950-1951); James Hackshaw’s Thom House in Mt Albert (1953); Albert

Robin Simpson’s Own House,
Greenlane (1938-1939). Measured
by Daniel Bosher, Patrick Loo and
James Pearce; west elevation drawn
by Patrick Loo (2006).

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and/or John Goldwater’s Jewish Centennial Memorial Chapel in Karangahape
Road (1953); Rigby.Mullen’s Rayner House in Remuera (1954); Vladimir Cacala’s
Kay House in Remuera (1960); Lillian and David Chrystall’s Yock House in
Remuera (1964); and Marshall Cook’s Howard House in Meadowbank (1969).

It is my pleasure to be able to publish a selection of the drawings here. Three
students worked on each building, together producing a set of plans, sections
and elevations and a range of details. I stipulated A1 sized paper, but did not
impose traditional drawing techniques on the students. Rather, I allowed them
the freedom to pursue the creative presentation that they enjoy in the design
studio, including hand or computer drawing and the use of pen or pencil,
monochrome or colour. For record purposes, I encouraged the inclusion of the
main dimensions on the drawings and analytical annotations regarding design,
materiality, additions, alterations and current condition.

There will always be varying degrees of accuracy in the measurements and a
range of finesse in the drawings, but the work being produced in the course
is already making a useful contribution to the Library’s records of these indi-
vidual places. I believe it has been a valuable learning experience for students
to date, and I hope it will encourage further research in the future on modern
architecture in New Zealand.

References

Clark, J. (2004). Ephemera: The Elusive Canon of New Zealand Architecture. Fabrications:
The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand 14 (1/2), 47-
57.
Clark, J., and Walker, P. (2000). Looking for the Local: Architecture and the New Zealand Mod-
ern. Wellington: Victoria University Press.

Lloyd Jenkins, D. (1998). Rebuilding Robin Simpson. In J. Willis, P. Goad and A. Hutson
(Eds.). FIRM(ness) commodity DE-light?: Questioning the Canons; Papers from the Fifteenth
Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand. (pp.
183-188). Melbourne: SAHANZ.

McKay, B. (1999). A Possum in the Kiwi Bush. In R. Blythe and R. Spence (Eds.). Thresholds:
Papers of the Sixteenth Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia
and New Zealand (pp. 209-212). Launceston, Tas: SAHANZ.

Robin Simpson’s Own House,
Greenlane (1938-1939). Measured
by Daniel Bosher, Patrick Loo and

James Pearce; section drawn by
Daniel Bosher (2006).

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Measured Drawing Collection, Architecture Library, The University of Auckland.

Milojevic, M., and Treadwell, S. (2003). The House: Architecture Archive. Auckland: School of
Architecture, University of Auckland.

Simpson, W. R. (1940). An Architect Designs His Own House. Home and Building 4 (4), 5-7.

Walker, C. (2005). Models for Living, 1905-2005: A Survey of 100 Years of New Zealand Residen-
tial Architecture. Auckland: AGM Publishing.

Tibor Donner’s Own Studio,
Titirangi (1950s). Measured by Pio
Faalogo, Adam Morrow and Kirsten
Smedley; drawn by Adam Morrow
(2007).

Tibor Donner’s Own House, Titirangi
(1947). Measured by Deborah Graham,
Kuhu Gupta, Nickolas Morris;
drawn by Kuhu Gupta (2007).

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Rigby.Mullen, Rayner House,
Remuera (1954). Measured by

Victor Eng, Tim Yun Yunny Luk
and Derek Yichi Zhang; drawn by

Victor Eng (2007).

Lillian and David Chrystall, Yock House, Remuera (1964). Measured by Felicity Brouwers, Adelle Hammond and Julian Legg; drawn by Felicity Brouwers.

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Vladimir Cacala, Kay House,
Remuera (1960). Measured by Kit
Kwan Leung, Dajiang Tai and
Junpei Zhao; drawn by Dajiang Tai.