Plischke & Firth

Ernst Plischke (1903-1992) was one of the most brilliant of the European refugees to come to New Zealand at the time of the Second World War. He had already distinguished himself in his home of Austria as a proponent of the Modern Movement. He gained employment in Wellington in the Department of Housing Construction, and was influential in guiding the Department towards the modern utopian vision of well-planned suburbs, with modern affordable houses set to take advantage of space, sun and open-plan living. He was the designer of the new suburb of Naenae, and was author of an influential book at this time, propounding the advantages of modern design.

His partnership with Firth realised the modern movement landmark of Massey House, Wellington, as well as the Taihape Catholic Church and the Cashmere Community Centre. A number of his houses, particularly that for the Sutch family in Brooklyn, are amongst the most uncompromisingly modern in New Zealand. Plischke returned to Vienna in 1963, being made an Honorary Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1968.

Cedric Firth (1908- 1994) attended Auckland Grammar School and was apprenticed to a builder. He graduated as an architect, travelled in Europe and, on returning to New Zealand, he joined the Department of Housing Construction in Wellington. In 1948 he took a position as Head of Housing for the Town & Country Planning Division of the United Nations in New York, working on large scale housing schemes in Brazil and Africa. He returned to New Zealand in 1952 and entered the partnership with Plischke that produced, in particular, Massey House. He designed a number of houses during this time, and continued on his own from 1959 after the dissolution of the partnership. Firth’s legacy is a number of interesting modern houses, including his own built in 1941, and his book State Housing in New Zealand, 1949, which set out the housing philosophy of the Government and the Department of Housing Construction.

He had a strong social concern for accessible, standardised and good quality public housing, to be realised through urban planning on modern lines, and he influenced Government policies on these matters.

 

Sources:
WCC Heritage Inventory 2001
Wilson, John (ed). “Zeal & Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington”, (Christchurch: Te Waihora Press, 1996)