History of our Villas
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237 The Terrace
While most houses along The Terrace were owner-occupied, there were a few instances of speculative building . 237 The Terrace is one of three identical houses built for investment and thus had a succession of occupiers. Speculative houses had been a feature of Wellington for decades. As the capital of New Zealand it was the home to most financial head offices and there had always been a demand for rental accommodation in the city by people with temporary postings.
For a brief period around 1910, number 237 was used as Mrs J F Clapshaw’s private school. Not unusual for the period, most cities hosted a proliferation of such small fee paying private schools run by well educated men and women and unhampered buy any powerful central curriculum control.
214 The Terrace
This house was built about 1902 for retired and well known bookseller, publisher, and one time Mayor of Wellington ,John Rutherford Blair. Blair had owned the property since the early 1880′s.
Blair had come to New Zealand in 1869 and set up business with fellow bookseller (and incidentally near neighbour on The Terrace) William Lyon, as Lyon & Blair. Upon retirement the firm was sold to Whitcombe and Tombs.
Blair’s eminent position in commerce meant his passionate interest in education enabled him to be a member of many local school boards and a trustee of a number of educational institutions.
Other past owners of note were Messieurs J Lawrence & G Redmond
183 The Terrace
Like many houses on The Terrace, 183 presented two stories to the street but three balconied floors to take full advantage of what was unobstructed views to the town and wharves. Named ‘Kincora’, it was for many years the home of James Gratten Grey who had come to New Zealand as a reporter for the Lyttelton Times and had ended up becoming chief Hansard reporter for Parliament.
Grey had come from a family strong in journalism in Ireland and while in New Zealand was a contributor to French and American magazines.
202 The Terrace
This solid, respectable house was built in 1906 for retired banker William Watson who had been the chairman of the Bank of New Zealand during its troubled years of the 1890′s. Born in Scotland, Watson had had considerable banking experience before arriving in New Zealand in 1886, notably some long tenures in Ceylon and Shanghai.
Like a number of houses along this stretch of The Terrace, Watsons house was built on the site of an earlier house built in the 1870′s- Rayden House- which had been the pride of William Travers whose consuming interest was botany. Travers was a promoter of the Wellington Botanic Gardens and out the back of his property were fascinating gardens working their way down to the trickling Kumutoto Stream; now lying somewhere under the concrete of the city’s motorway.
Other past owners of note are Mr M Egan, President of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand.
221 The Terrace
This house was built in 1899 for Charles Ewe, manager of the Commercial Union Insurance Company. Born in England, Ewe had spent much of his career managing branches of the Bank of New Zealand before moving into insurances. Besides his business competence, Ewe was also a discerning and keen book collector and his literature collection was said to have rivalled Alexander Turnbull’s.
Previously, the house site had been occupied by the home of Charles Lemmon; the country’s pre-eminent expert in shipping signals and telegraph. Lemmon’s house back in the 1870′s was one of the highest in the city and for this reason he was able to install his own flag-telegraph station up there to signal messages down to the harbour board offices on the wharves.
226 The Terrace
This house, called Braeholm was built in 1895 for book seller William Lyon as a retirement home and was popularly referred to among his friends as the Lyon’s Den.
Quite solid and sober from the front, it was actually built right up against an earlier house which itself became incorporated in the new structure. This earlier house had been built late in the1870′s for James Gavin, one of the many civil servants who chose to live on The Terrace. Gavin’s expertise had been in auditing and financial control and his knowledge of government auditing was deemed by one biographer to be ‘second to no one in the Colony’.
