20 Orakei Rd (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

Early European land ownership

The residence at present-day 20 Orakei Road was built on part of original Allotment 94 of Section 16, Suburbs of Auckland at the southern end and on the eastern side of Orakei Road, believed to be an early Māori track.[1]  Measuring just over five acres, the allotment was originally granted to early settler, Thomas Macready in 1856, when much of the land around present-day Orakei, Upland, and Benson roads was first made available by the Crown at public auction.[2]

Born in Stanraer, Scotland in 1827, Thomas Macready (1827-1875) immigrated to New Zealand in 1853 and settled in Auckland.[3]  A watch and clock-maker by trade, he entered into a three-year partnership with John Stirrat in 1854, and remained in the watch-making, clock-making, and jewellery business until his retirement in 1875.[4]  He was also active in public affairs, making valuable contributions to the development of the city as a member of the City Board, Harbour Board, and as an Improvement Commissioner.[5]  Just two years after acquiring the Crown Grant for Allotment 94, Macready sold the Remuera landholding to pioneer surgeon, Samuel Hodgkinson for £250.[6]

Hailing from Nottinghamshire, England, Dr Samuel Hodgkinson M.R.C.S. (1817-1914) (Figure 2) was a graduate of London University College, where he gained honorary certificates in anatomy, surgery, and botany and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.[7]  In 1842, he was appointed surgeon superintendent of the New Zealand Company’s emigrant ship ‘Bombay’, which travelled to Nelson.  During the voyage, he successfully carried out the then experimental technique of blood transfusion, saving the life of a young travelling mother.[8]  Over subsequent years, Hodgkinson spent time at Nelson, Wellington, and Canterbury in addition to periods in England where he practised medicine and promoted emigration to the colonies.[9]  He returned to New Zealand in 1857 with his new wife, Mary Eliza (nee. Atchison) (1823-1902).[10]  They spent two years in Auckland before eventually settling in Southland, where Hodgkinson became heavily involved in parliamentary activities.[11]

It was during his time in Auckland that Hodgkinson acquired Allotment 94 and took out a lease on neighbouring Allotment 95 (Figure 3), where he built a “commodious family residence”.[12]  Following his acquisition of Allotment 94, he promptly subdivided the landholding into two lots, each measuring over two acres.  He sold the eastern portion (fronting Orakei Road) to Auckland merchant, Charles Petschler in 1858, and retained the rear western portion until 1860, when it was purchased by the Reverend Meyrick Lally for £600.[13]  It was upon this rear portion that the subject dwelling was later built (Figure 4).

Reverend Meyrick Lally (1809-1887) (Figure 5) arrived in New Zealand from London with his wife and family in 1853.[14]  His duties took him to New Plymouth and Christchurch where he served respectively as a Christian Minister and Curate, before relocating to Auckland following the purchase of his Remuera property.[15]  In 1865, a local newspaper advertised the sale of the contents of Lally’s residence, which was located “nearly opposite” the Remuera Chapel on Remuera Road.[16]  Although the subject site was in close proximity to the Remuera Chapel, this description suggests that his residence was situated on different site nearby.  The following year, Lally conveyed the western portion of Allotment 94 to John Alexander Wilson for £620.[17]

Born in France in 1829, John Alexander Wilson (1829-1909) was the eldest son of naval officer, John Alexander Wilson (1809-1887) and his first wife, Anne Catherine (nee. Hawker) (1802-1838).[18]  When his father was accepted as a lay preacher with the Church Missionary Society in 1832, Wilson sailed with his family to New Zealand via Australia, and arrived in the Bay of Islands in 1833.[19]  Following his education at King’s School, New South Wales and St John’s College, Auckland, he began farming at Ōpōtiki and later at East Tamaki.[20]  In 1855, Wilson married Anne Lydia (‘Lily’) Dent at St Helier, Jersey where the first of their 12 children was born the following year (Figure 6).[21]  On his return to New Zealand, Wilson served as a member of the Auckland Provincial Council and at the outbreak of the war in Waikato enrolled in the Auckland Militia, later receiving the New Zealand Medal.[22]

During his ownership of the western portion of Allotment 94, Wilson’s ambitious and enterprising nature came to the fore.  He took up government positions as special commissioner for confiscated land and as land purchase officer; wrote ‘The story of Te Waharoa’ (1866), which outlined the events in the life of the Ngati Haua leader and was one of several works he would go on to publish; jointly purchased White Island (Whakaari) (1874); and was appointed judge of the Native Land Court (1878).[23]  By 1879, Wilson’s Remuera landholding had been acquired by absentee British owner, John Abraham Tinne.[24]

Born in Demerara, Guyana to a prosperous Dutch father and Scottish mother, John Abraham Tinne (1807-1884) settled near Liverpool, England.  There he became a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire, and a partner in the trading company, ‘Sandbach, Tinne & Company’, a long-standing import business that contributed to his family’s fortune.  He also invested in land in New Zealand.[25]  In addition to purchasing the western portion of Allotment 94, Tinne acquired three adjoining allotments (108, 109 and part 110) that fronted present-day Remuera Road.[26]  He also owned 400 hectares of land in the Waikato, which was developed into a substantial estate named ‘Briarley’ and farmed by two of his sons.[27]

In 1887, a few years after his death, Tinne’s Remuera landholdings were conveyed to his son, Theodore Frederic Sandbach Tinne (1840-1913), an Auckland-based engineer who already lived on Orakei Road and was partner in the firm, ‘Fraser & Tinne’.[28]  He retained ownership of the western portion of Allotment 94 until 1895 when it was acquired by Mary Elizabeth Winstone, the wife of Frederick Brock Winstone.[29]

The Winstone family

Frederick Brock Winstone (1861-1919) (Figure 7) was born in Somerset, England and immigrated to Auckland at the age of ten years.[30]  Upon leaving school he entered the well-known merchant and carrier firm, ‘W and G Winstone’, which had been established by his uncle and adoptive father, William Winstone (1843-1924) some years earlier.[31]  In 1886, Frederick married Mary Elizabeth Hewin (1864-1937) with whom he would share two sons.[32]  When the family firm became ‘Winstone Ltd.’ in 1904, Frederick was appointed the first Company Secretary and Manager – a position he held until his sudden death in 1919.[33]

In 1897, following the acquisition of their Orakei Road property, the Winstones commissioned the newly-formed architectural practice of Fripp and Goldsbro’ to design a grand three-storey shingled home, which would stand as a reflection of the family’s prosperity and social standing.[34]  This was a period of increased construction activity following the economic hardships of the 1880s and early-1890s, where a new generation of wealthy individuals were ready to start building again.  It also marked a transition, and greater variation, in the architectural styles of the houses being built.[35]

The architects

English-born and trained Robert Mackay Fripp (1858-1917) (Figure 8) was descended from the prominent Pocock-Fripp family – a lineage of distinguished eighteenth and nineteenth-century British artists and dramatists.[36]  In 1881, Fripp moved to New Zealand where he established a reputation as one of Auckland’s leading architects and became secretary of the Auckland Society of Arts where he introduced architecture classes and competitions.  One of his students was Auckland-born, George Selwyn Goldsbro’ (1870-1925) (Figure 9).[37]

In 1888, the search for new professional horizons, possibly prompted by the down-turn in New Zealand’s economy, took Fripp to British Columbia and Goldsbro’ to Australia.[38]  On Fripp’s return to Auckland in 1896, he joined his former student in practice, bringing with him progressive ideas about residential architecture from Canada’s Pacific coast.[39]  Although their business partnership lasted little more than two years, Fripp and Goldsbro’ made a significant contribution to Auckland’s residential architecture.[40]  With their strikingly original work of shingle and tiled houses, their domestic designs paved the way for the Arts and Crafts movement in the city and directly influenced the work of other architects and builders during the early years of the twentieth century.[41]

The house Fripp and Goldsbro’ designed for the Winstone family in 1897 was one of several residences built during their short-lived, but important architectural partnership.[42]  Executed in weatherboard and cedar shingle, with steep roofs and tall chimneys, the Winstone House paid homage to the firm’s shingle and tile model (Figure 10 and Figure 11).  It stood within extensive grounds that sloped down to the north into the gully adjacent to present-day Waiata Reserve.  Other Fripp and Goldsbro’ examples included ‘Webbe House’ in Grafton Road (1896, demolished c.1971); the Queen Anne-style inspired ‘Bloomfield House’ in Parnell (1897, demolished 1999); and the more modest Epsom cottage designed for Goldsbro’s fiancée, Miss Aitken (1897) (Figure 12).[43]

A few years after acquiring their Remuera property, the Winstones extended their landholding by purchasing roughly three-quarters-of-an-acre of the eastern portion of Allotment 94, then in the ownership of Anna and John Bassett.[44]  By 1913, when drainage plans were drawn up for the property, a stable block and outhouses had also been built.[45]  It remained their family home until 1917, when it was bought by Agnes Graham Jenkins, the wife of prominent businessman, Harry Reginald Jenkins for £4,500.[46]

‘Te Roti’ and the Jenkins family

Agnes Graham White (known as ‘Dot’) (1882-1943) and Harry Reginald Jenkins (1881-1970) were born into farming families in the Taranaki (Figure 13).[47]  Following their marriage in 1906, they settled at ‘Dovedale’, a family farm near Eltham, and went on to have four children.[48]  Harry proved himself an astute dairy farmer and entrepreneur, extending his landholding and investing in a milking machine system invented by Cyril Gane.[49]  Acquiring patent rights to the machine, he founded the engineering firm, ‘Gane Milking Machine Co.’ in 1907, and demonstrated the machine across the North Island, later taking it to Australia and to the Royal Agricultural Show in the United Kingdom (Figure 14).[50]

In 1916, the family relocated to Auckland and purchased their Orakei Road property the following year.[51]  The move offered greater opportunities for the manufacturing and distribution of dairy equipment and machinery, better schooling for the children, and easy access to the harbour for Harry to fulfil his passion for sailing.[52]  In Auckland, Harry experienced continued commercial success, branching out to establish the ‘Gane Engineering Company Ltd.’, which took over the manufacture of the milking machine.[53]

The family named their new Remuera home ‘Te Roti’, possibly after the Taranaki settlement where Dot’s family lived.[54]  Positioned at the southern end of the street (then 6 Orakei Road), the property was located a short distance from the Orakei Road landholding purchased by Dot’s maternal grandparents in the 1850s to grow fruit and vegetables.[55,56]  Te Roti boasted large gardens and a tennis court, which provided an ideal venue for the many tennis parties and Gane Company conferences hosted by the family during their time there.[57]

In 1919, the Jenkins subdivided their property and sold approximately three-quarters-of-an-acre of the eastern portion to warehouseman, William Armstrong Boucher for £1,000.[58]  There he built a two-storey timber dwelling and garage the following year (present-day 22 Orakei Road).[59]  The Jenkins family remained at Te Roti until 1922 when it was purchased by widow, Madeline Savage for £5,500.[60]

Mrs T. C. Savage

Scottish-born Madeline Savage (nee. Cooper) (1878-1954) (Figure 15) married her English-born husband, Thomas Copeland Savage F.R.C.S. (1874-1915) in London in 1902.[61]  They subsequently moved to Auckland where their five children were born and Dr Savage quickly established a reputation as a skilful and highly distinguished surgeon.[62]  He occupied the presidential office in the Auckland Division of the British Medical Association, making valuable contributions to its scientific proceedings and journal and, for eight years, was a member of the honorary staff of the Auckland Hospital.[63]  During the First World War, Major Savage (Figure 16) was appointed second-in-command of the No. 2 Stationary Hospital, which was despatched with the Fifth Reinforcements from Wellington to Egypt in 1915.[64]  On the voyage, he performed two operations for appendicitis, and shortly after his arrival in Cairo fell ill.[65]  Just a few weeks later, Major Savage died from spinal meningitis at the age of 41 years.[66]

The acquisition of Te Roti from the Jenkins family heralded a return to Remuera for Madeline Savage, who had previously lived on Remuera Road before leaving Auckland in 1919.[67]  Around the time of the purchase in 1922, the residence was recorded as a ten-roomed, two-storey house with a slate roof and a single-storey portion to the south (Figure 17).[68]  That same year, building permits were issued for an addition and internal alterations to the house amounting to £300.[69]

During the twenty years she owned Te Roti, Mrs Savage was active in social circles holding positions such as President of the Auckland Ladies’ Golf Club and Chair of the Campbell Free Kindergarten; attending society functions; and hosting visiting family and friends, and fundraising events in her “beautiful gardens”.[70]  With children living both outside of Auckland and overseas, Mrs Savage also travelled frequently.[71]  In the late-1920s, she rented Te Roti to Auckland barrister, Warwick Wilson and his family, who themselves had been long-time residents of Remuera.[72]

Te Roti was first put on the market by Mrs Savage in 1937.  The then well-known Remuera property was advertised as:

However, it was not until 1942 that Te Roti changed hands.  The new owners were surgeon, Eric Macdonald, and his wife, Winifred.[74]  They undertook a partial property exchange with Mrs Savage, who made nearby 7 Orakei Road – a two-storey timber dwelling built by the Macdonalds a few years earlier – her new home.[75]  Te Roti would remain in the Macdonald family for almost 70 years.[76]

The Macdonald family

Born in Melbourne, Eric Ian Alan Macdonald (1901-1984) moved to New Zealand as a child with his family.  He was educated at Remuera District School, Auckland Grammar School, and Auckland University, graduating in 1924.[77]  From there he moved to England, obtaining specialist training at London hospitals and, while there, met and married Oxford University student, Winifred Maskell (1902-1992).[78]  English-born Winifred moved to New Zealand as a teenager in 1917.  After completing an MA in history at Auckland University College, she taught the subject at Victoria University, Wellington before moving to England.[79]  The Macdonalds returned to Auckland in 1931 where Eric commenced practice as an ear, nose and throat surgeon – a vocation he dedicated himself to for over 40 years – and Winifred became a well-known local historian.[80]

Around the time the Macdonalds acquired Te Roti, it comprised five bedrooms, a sitting room, living room, den, kitchen, two attic rooms, and two bathrooms.[81]  Recalling the condition of the house after the family moved in, Winifred described it as “well built but in poor condition with a great deal of papering, wall-boarding, painting and concreting to be done”.[82]  In 1944, extensive works to terrace the northern garden were carried out by A. C. Cotterell, who reputedly used the same stone as Mount Eden Prison to build the curved retaining walls.[83]  Other external works undertaken between 1949 and 1962 included the conversion of the old stable block to the south of the dwelling into a garage; the extension of the north-facing verandah; and the construction of a further garage.[84]  One of the north dormer windows had also been enlarged (Figures 18, 19 and 20).

Eric and Winifred continued to make progress in their respective fields.  Winifred pursued her background in history, writing articles and books – including Recollections 1850-1920: A Sketch History of Early Remuera – editing the Auckland Historical Journal, and lecturing.  She also made valuable contributions as a founding member of the Auckland Historical Society and the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), and was the first New Zealand woman to be elected to the International Federation of University Women.[85]  Her dedication to New Zealand history saw her named an MBE in 1978.[86]

In 1967, the Macdonalds had plans drawn up to subdivide their property, creating a separate, smaller lot to the northeast.[87]  There a house was built (20A Orakei Road), which was later occupied by their neurosurgeon son, Graeme and his wife, Joan.[88]  In 1976, the property was further subdivided to the west.[89]  By the 1980s, Eric and Winifred had moved into the new dwelling while Graeme, Joan and their three children settled in the more spacious Te Roti.[90]  The 1980s also saw the Macdonald family’s home feature as ‘Redfern Mansion’ in the hit TV series Gloss, a ‘glitter-soap’ that followed the opulent lives of a fictional family of magazine publishers.[91]

When the property was advertised for sale following Graeme’s death in 2012, his daughter recalled it as “a house of laughter and light…always full of people, food and music”[92], while his son remembered how growing up there “was like something out of the Enid Blyton books, making huts, adventures, bows and arrows” (Figure 22 and Figure 23).[93]  The following year, the property was purchased by current owners, Arthur and Mei Burns.[94]

New owners, new changes

Soon after their acquisition of Te Roti, the Burns embarked on a substantial, three-year renovation project.  Works involved temporarily raising the house to create a full basement; the total replacement of the slate roof with slate from the original Welsh quarry; large-scale internal and external modifications; and the further subdivision of the property to the west to enable the construction of two residences (20B and 20C Orakei Road).[95]  In 2019, a substantial two-storey extension was added to the north elevation to accommodate a pool house, a dining area, decks, and a library, which houses many of the Macdonald family’s book collection.[96]

As of 2024, Te Roti is still in use as a single family residence.  Although highly modified, the grand Remuera residence remains a characterful home that retains many of the architectural qualities imagined by its progressive architects well over a century ago, while providing the current owners with all the advantages of modern-day, luxury living (Figures 24-32).