HISTORY IN BUILDINGS

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 17

HISTORY IN BUILDINGS

New Zealand Architecture. By Martin Hill. School Publications Branch, Department of Education. 44 pp. $1.25.

New Zealand’s right to claim an interesting architectural history is slowly being recognised, and a booklet to serve the purpose which this one aims to serve could do much to foster a wider appreciation among New Zealanders of the buildings around them. The purpose of the booklet is to provide schoolchildren with an historical introduction to the different styles of architecture which have been practised in New Zealand. The booklet, however, goes only some way to meet this need. It deals with a generous range of types of buildings and materials, and touches (although often far too cursorily) on all the major styles of New Zealand architecture. Also, it is generously illustrated in a manner which should do much to encourage young people to look closely at the detail of many buildings they would otherwise have taken for granted, and to enable them to recognise the major styles.

But the text is disappointingly patchy and inconclusive. Themes are picked up and then dropped without being fullydeveloped, and more minor themes (for example, what the author calls the “style revolution”) are treated at disproportionate length. It is difficult to criticise the author’s interpretations of the development of New Zealand architecture because none are fullyexpounded. Instead there is a series of disconnected, highly subjective impressions of the buildings erected in various periods.

The main value of the booklet is that it may stimulate, at an early age, the young people whose later detailed studies will illuminate properly a sadly neglected aspect of New Zealand's history. — JOHN WILSON.