An Ode to the New Zealand Villa: Celebrating this Quintessential Kiwi Home
As architects, we can so easily become caught up in everything that new house design trends have to offer, but it’s important that as we look to expand and develop to keep up with the times, we also take the time to look back at our past.
New Zealand has a rich architectural history that has stemmed from Māori whare through to the ‘quarter-acre dream’ that the British housing boom brought about. Even today, while our cities are expanding upwards and outwards, many kiwis still choose to live in stand-alone houses rather than apartments or complex buildings.
One of the first big movements towards this style of living was the iconic houses developed en masse up and down the country; the New Zealand Villa. While they may be a design that architects now love to hate, and we can all agree that they have their flaws, they have become a defining feature in what are now some of New Zealand’s most iconic neighbourhoods.
The History Behind the Villa
The New Zealand Villa was an insanely popular architectural choice for many suburbs and towns in the late nineteenth century, during a time when people were migrating here country’s first colonial housing boom resulted. There were enough local timber and production industries that the houses were able to be built in bulk at affordable prices.
Villas were erected from 1870 right up until WW1, and were the most popular choice for many New Zealand families throughout this time, making up many central suburbs in Auckland and Wellington. At the time, public transport developments such as tram lines and cable cars meant that they could be advertised as attractive subdivisions of cities to recent migrants. Now, they make up central suburbs, such as Grey Lynn and Kelburn.
Features of a Villa
Driving down a street of villas in central Auckland or Wellington, you’ll notice the houses all have those features that set them apart from other housing types such as bungalows. The Victorian Villa is one that is distinctly seen around Grey Lynn and Herne Bay, and it typically features a timber exterior—including its fixtures and fittings, with a metal roof.
The street-facing exterior displays a bay window to one side, with a veranda extending past the front door. The first villas were as simple as that, but they can be much more ornate and complex, featuring Victorian adornments, and no two villas really look exactly alike. In fact, the owner could decide on which adornments and accessories to add to their villa straight from a catalogue. Most of the parts were prefabricated—that’s what made them so cheap to use!
The first thing you notice stepping inside a villa is the central hallway that usually goes from the front door right to the back. The typical floor plan of every villa is very much the same. Rooms extend left and right off the front door, and at the back of the house you would find the kitchen and bathroom - previously noted as a service area. High ceilings and large windows are synonymous with villas and the catalogue-chosen ornamentations would usually continue throughout the interior as well.
Villas in Modern Times
You may be surprised to find out that a design as old as the nineteenth century would still be very much liveable today. In fact, villas are exciting and sought after because they hold so much potential for house alterations. They have long been renovated to allow for expansions, as well as modern plumbing and electrical systems.
To accommodate modern ideals of communal living, many villas have an altered floor plan to elevate communal spaces and indoor-outdoor flow. They also have the potential to grow upwards, and the properties they were built on are usually sized well enough that they can be extended outwards as well. In some cases, the only thing that bears resemblance to the original villa is that ornate front facade.
Common Concerns
If you’re looking at renovating your own villa, you’ll find that there is wealth of previous experiences out there for you to draw upon, so you’ll be well aware of the common concerns. Villas often suffer from inadequate kitchen functionalities—many of them still have gas elements. The plumbing and power outlets can be limited in many of them as well.
Renovating one can be a passion project, as aging villas can come with pitfalls, but it’s an excellent way to take a slice of historical housing in Aotearoa and make it your own.
Architectural Services in Auckland
If you’re looking at making house alterations, you can trust the experts at Gubb Design with your project. Our architectural services can help take your project right from initial planning through to completion. Why not get in touch today?
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