A significant landmark of Antarctic exploration has been lost to
Christchurch. Jo Bain look at what went wrong.
Much
had changed at Kinsey Terrace, but much remained.
Photo: Christchurch City Council
Christchurch is justifiably proud of its links with the great Antarctic
explorers. Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton set out on their
journeys from the port town of Lyttelton.The history of their visits can
be traced through exhibits
at the Canterbury Museum and also in the built heritage of the city.Warners
Hotel in Cathedral Square hosted a reception for Scott's party. Lyttelton
Museum holds a unique collection of memorabilia, and on Worcester Boulevard
there stands a statue of Scott carved in Carrera marble by his wife, Kathleen.
BEFORE:
14 Kinsey Terrace.
Photo: Christchurch City Council
Perhaps the most secret and also most special of the places
associated with this heroic age was a little cottage perched on a cliff
on Clifton Hill at 14 Kinsey Terrace. It was here that heroes such as
Scott,Wilson and Shackleton spent their last few days of family relaxation
before venturing into the Antarctic.The cottage, named “Te Hau”
was owned by Joseph Kinsey, prominent businessman, amateur photographer,
philanthropist, mountaineer and choral enthusiast, whose name does not
resonate in the halls of fame, but who was himself an integral part of
these adventures.
Kinsey established a shipping company through which he
became involved in the various ventures into the Antarctic by
Scott and Shackleton. He was awarded a knighthood for his
services to Antarctic explorations.
AFTER:
14 Kinsey Terrace.
Photo: Christchurch City Council
He, along with many of his social status, owned a large home
in Papanui, a suburb of Christchurch. This home saw many
prominent visitors, not least of whom were Mark Twain and
George Bernard Shaw. But it was to his weekend cottage that he invited
his more intimate friends. Warrimoo, that large and
gracious home, is long gone. All that was left to remind us of this time
was the cottage at 14 Kinsey Terrace.
It was destroyed on Saturday, 16 July, as a result of a Council-approved
resource consent process. Number 14 Kinsey Terrace was a significant heritage
place. The listing in the Christchurch city plan gave it a score of 8/10
for historical and social significance. There has been much debate surrounding
just how significant a place it was, and much of that debate has revolved
around just how “original” it was.
The building, designed by Christchurch architect Samuel Hurst Seager,
was one of several similar dwellings constructed in that area as part
of a garden suburb development of holiday homes. Hurst Seager's association
with the place probably
began and ended with its design. It was not for this connection that the
place was listed in the Christchurch city plan.
Proponents of the application for alteration of the site focused
on the architectural values of the place, and the fact that much had been
altered over the 100 years of the building's life. But heritage significance
is not only about buildings, architects and the fine details and finishes
that are reminiscent of an earlier age. It is also about what these buildings
and their settings tell us about the people who lived there and how they
interacted with the place.
A place can still have historical significance when change has
occurred.What must be considered is the effect that change has on our
ability to understand its significance.
Te Hau was the equivalent of an architect-designed bach,
where only close family associates were invited to stay. The degree of
intimacy and informality is apparent when one considers that the cottage
was essentially one main room with a kitchen behind. A partial screen
closed off the northern side of this room and perhaps this provided sleeping
accommodation.
Gentlemen slept outside, either on the verandah or in the
garden. Scott mentions having done so himself in his diary. Local legend
suggests this was part of his “hardening up” training in preparation
for life on the ice. Early photographs show that there was a rather odd,
H-shaped stone structure on the edge of the cliff that provided shelter
from the wind. Over the years, more accommodation was added, including
the meteorological hut, now next door.
Scott's employment of Kinsey as sponsor and attorney for his
expedition was the basis of a business association, not necessarily the
foundation of a friendship.Yet, such a friendship must have developed
for Scott and his companions to be invited to this private retreat. In
fact, Kathleen Scott continued to stay at 14 Kinsey Terrace for a time
after Scott departed on what would be his final journey.
Scott's diary records in his usual terse sentences, “stayed with
the Kinseys at their house Te Hau at Clifton”, and followed this
with a description of the cottage and the site and complained of the rough
tracks on the way over the Port Hills.Wilson's diary of Scott's ship Terra
Nova's expedition records that Kinsey was Scott's trusted agent, who saw
them to the boat and farewelled them.When he was dying in the Antarctic,
Scott once again turned his thoughts to Kinsey and their friendship, begging
that he consider the circumstances in which Scott's wife and family would
find themselves and seeking his support as a friend in the future care
of his wife (see box). He ended the handwritten note: “It's so good
to remember you and your kindness.Your friend Robert.”
The cottage and the way in which it related to the terraced
lawns, the rock-framed garden with a predominant focus on
succulents and exotic rockery plants, the water tower that supplied the
cottage and garden, the formal and informal paths - these were the elements
that gave physical expression to the significance of the place described
so affectionately by Scott. And they remained, even when much else had
been changed.
The rockery garden was particularly prized by Kinsey. He
collected stones from the surrounding hills and supplemented
them with stones from the ballast of the ships he served. Most
treasured were large pieces of granite from Mt Erebus, taken from the
ballast of the Terra Nova.There was also an ice anchor from the ship.
Over the years, the remains of Kinsey's flagstaff had been treasured by
subsequent owners, carefully moved from its original location in the centre
of the lawn and placed to one side.
The stone walling that separated the upper and lower lawns in
front of the cottage and the retaining wall that allowed one to step down
to the corner viewing point to the north of the site were in the same
location.These walls were now more formally laid, but all of the original
stone on the site had been reused in the work. Essentially, the only major
changes in the garden were the formal central stair and the growth of
soft plantings.The stone shelter had long gone, but its site was marked
by a low stone bench, constructed using the remains of the by then crumbled
form. The garden had never featured strong planted elements such as trees,
so change had also occurred in the plantings through natural attrition.
But the general choice of rockery plants and succulents had been continued
to the present day.
The building had also changed over time. But the changes had
been made with considerable care to ensure that the original
cottage was still identifiable.The work was a credit to the former owners,
the Fairhalls.They had acquired it in 1993 and lived there until the last
six months, having entered a prolonged settlement arrangement with the
present owner.
They had undone some of the less sympathetic alterations that
had occurred before their time and engaged a local landscape
architect, John Marsh, to restore the garden, adapting it to a slightly
more formal layout, but respecting the built form of the place. Many of
the plants there were of the same type as those in the original garden,
a garden that rates a particular mention in Kinsey's obituary.
Together with William Trengrove, a Christchurch-based
architect, they had lovingly carried out their work, designing the extensions
so that the original cottage remained as a legible entity. New work was
discernibly new due to the use of materials and construction methods,
but blended seamlessly with the original cottage.They constructed a new
chimney on the site of the original chimney, which previous owners had
demolished.
When they purchased Kinsey Terrace, the interior of the
cottage had been changed to the extent that it was no longer
recognisable as the work of Hurst Seager. But they ensured that the original
layout could be clearly read, by using buttresses that signalled the location
of walls that no longer existed.
Much of that work was consistent with acceptable change and
alteration to a building that was already altered at the time of listing
in the city plan.
So, change had occurred, affecting the architectural significance of
the place, but not its overall heritage significance. It was still recognisably
that in which important historical events occurred.
Sadly, it is now lost forever. We can only hope that its loss will
encourage the Christchurch City Council to recognise that while its present
planning processes have protected much of the city's heritage, there is
still room for improvement.
Heritage Protection in Christchurh
Like all local authorities, Christchurch City
has a plan that
sets out its objectives and the policies that guide the achievement of
those objectives. It provides rules about what
you can and cannot do without a resource consent. The plan
contains special rules for the management of heritage and
includes a list of places that are considered significant.
To be included in this list, a place needs to
pass a certain
threshold. Once across this threshold, it may be considered as
any one of four categories of place. Group 1 places are of
national or international significance. Group 4 places are
of metropolitan significance. Number 14 Kinsey Terrace was
listed only as a Group 4 place.
This came about because of the unusual method
the council has used to assign the degree of significance to each property.
Each place is assessed against a number of criteria, and a numerical score
is assigned against each criterion. In the
case of 14 Kinsey Terrace, while it scored 8/10 for historical
and social significance, it scored only 4/10 for architectural
merit. This reflected the degree of change that had occurred
at the time of listing. Overall, the place scored 18 points, just
at the upper end of the range for metropolitan significance. It
is the view of the Trust that many places listed as Group 4 are
of considerably higher significance than this listing suggests.A
unique 1960s suite of buildings known as College House is
one example. It reflects the mediaeval college form but was
executed in the brutalist idiom of its time. It, too, could be
comprehensively destroyed within current council guidelines.
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is advocating
that
the Christchurch City Council act to change its plan.
Places to Visit
Learn
more about the historic sites located in and around
Canterbury region of New Zealand
A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN SCOTT
Handwritten letter from Scott to Kinsey, 24 March 1911.
Photographed and pasted into the front of the Visitors’ Book
Kinsey used at the Clifton House - Te Hau O Te Atua. Held at Canterbury
Museum. Note: Some words difficult or
impossible to read.
My dear Kinsey - I am afraid we are pretty well done - 9 days of blizzard
(?) just as we were getting to the last depot. My thoughts have been with
you often.You have been a brick. You will pull the
expedition together I'm sure. Teddy ?? is not to be trusted over much
through the ??
My thoughts are for my wife and boy.Will you do what you can for them
if the country won't. I want the boy to have a good chance in the world
but you know the circumstances well enough.
If I knew my wife and boy were in safe keeping I should have little regret
in leaving the world for I feel that the country need not be ashamed of
us - our journey has been the biggest on record and nothing but the most
exceptional bad luck at the end(?) would have
caused us to fail to return.
We have been to the S.Pole as we set out - God bless you and (?) Mrs Kinsey.
Its so good to remember you and your kindness.
Learn
more about the historic sites located in and around