Fletcher Construction Company Ltd

Fletcher Construction had its origins with James Fletcher (1886 – 1974), one of New Zealand’s foremost industrialists. James Fletcher was born in Scotland and moved to New Zealand in 1908. He worked as the foreman in a building firm for six months before forming a partnership with Bert Morris in 1909. The company built the Dunedin municipal swimming pool, St Kilda Town Hall and Knox College.  By 1919 Fletcher Construction was operating in Auckland and Wellington, and further expansion included major shareholding in building supply manufacturers including timber mills, joinery factories, brickworks, concrete producers and stone quarries. By 1940 the portfolio of business was overseen by parent company, Fletcher Holdings.

James Fletcher formed friendships with politicians including Peter Fraser and Walter Nash and won the contract for the construction of state rental housing for the 1935 Labour government. This included the commission of various architects in private practice to produce plans and working drawings.

Various architects have been associated with Fletcher Construction, and these include F D Stewart, L E Williams and E R Wells.

Edwin Royden Wells (1887 – 1950) was born in Christchurch and trained with AH Hart, and later with the Luttrell Brothers. He worked briefly in Wellington with Penty & Blake and Crichton & McKay before moving to Gisborne, Timaru and Christchurch. He served with the Otago Mounted Rifles in WWI where he won the Military Cross for bravery and rose the rank of Captain. Wells formed his own practice in Wellington from 1920 – 1940 and is known to have worked for Fletcher Construction in the early 1920s.

Llewellyn Edwin Williams (1884 – 1967) was born and trained in Sydney, Australia. He was articled to his father, an architect and former stonemason, before a move to London for five years training at Kings College. He returned to Sydney to set up his own practice in 1913, and moved to Wellington in 1916. He joined Frederick Clere to form Clere & Williams from 1917 – 1923. Llewellyn Williams formed his own practice which endured in Wellington to the early 1930s and returned to practice in Australia in the 1940s. He appears to have been retained as one of the Fletcher Construction Company architects from 1926 – 1929.

Francis Drummond Stewart (1902 – 1972) was a draughtsman for the Fletcher Construction Company and later became their main architect. He was born in Southland and was educated at the University of Otago and Auckland University College. He worked initially for H. McDowell Smith in Dunedin and from 1926 to 1936 he was staff architect for Fletcher Construction Co. During this time he designed the Station Hotel, Auckland; Nimmo’s Building (1929), Hamilton Chambers (1929) and Brandon House (1931), Wellington; and, in conjunction with Herbert Hall, the Chateau Tongariro (1928).After leaving Fletcher’s Stewart joined the Housing Department (later incorporated into the Ministry of Works) in 1937 and held various senior positions over the years. In 1942 he was appointed Officer of Works and Camouflage for the New Zealand Army. In that position he was responsible for the camouflaging of all army units in New Zealand and, later, personal camouflage for soldiers. He designed pre-fabricated buildings for use in the Pacific, a task he later described as his biggest during the war. He was appointed Assistant Government Architect in 1952 and held this position until his retirement in 1968. He was acting Government Architect for several months in 1966. Stewart was admitted as an Associate of the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1936, and was elected a Fellow in 1958. He was a member of the Clerk of Works Registration Board and a member of the Timber Preservation Authority.

 

 

Sources:
Mew, Geoff & Adrian Humphris. “Raupo to Deco: Wellington Styles and Architects 1840 – 1940” (Wellington: Steel Roberts Aotearoa, 2014) 

NZHTP Glossary

NZ Institute of Architects Journal, Vol.36, no.2. 1969;

“St Luke’s Church (Presbyterian),” Heritage New Zealand website accessed July 2015 http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/647

WCC Heritage Inventory 2001