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Villa:
From Heritage to Contemporary 
by Patrick Reynolds, Jeremy Salmond,  
and Jeremy Hansen

Review by Bill McKay 

At first sight this book is rather like the contemporary villa: large and lovely to 
look at, but more expensive than you would think. And, as with any open home, 
a casual leafing through its pages had me pondering if it were really for me. But 
reading it has won me over in much the same way as the authors characterise the 
villa: for its “combination of charm and utility”.

Villa: From Heritage to Contemporary has three authors, each contributing a 
substantial section. Patrick Reynolds, instigator of the project, has contributed 
all of the photographs, but it is his short-but-spirited introduction that gets the 
book off to an excellent start. He manages in a couple of entertaining pages to 
encompass key aspects of the villa that the book explores, as well as charting 
the trajectory of his life from boyhood in a modernist “anti-villa” to acceptance 
of fate as an architectural photographer living in a villa alteration in Auckland’s 
western bays.

Jeremy Salmond is of course one of our preeminent heritage architects. Like the 
others he starts his text The Villa: 1860 - 1910 with a little autobiography, the kind 
of thing that can veer towards the nostalgic and sentimental in a context such 
as this. Luckily, once he gets into what he knows, he produces a very smart and 
readable essay. This is probably the best summation of the development of the 
villa that I have come across: he traces it stylistically, as Italianate architecture in 
the dress of Gothic Revival, but also socially, through its appeal to a better way of 
life and through the mechanics of early Antipodean city development. He comes 
up with the most accurate definition I’ve heard so far of the difference between 
a large cottage and a small villa: any house that can’t be “dismissed as a mere 
cottage” becomes “entitled almost by default to be called a villa”, something that 
still holds true in the Auckland property market today.

Salmond’s essay is quite well illustrated with a balance of period and contem-
porary images; after all, too many pictures of contemporary villas can leave one 
feeling rather enervated, an exercise akin to leafing through the Homes for Sale 
section of the Saturday paper. It is always good to see period information as well, 
such as this sale notice from 1846:

Reynolds, P., Salmond, J. and Hansen, J. 
(2009). Villa: From Heritage to Contempo-
rary. Auckland: Random House.



INTERSTICES 11

… superior Clover Paddock… Garden and well stocked Orchard in 
rear… Dwelling House (newly built of best materials) …four spacious 
rooms, handsome Verandah Front. A detached kitchen, well fitted up, 
an Outhouse; Coach House and Stabling for Four Horses; a Well of 
Water; an Aviary, and sixteen double Bee-Hives: with every other req-
uisite for a Gentleman’s family. 

I knew Epsom was desirable but never quite realised it was literally the land of 
milk and honey. But advertisements such as this do give a good sense of how 
some lived and to me there should be little difference between a social history 
and an architectural history; an appreciation of architecture is hollow without 
context. 

Salmond also addresses the important evolution of the villa from the earlier Vic-
torian residence described above, sedate on its large section, to the later products 
of a kitset cornucopia that spewed out lines of houses cheek by jowl on Auck-
land’s inner city streets. This description of our pretty streets may seem harsh, 
but bear in mind that the villa and its clutter of contents are the output, as both 
Reynolds and Salmond make clear, of Victorian capitalism allied with industri-
alisation. This process involved the pitiless exploitation of local resources, land 
speculation and the beginning of the consumer society we know so well today. 
The Kauri Milling Company alone, on the shores of Freeman’s Bay, churned out 
139 million metres of timber from 1898 on, disemboweling the centuries-old kau-
ri forests of Northland and the Waikato to produce cold and drafty houses clos-
eting the Victorian family. And these Auckland streets were the equivalent of 
the stucco acres of housing we now see in Botany Downs, houses for new immi-
grants or those climbing the social ladder, anxious to impress the neighbours.

Salmond also briefly discusses the interior design of villas and the extent to 
which there are regional styles; interestingly, the faceted (as opposed to square) 
bay villa is “essentially an Auckland style”. This is an improvement on previ-
ous books on the subject as well as a reflection on the subtleties of Salmond’s 
knowledge (as one would expect since the first villa he lived in was in Gore). He 
is at his most arch when he comes to discussion of the contemporary villa and 
the phases of “villafication” (“plague of aluminium windows sweeps the land”, 
ceilings are lowered with new “wonder materials of the age: Pinex and Gib”) and 
how gentrification leads through an increase in property values to the pressure 
to replace neighbourhood housing such as the villa. “The growth of towns is not 
unlike an onion,” he says, “it makes one weep at times.”

Although brief for a book of this size, this section of the book is very well-round-
ed in its appreciation of the villa not just as an architectural form, but through 
consideration of its social and economic context as well; after all villas were the 
“building blocks of late 19th century towns” and now occupy architecturally 
contestable chunks of the inner city landscape. Salmond addresses the issue of 
whether or not the typical villa requires “open heart surgery” for modern needs 
or whether alterations can be conducted in a more conservative manner aligned 
with period style. He comes down on the side of “good design” (who doesn’t?) 
but it's an easy answer in relation to the villa. These houses have always been 
flexible and adaptable from the interior through to the backyard and with the 
street façade left intact to shore up the character of the neighbourhood; a com-
promise of sorts keeps most of the people happy most of the time.



145

This is explored in the next section, The Villa Today, primarily through Patrick 
Reynolds’ photographs and Jeremy Hansen’s short texts on the “diversity of 
modern day occupation”. This is where the book takes on more of the charac-
teristics of coffee table tome rather than useful reference; something mainly for 
dipping into. Hansen, editor of Home NZ magazine, makes an affable tour guide 
but his several short pieces on various villa do-ups can be relentlessly positive 
after a while. He does enthusiasm well but when he allows himself to muse, 
his prose matches more the tone of Reynolds’ photography. These images are a 
long way from the cheerful portrayals found in the real estate world: they have 
an introspective quality that draws you in. It is ironic that the villa, with its 
original layers of strict social hierarchy, in which a visitor would never get be-
yond the hallway arch or drawing room, is now opened up for inspection. We 
are invited to poke our noses deep into the detail and detritus of how people 
live. Certainly the most interesting are those in which the villa is background; 
it becomes merely a cave in which we peruse the collections of mainly creative 
types. The habitations of Lloyd Jenkins and Wells, and Knox and Ward, certainly 
have nothing to do with the accepted niceties of interior design as retailed in 
the lifestyle magazines. Reynolds’ images aren’t prurient, though, nor are they 
excessively styled, though they are posed. They are of people like us at home in 
their environment, and except for the more modern intimacy, are reminiscent of 
the period photographs also presented in the book. 

Perhaps this is the success of the villa. Beyond the fairly uniform façade these 
houses can be occupied in myriad ways and indulge one's idiosyncrasies. As 
these three authors maintain, although the fancy frontage is beguiling, that is 
not the primary appeal of the villa to them. It is the scale, simplicity and flex-
ibility (and flimsy construction!) which allow us to make of them what we want. 
This has maintained their appeal and survival into the modern era, beyond the 
street appearance that preoccupies planners and real estate agents.

This book does not aim to be the definitive word on the villa, a history or critical 
analysis. It sets out to be a “generous tribute” and it achieves just that: it is a 
smart, intelligent and enthusiastic guide and, like any tour, has a little something 
for everyone. Would I recommend it to someone who has acquired a villa and 
is keen to restore it “properly”? It could do them good. This is not a book for 
the doctrinaire; it is quite the opposite. As Reynolds puts it “a villa-like book, 
rambling, generous, textured, every room off the hall another possibility for 
surprise”.