Aro Valley Cottages Heritage Area

History of area

Aro Valley was incorporated in the original allocation of town acre sections when the New Zealand Company first settled Wellington in 1840. It was so named because the stream flowing through it then passed through the Te Aro flats before entering the sea near the junction of what is now Taranaki and Manners Street.

Most of the land in the valley was set aside as Maori Reserves; just 13 of the 36 town acre sections were originally available for Pakeha settlement. The sections were purchased by ballot that year and the land was acquired by a combination of absentee and local landowners. Settlement was slow and sporadic and initially confined to just a few settlers while timber was removed from the valley.

In the 1841 Plan of Wellington, drawn by William Mein Smith, the Aro Valley consisted of Wordsworth (lower Aro Street), Aro and Epuni Streets, as well as St John’s Street, which was intended to connect Wordsworth Street with Wellington Terrace (later simply The Terrace) but has only ever provided pedestrian access, despite being a legal road.

The properties were mainly owned by Te Atiawa of Taranaki who gradually left Wellington during the 1850s and 1860s. European settlement grew, but Maori retained ownership of the land and continued to lease their properties back to the new occupiers of the land. In 1855 the opening of the Old Bullock Track allowed the Valley to become an access route for Karori settlers to buy and sell produce in the town (the only other route for that was the present day Glenmore Street that connected Karori with Thorndon via ). But for all that, development remained modest until late in the 19^th century. The Old Bullock Track was later succeeded by Raroa Road in 1891 (which was built for Karori Cemetery traffic), which continues to ensure that Aro Street remains a popular route for traffic heading west.

By the late 1860s some of the acre sections had houses on them and over the next 20 years others began to be subdivided. European settlement stepped up in the 1870s as a result of the Vogel immigration schemes, but stagnated during the 1880s depression. It also remained constrained to some extent by the availability of land, and the contrast between subdivided and undeveloped town acres was starkly obvious along Aro Street. Thomas Ward’s 1891 survey showed that of the 36 Town Acres in the valley, only five had more than one house on them; by way of contrast, nearby Mitchelltown had 50 houses in 1891.

The following year a Native Court ruling opened up the reserve land for subdivision and sale and a pressure valve was released. Aro Valley grew rapidly between 1890 and 1910, in particular the first decade of that period, aided in no small way by an economy improving under the Liberal government. Development was further assisted by the extension of the electric tram to Brooklyn in 1906, with a single track up Aro Valley; later extended to the hill beneath Plunket Street by 1930. The service ceased in 1957 and was replaced by trolley buses, which continue to operate to this day.

Aro Street came under the jurisdiction of the Wellington City Corporation after its incorporation in 1870. It shared a boundary with the Melrose Borough until it was incorporated within the WCC boundaries. The area remained predominantly working class throughout most of the 20^th century and most of the people who lived in the houses that form the heritage area were of working class origins. Towards the end of the 20^th century gentrification of the area introduced more upwardly mobile residents, encouraged by the suburb’s proximity to town and the charm of its older houses. This has gone hand in hand with an increasing awareness of the heritage value of the area.

History of key structures

32–38 Aro Street

These cottages were constructed as part of a development of eight nearly identical houses – four on each street – on Town Acre 42, straddling land between Palmer and Aro Streets (then Wordsworth Street). Rate books indicate that the houses were built about 1879, as the first listing of the houses appears in the 1879-80 rate book. A photo by James Bragge from 1877 or 1878 shows no houses on the site.

The cottages were built by builder Andrew Bonthorne, who sub-leased the land from Robert Port, who in turn had leased the land from Jeanne Imlay, of Wanganui, and Hugh Deane of Bath, England in 1871. Bonthorne took out a mortgage for £1,400 in August 1878 and two more, smaller mortgages the following year. The houses were certainly in place by 1880 when Bonthorne requested a lamp in Palmer Street so that tenants of his properties could find their way home. In 1901 all the houses had repairs of one sort or another.

The houses have often been tenanted. The earliest certificate of title shows that the entire section was still undivided in 1925, when it was owned by Eva Dwan. She sold the Aro Street houses to Andrew Hamilton, a WCC employee in 1935.

32 Aro Street

Early occupants are not easily identified from street directories but by the early 1900s the house was occupied by John Fuller, a messenger. By the following decade the house was occupied by James Ogilvie, a railway employee and Mrs Elizabeth Cole, and by 1920 Ogilivie’s widow Agnes. In 1931 Robert Anderson, a painter, was living in the house. In 1941 the house was purchased from Andrew Hamilton by Peter Del Favaro, a carpenter, who lived in the house until 1958. The house was bought by Thomas Farley, a storeman, and his wife Mary. After his wife’s death in 1980 Thomas Farley kept the property for a further six years before selling it to Elizabeth Paul. The house was purchased by Francesca Brice and Kathleen Jasonsmith in 1998, and by 2003 the owner was Qbissima Ltd. The current owners are Vanessa and Douglas Robson.

34 Aro Street

By the early 1900s No. 34 was occupied by Mrs Bridget McGrath. She was followed by William Burgess, a motor mechanic, and by 1920 compositor Colin Reid was living there. By the mid-1930s David Kirkwood, a chef, and his wife Gladys, had moved in and they went on to buy the house from Andrew Hamilton in 1941. David Kirkwood died in 1980 and the house was sold to Ailsa Fyfe in 1981. In 2001 the house was bought by Kevin and Elizabeth Foley and Neil Taylor. The present owner is Juliet Glass.

36 Aro Street

The earliest confirmed occupant was Harriet Dixon, who occupied the house in the late 1890s. By 1909 the house was in the possession of Alfred Rudd, a plasterer. He was followed by Joseph Potts, a grocer, and then by 1920 Arthur Clifford, a barman was the occupant. He remained in the house for the next decade or so before James Saffery, a seaman, moved in. Andrew Hamilton sold the house to Mary Waters in 1941 and she promptly sold it to another seaman John Williamson. In 1956 Williamson sold the house to storeman Brian Guest. Guest died in 1977 but it was not until 1986 that the house was sold, to Tamatea Moeahu. The owners in 2013 are Wendy Averill and Graham Leech.

38 Aro Street

John Thomson occupied the house in the late 1890s and he was followed by Robert Butler, a labourer. By 1920 Clare Barton occupied the house and she remained there until for nearly two decades. She was followed by John Keating, a labourer and bricklayer, and his wife Caroline who bought the property in 1941. After the death of his wife in 1956 John Keating kept the property until his own death in 1967. The house was bought by Direct Investments in 1972 and it may have been then that the house was divided into two small flats. John Roberts, an electrician, bought the property in 1974 and then sold it two years later to Entier Associates. The house suffered a fire in 1979 and as a result the front wall of the house was rebuilt using 1920s joinery. Barry Godfrey a painter bought the property in 1980. In the early 1980s the house was bought and sold numerous times until it was purchased by Joseph Townsley in 1987. He sold the house to Purple T Investments in 1996. The present owner is Helen Gilbert.

40-42 Aro Street

John Jacobsen bought what was then Section 1 of the largely unoccupied Town Acre 40 from John Nicol in 1899 and began building two houses in 1900. The permit was granted in April of that year and as far as can be established Jacobsen, a builder, designed the identical six-room houses himself or bought a pattern book design. Jacobsen was listed as living in the immediate vicinity in 1897.

Initially the houses were tenanted. Jacobsen sold them to Harriet and David Brooks in 1902 and they immediately sold them to Roxane Dibley.

40 Aro Street

In 1907 the house was bought by Patrick Dwyer, but in 1922 a mortgagee sale saw the house sold to Mary Keene, whose husband was Harry Keene, a labourer. The earliest listed occupier was Ernest Obee, a carpenter. By 1914 Martin Wood, a cook, was living at the address. The Keenes were the first owner/occupiers. In 1929 the Keenes sold the house to Olive Haylittle and during her tenure the house was occupied by James O’Neill, a traveller. Frederick Davis, a saddler, bought the house in 1933. In 1943 Eileen Broadbent and Delia Silke bought the house and the former, a widow, was a long-term occupant, having bought Silke out in 1948. It was not until 1987 that the house was finally sold, to Lawrence Keenan, a hotel manager, who sold the house to his son Richard in 1996. He remains the owner. The only known alteration listed for the house was a repiling in 1989.

42 Aro Street

In 1907 the house was bought by Patrick Dwyer along with No. 40, but in 1922 a mortgagee sale saw the house sold to Agnes Cholerton. In the meantime the house had had many occupants. One of the earliest listed occupiers was Annie Contessa. It is possible that the house was then converted into some sort of boarding house as by 1914 three people were stated as living there. By 1920 only one name is listed, James O’Brien, an ashphalter. In 1924 Cholerton sold the house to Solomon Treister, described as a ‘gentleman’. He lived at the address but then sold the house to Samuel Treister (a manufacturer, and presumably a relative) in 1927. Treister continued to rent the property. By the early 1940s Lucy Ranston was the occupant, soon followed by Mrs Mary Hill. In 1948 Treister sold the house to Leon Saltzman.

In 1958 Saltzman converted the house into two flats, at a cost of £630. In 1961 for example, the flats were occupied by three men – John Jansen, a bookbinder, Brian Peck, a reporter and Stan Evans, a watersider. By 1967 the house was simply listed as ‘apartments’ in street directories. In 1970 the house was bought by Stanley Noble. He sold it to Olga and Freda Walker in 1974 and after being passed between various solicitors, the house was bought by Kate Jefferey and Gary Martin in 1985. In 1986 the flats were converted back into a single dwelling, at a cost of $11,000. In 1988 Robert Paul bought the house and in 1992 it was purchased by Leonie King and Darryl Carpenter. By 2003, it was owned by Michael O’Brien and Lynette Dobson. The present owners are Brent Gibson and Kylie Patterson.

44-46 Aro Street

Nos. 44 and 46 were built in 1899 by speculative builder Richard Keene. Keene established a building partnership with Henry Pitcher in 1886 and their premises were at Grey Street. Keene built three houses in all but No. 48 was subsequently demolished (date unknown).

44 Aro Street

No. 44 was originally occupied by Robert Rice, occupation unknown, who was then followed by Anna Flynn. After 1914 there was a regular succession of occupants over a 15 year period; Jessie Burton, then Edward Murphy, an engine driver, the widowed Ellen Murphy and then Felix Newfield, a union secretary, and his wife Georgina. The Newfields lived in the house for a considerable period. Georgina Newfield outlived her husband, who died in the mid-1950s. In 1967 the house was occupied by Stan Noble, a salesman, and by 1975 it was occupied by T. Melesala.

Subsequent occupants are not known but in 1981 the Wellington City Council acquired the house under the Urban Renewal and Housing Improvement Act 1945. The council sold it later that year to Arpad and Judith Boros. In 1984 it was sold to Arthur Kindall, who sold it to Alexander Drummond the following year. In 1998 it was bought by Charles and Jacqueline Pope. In 2002 the house was purchased by Stephen Wainwright and Judith Thorpe. They remain the owners.

The house has had a number of alterations since its construction, but few of these appear to have been external. In 1926 the then owner, Elizabeth McEwan (who also owned No. 46 for a period) made £25 worth of alterations to the house. In 2002 a permit for unspecified additions and alterations was issued. In 2004 an application for a new pergola, fence and shed was received following the demolition of the shed (thought to be the 1899 original) and the fence. In 2005 further unspecified alterations and additions were carried out at No. 44.

46 Aro Street

No. 46 was originally occupied by Bernard Watts, a bootmaker, and then by William Brown, a ‘letter carrier’. By 1920 the house had been ‘inherited’ by Francis Brown, a despatch clerk. It is likely that Patrick Dwyer had purchased this house in 1907 (as he had 42 and 44), as he was forced to sell the property under a mortgagee sale in 1924. The house was purchased by Elizabeth McEwan, who also owned No.44 for a period. In 1925 she made £50 of unspecified alterations and in 1929 added a garage and tool shed.

In 1933 Elizabeth McEwan died and the house was inherited by her son John, a musician. In 1936 he sold the house to Isabella and Margaret Morris. By 1941 the house had been divided into two flats, 46 and 46a, with Bentar Westheim, a tie manufacturer, and Sidney Reille, a driver, the two occupants. This arrangement remained in place for some years. Later long standing tenants included Charles Hutton, a civil servant, in 46 and Leonard Hamilton, a clerk, in 46a. The sisters sold the house to Richard Tolley in 1942 and he sold it to Edwin Daniel in 1949. Daniel was a long-standing owner. The house was sold to Arpad Boros, who later owned No. 44, in 1971, the same year the house was repiled. In 1984 Boros sold the house to Kerry (later Sir Kerry) Burke, a Speaker of Parliament, and his wife, journalist Helen Paske. It is most unlikely they ever lived there. Helen Paske died in 1990 and Sir Kerry inherited the house. It is now owned by Morris Flett.

39-45 Aro Street

Nos. 39 and 41 and Nos. 43 and 45 are semi-detached dwellings, built in Aro Street in 1903 by John Collins. Collins was a former compositor who had emigrated from London 1875 and later became Mayor of Melrose Borough. He first appeared in street directories as living in the Aro Valley in 1885, gradually acquiring leases on properties from absentee Maori landlords and building houses. He had a particular interest in Sections 37 and 39 (side by side). Collins gained a lease of Lot 5 of Town Acre 39 from Tari Tahua in 1889. In 1899 his wife Ellen bought a portion of this land from Tari Tahua. Many of Collins properties were placed in his wife’s name, a manoeuvre thought to be related to reducing tax exposure. Ellen Collins died in 1915 and the land was passed to Charles Collins (presumably a son). He kept the land for six years and then sold it to Isabella Philp, who subdivided the property in 1921.

39 Aro Street

After its subdivision, Philp sold No. 39 to Thomas Lawrence, a civil servant. Prior to his purchase the house had been occupied by Alice Topp, a dressmaker and her husband (or son) John Topp, an engineer. William McKay, a labourer, was the occupant for 10 or so years before Lawrence moved in. In 1924 Elizabeth Marks bought the house, but after a mortgagee sale it was sold to Annie Wrigley. Two years later she sold it to May Moore, a widow. She married William Stanley in 1935 and but it would appear they hardly lived there. Edward Glennon, a labourer and Keith Stewart, a storeman, and his wife Rose, are all listed as occupiers during this period. Rose Stewart lived on in the house for a short period before it was converted into two flats in the late 1940s.

It remained divided in this fashion until the house was reinstated about 1960 by owner Constantino Zografidis, who had bought the property in 1953. In the interim the flats changed hands frequently. In 1969 the house was bought by the Salvation Army, whose training college was next door. They made $4,860 worth of alterations. The Army used 39, 43 and 45 Aro Street as overflow accommodation before they moved their training college to new premises in 1982. Following its purchase in 1983 by Brent Goodwin, the house changed hands regularly and today it is owned by Kenneth Walker and Heather Mackintosh.  

41 Aro Street

Isabella Philp sold the property to Joseph Armstrong, a baker, in 1922. Prior to Armstrong’s purchase the house had been predominantly used as a rental property. The first occupant was Emma Sadd. By 1914 the house was occupied by Janet Galloway, a nurse and she was soon followed by Patrick Healey, a laundryman. The Armstrongs remained in the house for many years. Joseph Armstrong died in 1934 and his wife Sophie remained the owner until her own death in 1955. The house was inherited by her daughter in law Susan, who may already have been living there with her husband A.K. Armstrong.

In 1956 the house was bought by Iris Malloch who occupied the house until she sold it to the Salvation Army, which had its training college just down the road, in 1977. In 1984 Tim and Dora Parker bought the house from the Army and then sold it the following year to Darrell and Anne Grace who then sold it to Christopher Dezondonati in 1988. Tamsin Ruffell, a bookseller, acquired the house under a mortgagee sale in 1990. The present owner is Julian Silver.

43 Aro Street

Isabella Philp held on to the property until 1927 when it was bought by Harry Klenberg, a tailor. Prior to this the house, like many others in the area, had been occupied by various tenants, among them Arthur Petherick, a clerk, and the house’s first occupant. Klenberg does not appear to have lived there the whole period and Thomas Brown, a labourer, Albert Carnegie, a glass beveller and, William Faith, a driver, occupied the house successively up to the late 1940s.  

Klenberg sold the house to Lena Watson in the late 1940s and after living in the house for a short period she sold it to Agnes Ormberg in 1950. She sold it to Valerie Bown in 1957 and the house changed hands frequently after that. During this period Vasilu Ladeny, toymaker, and his son Zoltan Ladanyl, listed as a manufacturer, occupied the house for some period. In 1969 the house was sold to the Salvation Army, which used the house for accommodation for students at its training college nearby. After the Army left in 1982 the house was sold to John and Clare Schwabe (in 1983) and in 1989 it was sold to Andrew Armitage and Sally Hodgson (later Armitage). As of 2013 the owners are Nichola Shadbolt and Shane Carroll.

No. 43 has had few alterations since its construction, with the only listed modifications being a permit issued in 1998 for internal alterations to convert the kitchen/laundry area at the rear of the house into a large open kitchen.

45 Aro Street

As with Nos. 29, 41 and 42, Isabella Philp bought the property from Collins in 1921. During the early part of the house’s history it was divided into a boarding house of sorts and among the first occupants of the house were; Jeanetta Meston, Robert Adams, a student, and Gerald Cook, a draper’s assistant. By 1914 the house was a single dwelling, occupied in regular succession by Bridget McGrath, John Messon, a grocer, and a Mrs C. McMahon. Isabella Philp held on to the property until 1924 and then sold it to Harold Wood, a civil servant. Wood occupied the house from the early 1930s until his death in 1967. The Salvation Army, whose training college was next door, purchased the property that year. The Army appear to have used 39-45 Aro Street as accommodation for some years before they moved their training college to new premises in 1982.  

In 1982 Stephen Raymond, a mechanic, purchased the house. Stephen Raymond Clegg (possibly the same person) is now the owner. The house has had a number of changes with unspecified additions and alterations in 1926, 1929, 1952 and 1961, together with a repiling in 1983.