Antrim House of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

, New Zealand, was completed in 1905 for Robert Hannah (1845–1930) and his wife Hannah Hannah (1852–1928).

History

Wellington - Buildings - Historic Publicity Caption Antrim House, Boulcott Street, Wellington Photographer G

This house was named after the original owner-builder's home county of Antrim in what is now

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. Notwithstanding the name or the origins of its commissioner, the house is styled in neither of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

's then dominant vernacular styles (namely Irish vernacular architecture and Ulster-Scots baronial). Rather the house is styled to the then popular eclectic mix of Victorian/Edwardian

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

. Features of the structure corresponded to the earlier tastes for Queen Anne and

Second Empire style Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...

s, as seen in the heavy interior cornices, the original though lost upper iron detailing and the central tower. The structure itself is mainly of

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

and heart

totara ''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane ...

, lying on concrete foundations. Until the leaving of the Hannah family from the residence, Antrim served exactly as intended: a display of not only taste, but also wealth of a

self-made man "Self-made man" is a classic phrase coined on February 2, 1842 by Henry Clay in the United States Senate, to describe individuals whose success lay within the individuals themselves, not with outside conditions. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Foun ...

. The central location served to highlight this, while the original garden on the sloping site in front of the house helped to enhance the features and the property itself. Inside, visitors found gas piping, electric lights, and the modern convenience of a piped bathroom. Paired with pressed-zinc ceilings, stained glass lead lighting, and turned features, Antrim House epitomised what was considered both modern and high taste. With the Hannah family departing the house in the 1930s, its central location and size worked against it. The house had fallen from fashion, and subsequently became a boarding house; a fate that many grand houses in urban areas have shared. During this time, the building suffered its largest ignominy; the fire of 1940. Features that had survived the departure of the Hannahs were now lost to this, and in reconstruction much of its decorative originality was not replaced: two examples are the asymmetry of the originally symmetrical windows on top of the tower, and the oddly placed Art Deco styled arch above the formal stair.

Cultural Heritage

Later the house was owned by New Zealand Historic Places Trust, now

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

. The organisation has both restored features of this now rare town residence, and it is currently their central office. What was once a site bordered by other homes in now encased by

Post Modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

structures. The building is classified as a "Category I" ("places of 'special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value'") historic place by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. File:Staircase and Art Deco window in Antrim House.jpg, Art Deco replacement window after 1940 fire. Stained glass windows above Antrim House's main entrance and vestibule.jpg, Stained glass windows above Antrim House's main entrance. Embossed pressed tin ceiling in drawing room of Antrim House.jpg, Embossed pressed tin ceiling in Drawing Room of Antrim House; the ceiling was made by the Wunderlich Co. of Sydney in 1905.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.visitheritage.co.nz/visit/wellington/antrim-house/
History of Antrim House
Heritage NZ website Edwardian architecture Houses completed in 1905 Buildings and structures in Wellington City NZHPT Category I listings in the Wellington Region Houses in New Zealand 1900s architecture in New Zealand Historic homes in New Zealand 1905 establishments in New Zealand

History

Cultural Heritage

Further reading

References

External links