William Booth Memorial College (Former)

Philosophy House, William Booth New Zealand Memorial Training College

33 Aro Street, Aro Valley, Wellington
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Image: Charles Collins, 2015
Image: Charles Collins, 2015
CityView GIS 2012
CityView GIS 2012
WCC Archives 00053:174:9602
WCC Archives 00053:174:9602
Map

  • Constructed

    1913 - 1914

  • Architect(s)

    Fearn & Quick

  • Builder(s)

    Unknown

  • The former William Booth Memorial College is a very grand example of purpose-built training college designed in a Neo-Georgian Revivalist style. It makes good use of its prominent sloping site, particularly the approach of gates and steps that lead to the main entrance in the symmetrical street façade.

    The building has a strong historic association with the Salvation Army for the nearly seventy years that Army staff trained here.

    The building is a local landmark and has some group value with the buildings of the adjacent Aro Valley Cottages Heritage Area, although its size and scale is, and always has been, somewhat incongruous with its diminutive neighbours.

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  • close History

    • The Salvation Army built this large house in Aro St in 1913 as a training college for officers. The Salvation Army was founded in England in 1865 by Methodist New Connection minister William Booth (1829 – 1912) and his wife Catherine (nee Mumford) (1829 – 90). It was an evangelical movement which, from 1878, adopted a quasi-military structure. The movement spread to over 100 countries, among them New Zealand. It began with the arrival from England of Captains George Pollard and Ted Wright in 1883. They were quickly successful in gaining followers and a headquarters was set up in Dunedin. After the headquarters moved to Christchurch a regional structure was established. The Army was primarily concerned with society’s underprivileged and built homes and provided care for orphans, the poor, aged and alcoholics. William Booth himself visited New Zealand in 1891, aged 62.

      To conduct its work the Salvation Army conducted training of its aspirant officers. It bought land in Wellington in Aro St (then Wordsworth St) and asked architects Stanley Fearn and Austin Quick to prepare plans. They designed a very grand Classical building in the heart of what was a largely working class area. Construction began in 1913 and opened in April of the following year. The building was named the William Booth New Zealand Memorial Training College for the movement’s founder who died in 1912. The college was a national institution for the training of Salvation Army officers who had previously had to travel to Melbourne for training. It was designed as a residential college for 50 students, (25 female and 25 male) and cost 13,000 (including fixtures and fittings). The first principal of the college was Brigadier William Gist and the building was awarded the inaugural NZIA Gold Medal in 1928.

      The building was originally owned by William Bramwell Booth (1856 - 1929), the eldest son of the Salvation Army founder William Booth, and his successor as the Salvation Army’s ‘General’ or leader. Booth had intended for his property to be transferred on his death to his successor as General, but this was contested by his family and eventually a codicil was added to his will in favour of his wife Florence Eleanor Booth (nee Soper) (1861 – 1957), daughter Catherine Bramwell Booth (1883 – 1987) and solicitor Frederick Sneath, as trustees of the Salvation Army’s property. The property on Aro Street was eventually transferred to the third Salvation Army General Edward John Higgins (1864-1947) in 1931 and finally onto the Salvation Army (New Zealand) Trust Board in 1932.

      Salvation Army training took place at the college for nearly 70 years with the exception of 1933 when the college was closed for financial reasons during the Depression. The Salvation Army moved to a new training centre in Upper Hutt in 1982 and sold the building to the School of Philosophy, a non-profit teaching organisation, for $450,000. The Army retained a mortgage on the property, and an interest in the building, and were said to be “very generous and sympathetic to the principles of the school.” The school continues to conduct courses from the building, and the building has been used as a set location for television and film. It continues to hold some sentimental value for Salvation Army members who trained in the building and the current building’s owners note that they “still get calls from Army people who want to visit their former place of learning.”

    • Modifications close
      • 1913
      • Wordsworth Street [33-37 Aro Street], William Booth New Zealand Memorial Training College00053:174:9602
      • 1921
      • 31-35 Aro Street [33-37 Aro Street], two storey addition to south-west corner, William Booth Memorial College00053:211:11668
      • 1928
      • 31-35 Aro Street [33-37 Aro Street], new dining hall and covered walkway, William Booth Memorial College00056:49:B4818
      • 1929
      • 31-35 Aro Street [33-37 Aro Street], additions to hall, William Booth Memorial College00056:69:B6666
      • 1961
      • 33 Aro Street, building alterations, William Booth Memorial College 00058:201:C9188
      • 1982
      • Sep 1982 33-37 Aro Street, alterations to residential flat, within hostel, William Booth Memorial College 00058:0:C60202
      • 1995
      • BUILDING HERITAGE ITEM SR 9200426
      • 2012
      • Building Strength Inventory Section 124 Notice Issued SR 165229
    • Occupation History close

      Not assessed

  • close Architectural Information
    • Building Classification(s) close

      Not assessed

    • Architecture close

      The William Booth Memorial College is a very good example of a collegiate version of the Georgian Revival style. The comparatively large scale of the building has allowed the architects to produce a facade that imitates an eighteenth century Georgian country house. The front facade is symmetrical, with regular multi-paned windows and a rusticated base. The corners of the facade are also rusticated, and the entrance is marked out as a shallow portico, with four Corinthian pilasters rising over two floors, capped by a plain entablature and parapet. The central part of the facade is finished in stucco, while the two flanking sections are left as plain brick surfaces. All the windows have exaggerated keystones, and the main door carries a segmental hood.

      Construction is load-bearing brick masonry, reinforced with concrete bands, on concrete foundations and piles. Floor timber is heart matai, framing timbers are rimu, and the roof is clad in Marseilles tiles.

      In plan, the building is square, and built around a small central quadrangle. On the first floor there are 36 bedrooms, along with bathroom facilities and principal’s accommodation. The ground floor contains dining rooms, cubicles, a lecture hall, and, at the rear, the kitchen and service rooms. On the lower ground floor there are recreation and cloak rooms. Significant fabric and original spaces are still to be found in the entrance hall and main lecture hall, libraries, reception rooms and Principal’s rooms.

      The William Booth Memorial College is the most architecturally distinguished building in Aro Street, an area of mainly workers’ dwellings.

    • Materials close

      Concrete: floor, foundations, staircases, lintols, bands to reinforce walls

      Brick: walls, internal foundations, paving and arches

      Carpentry/joinery: heart red pine framing, heart matai floors, jarrah stair treads with red pine risers, red pine doors to vestibules. (note: red pine is likely to be rimu)

      Electric lighting

      Marseille tile roof

    • Setting close

      The former William Booth Memorial College is set among the small, low-rise workers of Aro Street, immediately adjacent to the Aro Valley Cottages Heritage Area. The building is set back from the street with a brick retaining wall, imposing gates including the fine flanking columns, a sloping landscaped lawn in front of the main college building. The building is set on a low rise and is a local landmark for size, setting and architectural style that dominates the streetscape of the lower Aro Valley.

  • close Cultural Value

    The former William Booth Memorial College is a very grand example of purpose-built training college designed in a Neo-Georgian Revivalist style. It makes good use of its prominent sloping site, particularly the approach of gates and steps that lead to the main entrance in the symmetrical street façade.

    The building has a strong historic association with the Salvation Army for the nearly seventy years that Army staff trained here.

    The building is a local landmark and has some group value with the buildings of the adjacent Aro Valley Cottages Heritage Area, although its size and scale is, and always has been, somewhat incongruous with its diminutive neighbours.

    • Aesthetic Value close

      • Architectural

        Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

        The former William Booth Memorial College is a very grand example of purpose-built training college designed in a Neo-Georgian Revivalist style. It makes good use of its prominent sloping site, particularly the approach of gates and steps that lead to the main entrance in the symmetrical street façade.

      • Group

        Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

        The building has some group value with the buildings of the adjacent Aro Valley Cottages Heritage Area, although its size and scale is, and always has been, somewhat incongruous with its diminutive neighbours.

      • Townscape

        Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

        The building is a local landmark among the low-rise former workers cottages and dwellings of the Aro Valley.

    • Historic Value close

      • Association

        Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

        The building has a strong historic association with the Salvation Army for the nearly seventy years that Army staff trained here. The building was owned for a time by the international leader or 2nd General of the Salvation Army, Bramwell Booth, and briefly by his wife and daughter as trustees, and his successor Edward Higgins.

    • Scientific Value close

      • Archaeological

        Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

        NZAA Central City Archaeological Area R27/270

      • Educational

        Does the item have educational value for what it can demonstrate about aspects of the past?

        The building has some value to the film & television industry as a location for historical productions.

    • Social Value close

      • Identity Sense Of Place Continuity

        Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

        The building has had few intrusive modern alterations and additions over the past 100 years and makes a strong contribution to the sense of place and continuity of Aro Street.

      • SentimentConnection

        Is the item a focus of community sentiment and connection?

        The building retains some sentimental connections for the Salvation Army staff who trained here from 1914 – 1982 and this is noted in a newspaper article in 2004.

    • Level of Cultural Heritage Significance close

      Not assessed

    • Local / Regional / National / International Importance close

      Not assessed

  • close Site Detail

    • District Plan Number

      16/ 12

    • Legal Description

      Pt SBDN 1,2 &3 of sec 41 TOWN OF Wellington; PT Sec 41 TOWN OF Wellington; Pt Lot 1 DP 2973

    • Heritage New Zealand Listed

      Not listed

    • Archaeological Site

      Central City NZAA R27/270

    • Current Uses

      unknown

    • Former Uses

      unknown

    • Has building been funded

      Yes

    • Funding Amount

      $25,000.00

    • Funding Details

      March 2013 - Grant of $25,000 awarded to fund structural investigations, analysis, and design, as well as an Architectural Heritage report.

      Funding Type: Seismic Assessment/Assessment.

    • Earthquake Prone Status

      124 Notice

  • close Additional Information

Last updated: 4/20/2017 3:01:40 AM