John Massy Stacpoole (30 September 1919 – 5 September 2018) was a New Zealand historian, heritage architect and bibliophile, who was responsible for the restoration of many historic buildings and wrote on colonial architecture and social history in New Zealand.

Early life and family

Born on 30 September 1919, Stacpoole was the son of Olive Stacpoole (née Lansdell) and Percy Stacpoole. He was descended from early Tasmanian and New Zealand colonial settlers, and was of Irish descent on his father's side. Stacpoole was educated at

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in N ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

from 1932 to 1935, becoming head librarian and a member of the school's hockey 1st XI. He later studied architecture at

Auckland University College The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loca ...

where he was a contemporary of

Stephen Jelicich Stephen Albert Jelicich (1 March 1923 – 19 December 2015) was a New Zealand architect and historian. Early life and family Born Stjepan Albert Jeličić on 1 March 1923 in Sućuraj, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (present-day Republic ...

and

Anthony Treadwell Anthony Lawrance Treadwell (27 February 1922 – 15 September 2003) was an early member of the Wellington Architectural Centre and an accomplished modernist architect, architectural educator and painter. His architectural work has been published ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Stacpoole served as an officer in the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment. However, he contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and spent 18 months of the war in hospital.

Architectural practice

Following a period working in architectural practices in Auckland and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Stacpoole joined the architectural division of the Ministry of Works, and soon became the advisory architect to the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage bui ...

. He served on the latter organisation's council and as chair of its buildings classification committee. He was intimately involved as architect in the restoration and furnishing of numerous listed historic buildings in New Zealand, including Ewelme Cottage, Waimate North mission house, Alberton and

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...

in Auckland, and Kemp House.

Historian

As an historian, Stacpoole wrote about New Zealand's architectural and social history, as well as family history and biography. He wrote seven books and many shorter works, and contributed nine biographies to the ''

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'' (DNZB) is an encyclopedia or biographical dictionary containing biographies of over 3,000 deceased New Zealanders. It was first published as a series of print volumes from 1990 to 2000, went online ...

''.

Selected publications

* * * * * *

Other activities

Stacpoole had a long involvement with the

Auckland City Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

and served as chair of the Mckelvie Trust, which administers the bequest of James Mackelvie to the gallery. In 2005, Stacpoole donated his collection of almost 1000 books of Irish literature to

Auckland Libraries Auckland Council Libraries, usually simplified to Auckland Libraries, is the public library system for the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It was created when the seven separate councils in the Auckland region merged in 2010. It is currently the ...

Death

Stacpoole died in Auckland on 5 September 2018.

Honours

In the

1975 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

, Stacpoole was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to the preservation of historic buildings. In 2004, he was elected an honorary life member of the Historic Places Trust. He was also a Fellow of the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum (), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory ...

, and in 2013 he was inducted into the Mount Albert Grammar School hall of distinction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stacpoole, John 1919 births 2018 deaths People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School University of Auckland alumni New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand people of Irish descent New Zealand architects 20th-century New Zealand historians New Zealand architectural historians New Zealand public servants New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century New Zealand historians New Zealand bibliophiles Architects from Auckland