Former Chapman-Taylor Workshop

“Home Crafts”

113 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Photo: Charles Collins, 2015
Image: WCC - Charles Collins, 2015
Map

  • Constructed

    1912

  • Architect(s)

    James Walter Chapman-Taylor

  • Builder(s)

  • This modestly scaled building was designed and built as James Chapman-Taylor’s showroom and workshop. He was an architect, builder, and furniture designer and maker in the Arts and Crafts tradition.

    The building highlights his early career design and construction standards, and is a good example of the Arts and Crafts style. The building’s charm lies in its scale, materials and shapes.

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  • close History

    • James Walter Chapman-Taylor began developing his ‘design and build’ business from about 1905. He gained inspiration from a tour of England in 1909 and came back with new ambitions and ideas. His inspiration, the British Arts and Crafts movement, ‘promoted a return to the traditional English cottage style, with interior features of crafted timber work, whitewashed walls, large exposed beams and lintels, multi-paned windows and hand-crafted fittings.’ At this time his workshop was in Shannon St, Island Bay, but he decided to build new premises in Thorndon.

      The plans are dated 1911 and the work was completed the following year, at an estimated cost of £780. The building of “Home Crafts”, as he called it, was a major career decision, for not only did Chapman-Taylor attract a fashionable clientele but he now had a smart new showroom to exhibit his furniture. Many of his specifications in this period referred clients to view the building’s style and detail.

      The Chapman-Taylors used the premises as a workplace and ‘pied-de-terre’ which grew to be more of a home than business premises as their life-style changed. The family was living at ‘Sunshine’ Chatsworth Road, Silverstream in 1911, and retained this property until 1918. Around 1914 Chapman-Taylor and his wife Mary sought medical advice for her weakening heart condition. This led to a voyage to England for treatment. On their return, Molesworth St provided proximity to medical facilities so the family stayed in the city. It took over the entire upper floor of the Molesworth St building - the “drafting room and store” in the original plans. Changes had to be made, with the conversion of these spaces into a living room, kitchen and bedrooms, with a dining room in the architect’s office. Mary gave birth to their fifth child at Home Crafts but she died soon after in October 1916.

      The workroom combined to serve as a joinery factory as son Rex helped his father produce the ‘Liverpool’ spinning wheels during World War I, part of Lady Liverpool’s war effort. Other design work took Chapman-Taylor to Hawkes Bay during the decade from 1912-1922. He shifted from Home Crafts to Havelock North in 1919.

      There was a succession of tenants thereafter although it is not known when Home Crafts was finally sold.

      A two-storey addition at the back of the building, over what was once the workshop’s timber yard, was designed in the 1940s and built in the early 1950s. It was originally thought that the architect was Ernst Plischke, though it was more likely his architectural partner, Cedric Firth, whose signature is on the plans.

      In the 1980s the former Chapman-Taylor workshop became subject to the development pressures that many of Wellington’s heritage buildings were experiencing. In 1989 the owners sold the building to Renouf Property Developments Ltd. as part of a proposal to build a twelve-storey office and parking complex. When consent for the proposal was declined, the owners repurchased the property mere months later.

      The building’s primary heritage value comes from its association with James Walter Chapman-Taylor. Chapman-Taylor was New Zealand’s preeminent Arts and Crafts architect, and his workshop is an important historical architectural artefact and statement on his practice.

  • close Architectural Information
    • Building Classification(s) close

      Not assessed

    • Architecture close

      “Home-Crafts” was in many ways a showcase of Chapman-Taylor’s Arts and Crafts idealism, being built as showroom, workshop and flat, and incorporating at one time a drafting studio. The internal uses have changed over the years but the Molesworth Street front building has been preserved largely intact.

      The ground floor interior has an inglenook – a feature that was one of Chapman-Taylor’s trademarks. The beam over the nook has the motto: Not All of Ye Shall Die – a touch completely in character with this eccentric but admirable craftsman.

      Little can be determined about the additions to the rear of the building. The original Chapman-Taylor showroom at the front is of particular significance, contributing an unusual and charming note to the Molesworth Street townscape.

    • Materials close

      Masonry and timber:

      This is essentially a domestic design, incorporating very English ideas of detail and scale – a building of clean profiles and lines, multi-paned leadlight windows, Marseilles tile roof, and pronounced timber window lintels.

      The construction is load-bearing brick masonry on concrete foundations and piles. The bricks are laid, according to specifications, as a pattern of three courses of stretchers and one course of headers. Internal timber beams are of jarrah. The rear wall is of reinforced concrete, and the ground floor is laid in two-foot square concrete flagstones with chamfered corners.

    • Setting close

      The former Chapman-Taylor is located at the western end of Molesworth Street, an area mostly comprised of office buildings, retail shops, apartments, and a supermarket. Formerly a street of houses, shops and hotels, the former Chapman-Taylor workshop is an uncommon survivor of its time.

      Thorndon is an area rich in built heritage, and the workshop makes a valuable addition to that. There are other Chapman-Taylor designed Arts and Crafts houses in the area (HPT registered, numbers 1376 and 1387).

  • close Cultural Value

    The modestly scaled, almost domestic, building was designed and built as the showroom and workshop of James Walter Chapman-Taylor. As an architect, builder, and furniture designer and maker in the Arts and Crafts tradition, Chapman-Taylor is without peer either in Wellington or New Zealand. The former Chapman-Taylor workshop building therefore has historic value for the light it sheds on his career, on his early methods of working, and of his design and construction standards at an early time in his career.

    As a work of architecture in its own right, the former Chapman-Taylor workshop is a good example of the Arts and Crafts style. The building has a charm in its scale, materials and shapes that give it considerable aesthetic appeal.

    The former Chapman-Taylor workshop provides a welcome contrast in the townscape to its high-rise neighbours, occupying a visible corner alongside a motorway on-ramp.

    • Aesthetic Value close

      • Architectural

        Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

        As a work of architecture in its own right, the former Chapman-Taylor workshop is a good example of the Arts and Crafts style. The building has a charm in its scale, materials and shape that give it considerable aesthetic appeal.

      • Townscape

        Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

        The former Chapman-Taylor workshop provides a welcome contrast in the townscape to its high-rise neighbours, occupying a visible corner alongside a motorway on-ramp.

    • Historic Value close

      • Association

        Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

        The modestly scaled, almost domestic, building was designed and built as the showroom and workshop of James Walter Chapman-Taylor. As an architect, builder, and furniture designer and maker in the Arts and Crafts tradition, Chapman-Taylor is without peer either in Wellington or New Zealand. The former Chapman-Taylor workshop building therefore has historic value for the light it sheds on his career, on his early methods of working, and of his design and construction standards at an early time in his career.

    • Scientific Value close

      • Archaeological

        Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

        Central City NZAA R27/270. The site is also close to Pipitea Pa.

    • Social Value close

      • Identity/Sense of place/Continuity

        Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

        The former Chapman-Taylor workshop provides a rare link back to the time when Molesworth Street was one of the most diverse and interesting streets in the city.

    • Level of Cultural Heritage Significance close

      • Authentic

        Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

        The exterior and several important interior features, particularly the ingle-nook fireplace, are in authentic condition.

      • Representative

        Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

        The workshop is a good representative of Arts and Craft styled building.

      • Local/Regional/National/International

        Is the item important for any of the above characteristics at a local, regional, national, or international level?

        The item is important at a national level.

    • Local / Regional / National / International Importance close

      Not assessed

  • close Site Detail

    • District Plan Number

      18/ 217

    • Legal Description

      Pt Sec 578 Town of Wellington

    • Heritage New Zealand Listed

      1/Not listed (Listing proposal 1411)

    • Archaeological Site

      Central City NZAA R27/270. The site is also close to Pipitea Pa.

    • Current Uses

      unknown

    • Former Uses

      unknown

    • Has building been funded

      No

    • Funding Amount

      Not applicable

    • Earthquake Prone Status

      Not Earthquake Prone

  • close Additional Information
    • Sources close
      • Permit OC 9021. ‘Brick store and workshop, 113 Molesworth St, plans and specifications’. Wellington City Council Archives
      • Personal communication with Judy Siers 26 August, 1998
      • Morrell, Vivienne. ‘Draft - Registration Report for a Historic Place: Chapman-Taylor’s Workshop and Showroom (Former), Wellington (Register no. 1411)’. NZHPT, 25 March 2013
      • NZHPT. ‘Chapman-Taylor, James Walter – Architect’, last accessed August 2013, at
      • Siers J. ‘James Walter Chapman-Taylor’. In The Onslow Historian, Vol.24, Numbers 1 and 2, 1994
      • Wellington City Council Archive File 1041-06-MOL113.
    • Technical Documentation close
    • Footnotes close

      Not available

Last updated: 4/22/2024 2:01:00 AM