The semi detached houses at 61-63 Coromandel Street make up a pair of surviving Worker’s Dwelling Act houses, meaning that they have considerable historic significance. This significance was emphasised by the decision of the Housing Corporation to buy back the houses in 1979. These houses are one of the most distinguished of the range of the Act’s original designs and provide interesting contrast to the nearby Seddon Street cottages that were also erected under that legislation.
Between 1893 and 1912, the Liberal Government passed significant social engineering legislation. Among this was the first central government initiative to provide mass housing, prompted by the difficulties that New Zealand workers faced in finding decent housing or meeting costly rentals.
The Worker’s Dwelling Act was passed in 1905 with the aim of building 5000 houses. Land in the four main centres was purchased and a competition was held, to which the major architects of the day were asked to contribute designs. In all, 34 of 150 submitted entries were chosen and work began in 1906. Progress was slow and by 1910 only 126 houses had been built. By 1919 when the legislation was replaced, and a new scheme instituted, only 657 houses had been built.
During the early phase of the scheme, land had been purchased in Newtown and 12 houses were built, among them designs by Woburn Temple, an architect then working for the Labour Department. Work was completed on two semi-detached houses at 61 and 63 Coromandel Street in 1908.
The first occupier of 61 Coromandel Street was Sarah Mears, and it would appear that she paid rent. Within a year she had been replaced by James Pettit, an insurance agent. On 1919 Peter Christiansen, a packer, and his wife Helena, took over the house. They stayed there until 1963, together with their daughter Nellie Wilton and her husband, who cared for her parents. The Wilton’s sold the house in 1972. In 1979, realising the historic significance of these houses, the Housing Corporation bought the house back from its then owner, Gordon Benham, and restored it. Housing New Zealand remain the owners today.
The first occupier of No. 63 Coromandel Street was Fred Mears, whose wife Sarah was listed as occupying No. 61 next door. As with 61, the house soon changed hands to Benjamin Hibbard, a clerk, who purchased the house in 1926. He died in 1929 and the house was inherited by his wife. Following her death in 1932 the house remained in the family but was leased. The occupant with the greatest tenure was Edward Hurcomb, a fisherman, from 1936 to 1955. Following the purchase of the house by John Henderson in 1953 there was an extraordinary succession of owners and occupiers until the Housing Corporation, conscious of the house’s significance, bought if back from the then owner Graham Taylor in 1979. The house has now been restores and has been rented out ever since.
The houses at 61-63 Coromandel Street are large two storey timber buildings that occupy a prominent site on the rise at the corner of Coromandel and Seddon Streets. The two form a landmark in an area that is densely built up, with many houses dating to a similar period. The level of authenticity of the exterior of these buildings is high, although the chimneys appear to have been removed, and they have high technical values as examples of design and construction in the early 20th century. These buildings are extremely valuable as illustrations of the intentions of the Liberal Government in passing the Worker’s Dwelling Act.
