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IMG_0907A Te Mania, Conway Flat. Kaikoura NZ. ©

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Te Mania house, Conway Flat, Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Built 1937.

 

The Wilding family farm-house Te Mania, rural Conway Flats near the river mouth, south of Kaikoura, is a notable example of early modern New Zealand architecture. Influenced by Le Corbusier, and the Bauhaus. Architect Richard D. Harman of Christchurch. Built in 1937 of reinforced concrete in-situ. Clean lines, startling for the times, but practical and lasting; depending on advance and recess in balanced proportions. The plan was considered in advance for the time too, with spatial flow. The house has come to fit well with down-to-earth farming and became centre for its famous Angus beef stud. [300 hectare farm]. See also its likeness to other early modern examples by New Zealand architects, such as Connell's 1930 High and Over at Amersham, north of London: www.flickr.com/photos/peteshep/8177531255/in/album-721576... and John Anderson's Auckland Wharatane of 1928: www.flickr.com/photos/peteshep/7776625390/in/photolist-KV...

Architecturally, despite magazine stories, no "Deco" about it -- a misunderstanding of Modern.

It relies on its size, simple lines, frank concrete, and spatial rectilinear expression. It was softened by Virginia creeper as above; then green creeper was balanced with the Virginia.

 

 

[Conway Flat is a rural locality south of the Conway River mouth, 5+km south-east of Hundalee; Parnassus, Hurunui District.]

 

 

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Uploaded on April 30, 2016
Taken on December 29, 2015