Down
the long
driveway,
you’ll see it

This is a book of pictures of modernist New Zealand homes.

These houses aren't new, they’re old and lived in. They can be a little dusty, slightly worn around the edges and all have what antique dealers like to call “patina”. But they’re perfect in the minds of the people who live in them because of what they represent, which when designed, was a better way of living.

Mary Gaudin &
Matthew Arnold

Design
The International Office

336 pages
230mm x 300mm

Down the long driveway
Henderson House 1950 Ernst Plishke

Henderson House 1950 Ernst Plishke

Einhorn House 1950 Helmut Einhorn

Einhorn House 1950 Helmut Einhorn

Lang House 1953 Ernst Plischke

Lang House 1953 Ernst Plischke

Sellars House 1954 Guy Sellars

Sellars House 1954 Guy Sellars

McKenzie House 1958 Cedric Firth

McKenzie House 1958 Cedric Firth

Ballantyne House 1959 Warren & Mahoney

Ballantyne House 1959 Warren & Mahoney

Manning House 1960 Jack Manning

Manning House 1960 Jack Manning

Sutton House 1961 Tom Taylor

Sutton House 1961 Tom Taylor

Alington House 1963 William Alington

Alington House 1963 William Alington

Fletcher House 1964 Hall & Mackenzie

Fletcher House 1964 Hall & Mackenzie

Orr-Walker House 1965 Mark Brown and Fairhead

Orr-Walker House 1965 Mark Brown and Fairhead

Munro House 1968 Warren & Mahoney

Munro House 1968 Warren & Mahoney

Martin House 1971 John Scott

Martin House 1971 John Scott

Wood House 1974 Ted Wood

Wood House 1974 Ted Wood

Down the long driveway,
you'll see it

Photography, Mary Gaudin
Text, Matthew Arnold
Design, The International Office

Hardcover
336 pages
230mm x 300mm.
Helvetica Neue
ISBN 978-0-473-29961-3

65 NZD

Free shipping worldwide.

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The idea for the project wasn’t so much to document the houses in purely architectural terms, but to give an idea of the way these houses were and are lived in, as well as showing details of the designs and the materials used in their construction. The use of native timbers throughout these houses has given a unique feel to the interiors. In the Martin house, for example, John Scott used rimu for cupboard doors and matai, a wood which darkens with age, for the handles.

I also wanted to look at the way these houses fitted into their surroundings. All of the Wellington homes are connected to native bush, attracting tuis, fantails and bellbirds amongst other native birds. The owners of the Einhorn house, which backs onto the Karori bird sanctuary, sometimes see rare hihi feeding in their garden. The front of the Manning house is surrounded by an enormous pohutakawa tree which, from inside the house filters views out towards Auckland’s harbour bridge.

The title of the book comes from a phrase in an email from Bruce Martin giving directions to his home at Bridge Pā. Filled with a lifetime’s of pottery both from Bruce and Estelle’s work, together with gifts from potter friends, the Martin’s home highlights the particular mix of craftsmanship and design which is reminiscent of all the homes shown in this book.

Mary Gaudin is a New Zealand photographer living in Montpellier, France.
marygaudin.com