Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull (1868-1918) was the fifth son of Walter Turnbull, who founded a successful firm of merchants and shipping agents in 1859. After his father’s death in 1897, Alexander became managing director. His wealth allowed him to indulge his great love of collecting books, manuscripts and illustrations, particularly of or about New Zealand. He never married. His collection was the greatest in the country and scholars were invited to use it.
The Turnbull House Council advertised that Turnbull House would not be demolished and called for members of the public to donate to a restoration fund. F.A. Langbein, the then director of roading at the Ministry of Works and Development, called the advertisements misleading and noted that he believed it was “inevitable” that Turnbull House would be demolished to enable Bowen Street to be widened. Ian Wards, then the chair of the Turnbull House Council replied that …
“…citizens of Wellington – who alone could determine the future of Turnbull House - must show without ambiguity what they want. Wellington was not a concrete jungle without a valued past and a creative future, and they must support the restoration fund more generously than ever.”
There was strong community opposition to the proposal to demolish Turnbull House and the Council managed to fill the building with tenants, including a variety of small community groups. In 1990 ownership transferred from the State Services Commission to the Department of Conservation. In 1995 conservation work restored many missing exterior features.
His housekeeper noted that “Mr Alex, of course, lived only for his books. He was very reserved, almost a man of silence. He had the books even on the bed in the spare room. Cases of books came every other mail. He had his agents buying for him. Books filled his mind.” His indulgence was at a great cost to the firm and in 1914 he was forced to sell the family home Elibank. Elibank became a nurse’s home and a hospital was built on land fronting Bowen Street. Turnbull retained a portion of land and on it built the present Turnbull House; as a place to both live and display his collection.
Designed by William Turnbull (no relation), the house was built in 1916 by Campbell & Burke for approximately £6,000, the bookshelves were constructed by Kupli Brothers of Willis Street and cost an additional £729. Turnbull, by then chronically depressed, a near recluse and in failing health, died in neighbouring Bowen Hospital at the age of 50. He had only been in residence at Turnbull House for eighteen months. He bequeathed his entire collection of 55,000 volumes as well as manuscripts, paintings and drawings to the country with the intention that they become “the nucleus of a New Zealand national collection”.
The collection was so significant that even by the turn of the twentieth century it was considered to be New Zealand’s national library and reference resource. By the beginning of the twentieth century the collection included the Cook (presumably Captain James Cook’s) papers; first editions of Milton, Swinburne, Pope and Coleridge; and a New Zealand collection that included a fragment of writing by Te Kooti, the warrant for the arrest of Volkner’s killer and a Bishop Selwyn speech. In 1910 the collection was increased by the donation of duplicates from, Turnbull’s friend, Dr Hocken’s Dunedin collection. In 1913 Turnbull made an anonymous donation of over 500 Maori artefacts and carvings to the Dominion Museum.
The government accepted his extraordinary offer of the bequest of Turnbull’s remaining collection and went on to purchase the building (including its furniture and fittings) that housed it. Alexander’s older brother, Robert who resided at Turnbull House briefly after Alexander died, persuaded the Government to call the library the “Alexander Turnbull Library”.
The first curator, Johannes Carl Anderson, began work in January 1919. Anderson was offered a suite of rooms at the library but chose to live elsewhere, and the resident caretakers were Miss Emily Brouard and Miss Hannah Grierson. The New Zealand Listener published an interview with Miss Brouard on her retirement in 1944 under the heading of “She dusted but did not read them.”
The library officially opened on 28 June 1920 on the second anniversary of its benefactor’s death. The library was open to the public but visitors had to ring to gain admittance through the closed front doors to the collections beyond. The large room on the ground floor held the Rare Book Collection which doubled as the office for Johannes Anderson. The Pacific Collection was on the first floor in the New Zealand Room.
Bequests, donations and purchases expanded the collection. By the end of World War II it had doubled to 100,000 volumes. In 1955 the building was strengthened and refurbished to accommodate the collection. Exterior decoration was removed, and the gables were removed to be replaced by hips. The live-in quarters were reconfigured with the loss of the original kitchen, bathroom, pantry and the two maid’s rooms. The library returned in 1957, but by 1973 the collection had trebled, and the transfer of the collection to larger premises was necessary. The collection was moved to temporary accommodation in the Free Lance building on the Terrace, and then to its permanent home at the new National Library Building in 1989.
Turnbull House was threatened with demolition when the library collection moved in 1973, and the site was identified for use for a possible on-ramp to the new motorway. The building was given a stay-of-demolition after the Ministry of Works offered a 10 year lease to the Wellington City Council in 1975. The council appointed the Turnbull House Council (a group of dedicated trustees) to administer the building, but with the continuing threat of demolition of Turnbull House.
The Turnbull House Council advertised that Turnbull House would not be demolished and called for members of the public to donate to a restoration fund. F.A. Langbein, the then director of roading at the Ministry of Works and Development, called the advertisements misleading and noted that he believed it was “inevitable” that Turnbull House would be demolished to enable Bowen Street to be widened. Ian Wards, then the chair of the Turnbull House Council replied that …
“…citizens of Wellington – who alone could determine the future of Turnbull House - must show without ambiguity what they want. Wellington was not a concrete jungle without a valued past and a creative future, and they must support the restoration fund more generously than ever.”
There was strong community opposition to the proposal to demolish Turnbull House and the Council managed to fill the building with tenants, including a variety of small community groups. In 1990 ownership transferred from the State Services Commission to the Department of Conservation. In 1995 conservation work restored many missing exterior features.
Turnbull House was closed to the public in 2012 pending earthquake strengthening.
