Author’s home as landmark

Press, 11 October 1986, Page 5

Author’s home as landmark

PA Wellington The birthplace of the author, Katherine Mansfield, in the Wellington suburb of Thorndon has been bought by a group which aims to preserve it and make it a national landmark. The Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society was formed with the aim of buying the house at 25 Tinakori Road. The sale went through last week-end.

The Government announced yesterday that it would make a $lOO,OOO grant under its Community and Public Sector Grants Scheme towards the purchase price of the two-storey wooden house. The announcement was made jointly by the Minister of Tourism, Mr Moore; the Minister of Arts, Mr Tapsell; and the Member of Parliament for Wellington Central, Ms Fran Wilde.

The Government’s contribution has been matched by a $lOO,OOO grant from the J. D. Stout Trust. The Wellington City Council has given $50,000 from its restoration fund and the Bank of New Zealand has also given $25,000 towards the purchase of the house. A further $lOO,OOO had been made available by the Lottery Board. The Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society hopes to use the top storey of the house for a writer-in-residence scheme, with the ground floor to be open to the public for the display of work' by New Zealand writers, within surroundings typical of the late nineteenth century. The society has been fund-raising since February. In addition to the grant and loans already secured it needs to raise an extra $255,000 by the planned opening day — October 14, 1988 — the centenary of Katherine Mansfield’s birth. Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp was born in the house and was five when the Beauchamp family moved from it to Karori. The house was sold by the Beauchamps to the Pearce family, who held it until the sale to the society at the week-end. Katherine Mansfield died in France in January, 1923, aged 34.

“No other writer born and bred in Wellington has achieved greater national and international acclaim than Katherine Mansfield,” Mr Moore said.