This building was the original home for the Wellington Girls College. During the 1870s, the master’s of Wellington College had tried out the idea of higher education for girls. The idea was a success, and the founding fathers of the school decided to lease this building in order to open the Wellington Girls’ High School. In October 1882 a ‘Lady Principal’, Miss Martha Hamilton from Christchurch, was appointed and the school opened on the 2nd February 1883, with 40 girls.
The girls were taught a broad range of subjects including: French, algebra, sciences, history, maths, English, and geography, and those who had the intention of going to university studied Latin. The school was private, so parents paid full fees and had some control over what was taught, and this is how drawing, needlework, and vocal music all came to be included in the curriculum.
By the end of 1883 there were nearly 100 students at the school and the classes were overflowing and in 1884 a visit to the school by the Premier, the Right Honourable Robert Stout, saw crowded classrooms, girls sitting three to a seat, and when the bell rang, a 130 girls, 5 staff, and 4 visitors poured through the tiny corridors to change classrooms. Sir Robert declared that he had not known that things were so bad, to which Miss Hamilton replied, ‘we cope as best we can. I have written to the Government asking for a tent’. As a result of the visit, it was decided that a larger school was needed, and a site was found on Pipitea Street.
Following the school’s departure from the building, it appears to have been converted to residential use.
By 1962 the house was in the ownership of Dr Hope Gibbons, who had the dwelling converted into four separate flats. The building has been residential since this time and appears to have had few external changes.
The house is clad in shiplap weatherboards, and the end gable is decorated with a finial, while the gable and roof line are decorated with double eaves and ornate brackets. There are label mounds over the windows. The verandah posts at the front door are modelled on Corinthian columns. The building is a simple colonial design and is an excellent example of early Victorian architecture.
