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GREYMOUTH Website www.cybl.co.nz
History
11 Rhodes Street, Merivale, Christchurch was designed by Heathcote Helmore, a respected architect who practised in New Zealand from the 1920s until the 1960s alongside his partner,
Henry Guy Cotterill. The 4 flats were completed in 1934. In this substantial renovation the owners and designers have attempted to work in the spirit of the architect’s intent to create a high quality building and have retained features of an American Colonial Revival style that Helmore applied to many of his houses. The latest owners’ idea was to preserve and conserve the original timber building rather than replicate Helmore’s original design scrupulously. The building has until recently comprised of four small flats. Over the years the interiors became such that the flats may have been unrecognisable in all but floor plan to Helmore.
Historical references suggest a Professor Thomas Gaire Rockston Blunt lived on a section at the corner of 19 Carlton Mill Road and Rhodes Street around 1927. This land seems to have been purchased from a Mr Clarence Dalley, Manager, of Papanui. Papanui had had one of the last remaining areas of bush in the Christchurch area and was at a distance from Christchurch in the early days of settlement. Professor Blunt’s section was subdivided in the early 1930s and the land was leased and then purchased by Violet Eone Jennings, a widow. Violet had married John
Jennings of Riwaka in 1928 in Hong Kong. In all likelihood she was from a comfortable family in
Hong Kong . Her maiden name was Parsons, a family who to this day have businesses across Asia that is connected to the music industry and has many retail outlets. Violet was possibly from this family.
Violet’s is the only name to appear on the available valuation documentation at this time. So we assume she commissioned this building herself after John’s death. Flats or apartment blocks were being designed in Britain at the turn of the century and were used to house middle class and upper middle class women of straitened circumstances who needed to be in employment. One could speculate that Violet lived in one apartment and rented the other three to such women or to couples who worked in Christchurch. Violet owned this property up into the 1940s or 1950s.
The next readily available reference to the flats is a plan to renovate the flats that was received by the Christchurch City Council in 1994. The building had acquired the name St Ives by this time and the plan was by Gjende & Associates Limited. The plan was not embarked upon, however the new owners have applied some of the exterior concepts of this plan.
Some of the houses designed by Helmore and his partner, Guy Cotterill who had travelled and trained with him in Britain and the States were quite formulaic, at least externally. 11 Rhodes
Street is one of these. They were of two story, rectangular design, constructed of timber with

exterior shutters on the windows and were generally painted pale colours with a darker painted corrugated roof and shutters, often a mid to dark green. The entrance way was typically a portico with a gable roof. There was generally low fencing and a spare garden design. This was an overall design born out of a colonial Arts and Crafts Movement and subsequent Modernism.
The flats at 11 Rhodes Street were substantially damaged by the 2010 and the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and were sold to Parfitt Place Developments in 2016. They have been literally rebuilt from the ground up starting with the new foundations. It was decided to capitalise on the simple, timber exterior look and retain as much of the timber and 1930s features on the inside where possible.
Tiles have been lifted from the timber floors and the Rimu and Matai original floorboards have been sanded back. In some places the original timber has been replaced with heart Rimu flooring recycled from a building of a similar age on the West Coast. The timber windows have been retained and double glazed. The deep skirtings, high stud and high doorways have been reinstated.
The floor plan has been reconfigured so that living spaces are more usable with the very narrow downstairs conservatory areas now part of the living areas and bi-folding doors opening out onto new exterior decks.
The previous four confined flats are now two spacious, and very comfortable, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 living room apartments with ducted floor heating that we hope Heathcote Helmore would appreciate and that Violet would have enjoyed.
Development Chronology
This property was purchased at auction, an as- is where- is building with the intention being to use the site only, demolishing the existing building and replacing it with 2-4 new units. There was discussion with two designers on this idea and, over a period, after looking further at the existing building, and reading some of its history and information on the property file, we decided to actually renovate it. Initially a plan was completed by MCD Architecture to reinstate it as 4 x
100m2 units retaining the existing body corporate and we had this work done to consent exemption status, then after further consideration decided to convert it to two large townhouses, each with its own title. This required a full building consent as we added double garages, dining rooms and some other spaces taking each house to over 260m2 of floor area. Consent was granted on Sept 1 2017 and we began the work soon afterwards, with completion at the end of September 2018.
The building was levelled to remove the existing sag (160mm at worst) and due to flood area requirements it was raised a further 100mm. A whole new ring foundation, supported on 600mm diameter concrete piers to transfer loads to the underlying gravels and heavily reinforced, was installed and the timber piles were replaced or strengthened. The sub-floor structure was renewed as required, new foundations and slabs formed for the extensions to the building, new structural steel supporting beams and bracing portals were installed with new wall and roof framing as required. The whole building has new roofing, spouting, new plumbing and drains, as well as a whole new electrical system. Walls, ceiling and floors are fully insulated, double glazing was installed to existing and new timber windows and doors, and all interior linings, doors and hardware are new. Bathrooms are fully tiled over 13mm aqualine gib with Italian tiles and undertile heating. The houses have new gas Rinnai hot water systems, new ducted central heating, and cooling, run from exterior Daiken heat pumps. A landscape designer was engaged and and new exposed aggregate concrete driveways, decking, fencing and paving have been added to the exterior. Resene paints were used on both interior and exterior. Colours are warm and neutral and were carefully selected to reflect the classic style and blend in with surrounding buildings.

Over 9000 man hours have been spent on carpentry and foundation work, in addition to all the other trades.
There were plenty of challenges, the main one being the levelling and raising of the building which we did ourselves with advice from an expert who is a previous employee. The building had subsided 160mm at the worst spot and in addition, we were required to raise the entire building by
100mm to meet flood zone requirements. Parts of the building were raised by 260mm.
The site is tight with limited access, foundations were deep and took a lot of time, and generally every part of the building has been affected by the work. All incoming and existing services have been replaced.
The coordination of the 40 different trades/suppliers involved was extremely challenging. These included: reinforcing supply, concrete supply, concrete placing, vacuum excavation to foundations, truss manufacturers, structural steel, roofers, spouting and downpipes, plumbing, drainage, electrical, telecoms, scaffolders, central heating, tiling, gib fixing, gib stopping, painting, kitchen joinery, interior doors, hardware, glazing, exterior doors and windows, concrete driveways, exterior plastering, plumbing fittings supply, wardrobes, floor sanders, lighting supply, appliances supply, tile supply, finishing timbers supply, materials supply, landscaping suppliers.……..
Favourite aspects of the process and final result
The most enjoyable aspect of this project was being able to make all the decisions as developer, including design, and watching the building come back to life. The teamwork on this project was outstanding. MCD Architecture and the various consultants, trades and suppliers were a team motivated by a desire to do a good job.