Down the long driveway

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Lang House
1953
Ernst Plischke
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Einhorn House
1950
Helmut Einhorn
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Henderson House
1950
Ernst Plischke
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Sellars House
1954
Guy Sellars
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Manning House
1960
Jack Manning
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RH Ballantyne House
1959
Warren & Mahoney
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Mackenzie House
1958
Cedric Firth
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Alington House
1963
William Alington
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Sutton House
1961
Tom Taylor
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Orr-Walker House
1965
Mark Brown & Fairhead
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Fletcher House
1961
Hall & Mackenzie
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Munro House
1968
Warren & Mahoney
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Martin House
1971
John Scott
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Wood House
1974
Ted Wood

This is a book of pictures of mid-century 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.

Down The Long Driveway
Henderson House
1950
Ernst Plishke
Einhorn House
1950
Helmut Einhorn
Lang House
1953
Ernst Plischke
Sellars House
1954
Guy Sellars
McKenzie House
1958
Cedric Firth
Ballantyne House
1959
Warren & Mahoney
Manning House
1960
Jack Manning
Sutton House
1961
Tom Taylor
Alington House
1963
William Alington
Fletcher House
1964
Hall & Mackenzie
Orr-Walker House
1965
Mark Brown & Fairhead
Munro House
1968
Warren & Mahoney
Martin House
1971
John Scott
Wood House
1974
Ted Wood

Down the long driveway,
you'll see it

First Published in 2014.
This second edition published 2024.

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

Hardcover
336 pages
290mm x 230mm
ISBN 978-0-473-29961-3

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