Discover @ the Library
See what you can discover @ the library from your home and
about your home. The New Zealand bay villa is familiar to most kiwi’s and in
every town, city and rural setting you can see these houses being lovingly
restored. Why don’t you come in and check out our display on the 2nd
floor or read some interesting snippets on early New Zealand housing online via your laptop, tablet
or phone.
BOOK REVIEWS
Stewart, D. (2002). The
New Zealand villa: Past and present. Auckland: Penguin Books.
This book traces the origins and development of the bay
villa that forms a substantial part of our housing in New Zealand. The author
takes the reader on a journey through a typical villa, beginning with the
exterior and leading us inside, exploring the house room by room. The enjoyable
part of this book is the social history that woven throughout and the photos
that evoke memories of the past. This is essential reading for prospective
buyers and villa owners.
Petersen, Anna K. C. (2001). New Zealanders at home: a cultural history of domestic interiors 1814-1914. Dunedin: University of Otago Press.
New Zealand and New
Zealanders have been influenced by European design. Early Maori whare were deemed to be uncivilised
and therefore Samuel Marsden arranged for chiefs in the Bay of Islands to visit
his parsonage in Parramatta.
When the first three English
families arrived at Rangihoua in 1814 with very few personal possessions, they
were each allocated a room in one large raupo whare built for them by Maori. 1
Maori had
their own cultural significance of items within the whare and did not readily
take to the new English ways. The chiefs who adopted the foreign customs, of
dealing with food such as eating with knives and forks, retained their mana
because they were seen to be enlightened enough to make a choice. 2
1. p. 17 & 2. p. 23
