Cabragh House

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section is currently in the middle of an expansion or major revamping.
However, you are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. Please view the edit history should you wish to contact the person who placed this template. If this article has not been edited in a while please remove this template. If you are making a large edit, consider using {{inuse}} to avoid other editors attempting to edit the article, and producing edit conflicts.


Coordinates: 41.2667° S 173.2932° E Cabragh House (school and residence) is considered an historic site for exemplarising late Victorian furnishings and provincial New Zealand vernacular architecture. The former site of Cabragh House School, now known as Amber House, is pending registration as a New Zealand Historic Place

Cabragh House is a timber house in late Victorian architectural style constructed in Nelson, New Zealand in circa 1897.

There are certain constraints imposed by using timber framing as a means of construction and this, together with certain commonalities of style, has meant that many houses constructed of wood during that time, at widely disparate colonial locations throughout the world, share certain similarities. Our article on Victorian architecture has further examples.

Compare these three, for example:

Contents

The american Queen Anne style in Lebanon, Illinois.

A "gingerbread" house photographed between 1890 and 1910 in Woonsocket.

A Victorian house in Alameda, California

[edit] Location

Cabragh House's location may be viewed on Google earth maps via this link: 41.2667° S 173.2932° E. This reference also provides an opportunity to examine satellite imagery which clearly shows how land reclamation to the North of Cabragh House has moved the shoreline considerably northwards from when the house was originally built on the shores of the Nelson Inlet.

[edit] Ownership History

According to provincial records, on 7 August 1901, John P Hornsby, a Nelson accountant, purchased land in Weka Street (part sections of Section 258 and 260 and, later, Section 262. These sections already held two dwellings (now numbered 46 and 48) but then known as 36 and 38 Weka Street respectively.

Originally, it seems, the larger two-storey house at 36 was the dwelling and residence of Mr Hornsby and his daughters (known as the misses Hornsby. Then the single storey house at 38 was used as a private school for girls and little boys, as indicated by the 1910 Electoral Register. Between 1909 and 1917 Cabragh House School was heavily promoted in local almanacs, street directories and the Post & Telegraph New Zealand Directory.

Although this Hornsby land transfer was registered in 1901 it is probable that both buildings existed before this time.
The Architectural design of both Cabragh House and the adjoining Amber House indicates a date of construction for both houses somewhere between 1895 and 1905. To support this contention, an original photograph, principally of the two-storey house then at 36 Weka Street, has printed on its reverse “CABRAGH House school & home, Weka Street, Nelson NZ. Late 1890s school started & staffed by Hornsby sisters Charlotte (Lizzy), Ruth & Janetta”. Municipal drain layer plans and sheets also indicate a probable date of erection for both houses in early 1897.

It seems that the private school business was a winner in provincial Nelson - especially if you had the qualifications. Records indicate Miss J M Hornsby (Jannetta) also had rooms in Trafalgar Street as a teacher of pianoforte, theory, singing, elocution and languages as well as being Principal of Cabragh House School.

However, a search of the deeds reveals that none of the sisters Hornsby ever owned legal title to either the School or Dwelling House located at either 36 or 38 Weka Street.

In February 1908, John Hornsby mortgaged 38 Weka Street (Cabragh House) for government advances, although the reason is not clear. It could be speculated that money was needed for improvements to the properties as, after 1906 but prior to 1920, the two storey building that had previously been the dwelling was renovated extensively with top storey balconies and awnings added. This may have been necessary due to a change of use as, around this time, the larger two-storied building (now renumbered from 36 to 46) was used exclusively as classrooms and the smaller single storey building (now renumbered from 38 to 48 Weka Street) as a dwelling.

[edit] School

It is a source of confusion that the building later known as Amber House was, during this period, known as Cabragh House School and the previous single-storey school house that had now become a residence also retained its original title of Cabragh House.

The best advertisement for Cabragh House School that the author has seen was in the Post & Telegraph New Zealand Directory from 1917.

In 1919 John Hornsby passed away and in October of that year a Certificate of Addendum was issued. The Public Trustee conveyed a portion of the property for private sale. Now the renumbered 46 and 48 Weka Street were passed to daughter Charlotte, who sold it to Henry Canning in 1928. Certainly by 1920 Cabragh House School was no longer operating as a school, its scholastic function and commercial viability having been rendered superfluous by the steady growth of, what is now called, Nelson Central School.

[edit] Post 1920

{Ownership history after 1920 pending write-up by WFB}

[edit] Interior

{Photographs of the interiors and line drawings of the exteriors pending formal agreement with the owners and upload by WFB}

[edit] Etymology

The word Cabragh probably has Irish or other Gaelic roots due to the Hornsby's Irish origins and may be an unorthodox spelling of Gabragh. It is beyond the scope of this article to explore this thesis; see Placenames in the north of Ireland external link below.

[edit] References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Farley, Sue (1998). New Zealand Historic Places, Nov 1998; 71:31-32. Nelson Provincial Museum.
  • Hindmarsh, Gerard (1997). Images from the Frontier: the Tyrees' priceless legacy, article in New Zealand Geographic, Apr/Jun 1997; 34:54-71. New Zealand Geographic.
  • Hindmarsh, Gerard (1997). Images from the Frontier: the Tyrees' priceless legacy, article in New Zealand Geographic, Apr/Jun 1997; 34:54-71. New Zealand Geographic.
  • Stacpoole, John (1977). Colonial Architecture in New Zealand. A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 224 pages, NZ$11.50. +[1]
  • McLintock (Editor), A. H. (1966). An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand - ARCHITECTURE - The Victorian Era. Government of New Zealand & Longmans, Wellington,. +[2]

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/a/b/Cabragh_House_0fc6.html"