A way of living - Modern: New Zealand Homes from 1938 to 1977

A new book on modernist New Zealand homes offers nostalgia for a kinder and more sensible age but also gives some hope for the future, says Paul Litterick.

By Paul Litterick - New Zealand Listener 

7th January, 2014

The house was built on a coastal site in Auckland’s Stanley Bay. Photo/Paul McCredie

Jeremy Hansen’s introduction to Modern: New Zealand Homes from 1938 to 1977 quotes an enthusiast of the modernist movement from 1943: “There is a striking new feature in our national life which when war-time activities cease will manifest itself with increasing force: it is a strong desire for better and truer types of homes – homes designed with charm and artistic fitness and a realisation of how deeply they are capable of affecting the well-being of everybody and the joy of life to all.”

This was a time in our national life when we more concerned with living than with property.

The young moderns, recent graduates of the Architecture School at Auckland University, were concerned with the home more than any other building type. They saw a landscape of dull brick-and-tiles, decayed bungalows and rotting villas. They saw that these were in styles imported from overseas, from Britain and America, that these houses were assembled from mass-produced parts by builders, with little consideration for local conditions. They longed for an architecture that was both modern and of New Zealand, simple and straightforward like the homes of the pioneers, before prosperity and decadence took hold.

The modernist enthusiast was a contributor to Home and Building, a forerunner to Home, of which Jeremy Hansen is the current editor. Until the 21st century, the magazine was published “under the auspices of the New Zealand Institute of Architects”. It was a propaganda title, really, one designed to persuade New Zealanders to commission NZIA members to build their new homes.

Full review at NZ Listener

Modern: New Zealand Homes from 1938 to 1977, Random House, $75.

About the reviewer:
Paul Litterick is a PhD candidate in the School of Architecture and Planning at Auckland University, who has written a thesis about architectural writing in New Zealand.