WHIMSICAL MUSIC Two men from wildly different worlds join forces to explore the NZ home on a road trip in a 1960s Mark 2 Jag. 5.35 here on The Source. 'I'm Goran Paladin. Up until very recently, you would've said I'm just a sports radio guy. 'But fronting a TV show about house renovation...' BANG! ...got me thinking about my own home. This is my house here in Birkdale on the North Shore of Auckland. It's a bit of a do-up, but, you know, it all takes time and money. My dream is to live in a truly great NZ home. But how do I discover whether it's even possible to create a dream home out of my Birkdale do-up? This is renowned architect Ken Crosson, a man at the top of his game ` the perfect person to accompany me on my journey of discovery. Ken's going to show me his world ` Has somebody taken the rest of the house away? a world where I know nothing... He must've been smoking somethin' crazy. ...and he knows,... Concrete, timber, galvanised steel. ...well, nearly everything. Don't get it. Very avant-garde. Orthogonal, rectilinear. Pardon? Oblong. Beton brut. I'm tired of you speaking in riddles, dammit. If Goran's going to realise his dream home,... See the structure? ...first he needs to understand what a NZ home is. I have a feeling you're gonna show me something. Another vanilla villa here in Grey Lynn. From basic box... Oh, this is spacious (!) ...to modern mansion and just about everything in between. Why are you taking me to a toilet block? Do our homes reflect who we are... Goodness me! ...and where we've come from? There is absolutely no way that you could call that a NZ home. He seems a pleasant bloke. I'm all ears. Expose him to culture, creativity and style. It's just another case of us stealing something from overseas, isn't it? Who knows? He might actually learn something. Were you not listening? No. I have a tendency of doing that. Maybe we will find a NZ home. Is that a challenge? A big ask for this sports jock. Are surprised by that? And I'm up for the challenge. Cheers, Ken. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 RELAXED MUSIC OK, Goran, so what have you learnt so far? Right, so we learnt about the Deans boys, and when they moved out from Scotland to Christchurch, they built their cottage, had all their mates living in the attic. Then they got the upgrade to Riccarton House, and we learnt all about the villa. Yeah? So what did you learn about the villa? They pretty much all look identical, and all the verandas were street-facing. The wedge house in Thorndon ` we learnt what was achievable in such a rugged landscape. Good. Yeah. So that's what was happening in the 19th century and in the early 20th century. 'Tonight our journey takes us from bare necessities... I still can't get over the fact that this house is 110 years old. '...to bungalows... There's one 40-watt bulb dangling from a rather frightening power point. '...as we look at what influenced our homes in the first part of the 20th century 'and now that impacts us today.' Good architecture doesn't date, does it? MACHINERY WHIRRS, BUZZING In the early 1900s, NZ's rush to become urbanised was on. But the growth of our main cities was so fast there was nowhere for people to live. Large areas of slum housing grew around the inner city. That sounds really grim and familiar. Auckland's growing really fast now, and people are struggling to find homes. Grim indeed. It was a problem the government of the day had to address. All of these people who had come out from the UK with the hope that they were going to a better world found themselves in the same situation ` poor housing, overcrowded housing, really substandard living conditions. Action was needed at the highest level. And what happened was as visionary as it was bold. I like it. Doesn't sound like it was a political solution then. Incredibly, it was. We're at Parliament to meet Phil Twyford, Labour's housing spokesperson. NZ was talked about as the social laboratory of the world, and there was a great sense of activism. So 1905, the Liberal Government of King Dick Seddon passed a law, and he started to build workers' dwellings. That was the beginning of what we came to know as state housing ` good quality dwellings for working people. It was radical, wasn't it? Because we were the first nation in the world to do state-funded housing. That's right. And governments all over the Western world followed that lead. That's amazing. We're pioneers. Pretty cool. So in 1905, the government set out to build the dream ` 5000 solid suburban homes for workers. They'd be well built, out of the best materials and each house big enough for a growing family. A whole new house type was created ` the 1905 state house. They must have been well built to still be standing after all these years. GENTLE MUSIC BIRDS CAW Just 15km down the road of the suburb of Petone ` the first state houses in the country were built here ` a whole village of them. GENTLE MUSIC So this was built the same time as the villa, which is all about the fretwork and the finials, all those words that you love to use. There is no evidence of that here. Well, these were state houses, and so there was a deliberate attempt to pare that back. A couple of simple gestures, and that's it. I still can't get over the fact that this house is 110 years old. It's big, it's strong, it's in really good nick. Well, that was one of the problems. They were too big and too well built. And it meant they were too expensive for the workers the government was trying to house. That, coupled with the fact that they were built here in Petone, miles from where the work was in Wellington, was a real issue. So too expensive for the guys who are supposed to be living in them, too far away. Who ended up living in these things? Well, that was the tragic thing. The Government had to finally sell them off after only about 10 years because the workers couldn't afford them. And that was the end of state housing until the '30s. DRAMATIC MUSIC Early 20th century Christchurch was an altogether different affair. The Canterbury Association had it in their heads to transplant English society to NZ, complete with the class structure. Canterbury ` the aristocratic province. That explains a few things. But one architect flew in the face of all that. Samuel Hurst Seagar is regarded as the great visionary architects of his day. He had a commitment to the social role of architecture and was responsible for a completely new style of living in NZ ` His vision was a group of cottages in a garden setting, so the whole thing was responding to the landscape, offering a comfortable, relaxed lifestyle away from the city. I like Christchurch, and it's cool to think there's a unique home style down here. These look like my house. This is looking awful. (LAUGHS) Well, these are NZ homes as well, Ken. Don't be a house snob. The cottage Hurst Seagar lived in himself for eight years is just up this path. Now, that's commitment to your ideas. Goran, what an amazing garden we've just come through. Yeah. It's nowhere near as good as the view, though. State of that. Yeah, it's pretty choice, isn't it? Yeah. Hello, Astrid. 'Astrid and her mad-keen surfie husband lived here for many years.' You can come in. 'Perfect spot for a surfie to check out the swells.' Can I leave my jandals on? If you like. > OK. > RELAXED MUSIC I don't know about you, mate, but I love this place. Astrid, what's it like living here? The house is lovely, but it's old, and it can be cold... Oh. And it can be draughty. > Heating's difficult because it's long and narrow. The entranceway's in the middle. MUSIC CONTINUES For modern living, it's not really configured the right way. All the rooms are separate. It's made to be a, sort of, a more formal kind of a house, even though it was a cottage. It's a series of little rooms, isn't it, with their own use, really. Yeah. And the woman was out the back in the kitchen, in the dark. They may have been ahead of their time in some ways, but these cottages are still a snapshot of the era. No extravagant hallways here, and all the rooms are small and functional. The layout is formal and precise, just like the people of the time. UPBEAT MUSIC This is a little enclave of eight different houses? That's right. It's all communal. Hurst Seagar was trying something new here, so a series of seaside cottages, essentially, in their own garden. It was interesting that you weren't allowed to fence. Yeah, modern people don't like that. They like big, high fences around them, don't they? You live within your environment, don't you? The environment you choose, and outside of the verandas where we live, and it is warm and beautiful out there. The view is what keeps us here. So the view makes up for all the negatives? For all the other negatives, yes. Are you thinking about selling? Cos I might be able to put an offer in on this place if this guy comes on board too. What would you pay for it, Goran? What would I pay for this place? Goran would go 1.5. Pardon me? (LAUGHS) How can you value a view like that? You can't. > Well, you just did. Well... ALL LAUGH Tragically, just down the hill, several of the other Hurst Seagar homes in the group are being demolished. It was the advent of the earthquake and the houses being neglected. There are not going to be many left. It's sad that nobody has realised that prior to these demolitions. What will happen now I don't know. SOLEMN MUSIC It seems nothing is immune to the forces of nature. But surely improvements in technology and design would help. Wonderful expression for the electric bungalow. PEACEFUL MUSIC At the end of Queen Victoria's reign, we were cutting the apron strings from the mother country. We were looking increasingly at perhaps Australia and North America for our architectural inspiration and style. Why were we looking elsewhere? Like, what was wrong with what they had in the first place? I think it's just part of that evolutionary thing we always do. We're always, kind of, searching for something new, something different, something better. At the same time as Ernest Rutherford was winning the Nobel Prize and Maori tohunga were banned from practising their medicine, NZ homes were evolving. By 1910, the villa, a long-time Kiwi city favourite, was getting a workover, and a completely new style emerged ` the transitional villa. Characterised by pared back detail and restrained decoration, the transitional villa moved on from the planned and rigid building form to something a lot looser. A looser villa. I wonder why that happened. Doesn't sound like the people were that relaxed in 1910. So, Goran, this is what we describe as a transitional villa. The veranda became part of the roof, so it didn't have a separate roof. The villa was largely a flatter roof with a valley, and this went to a pyramidal shaped roof. The other things that we see is kinda the box bay window here. And instead of weatherboards around the base, it's got shingle. I have picked up something in our time together. Finials ` absent, and the fretwork isn't as extensive as some of the villas we've seen. Very good, Goran. You're learning. You're learning. (LAUGHS) 'The styling was simpler on the outside, borrowing from Australia and American ideas. 'But inside, things were often more complex. 'No longer the straight through hall and rooms off that was the classic villa set-up.' So, Goran, this is a feature of the transition villa ` the front entry alcove, which is off the veranda, as opposed to the villa, where you kinda came straight into the hallway. And the interesting features in here are the pressed-metal ceilings. They adapted the villa plan, which was essentially that hallway with rooms off. You can see there's little kinks in here which actually goes away from that very direct roof in front and back. I love the higher ceiling, eh. LILTING MUSIC This room in here has the full pressed metal ceiling. Did you order the whole thing and just, like, press it into the ceiling or what? Basically, they come in segments. If you look closely, you can see the join lines. So it's not like somebody just got up there and started crafting it? Michelangelo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. BOTH LAUGH A different era. (LAUGHS) You don't get that at my house. So the transitional villa moved us into that next era of enormous city expansion in NZ. And it was characterised by a bungalow. Shall we go and find one, then? CLUNK! Or maybe find second gear. (LAUGHS) After you find second gear, can we find a bungalow? BOTH LAUGH There are heaps of those around, all right. The bungalow is a giant step away from the villa. Gone are the veranda and long, dramatic hallway, replaced by a porch and functional accessway. Bay windows are boxy and unadorned. They're a reflection of the people in the era ` reserved and restrained. Patrick Reynolds has photographed every style of NZ home ` a good person to talk bungalows. Bungalows are well made out of the last of our native forests. (LAUGHS) Of course, they were all 90 years old. Bungalows tend to occupy a larger site ` you did whole farms. Westmere ` street after street all named after rather dreary English counties, which is telling, I think. There's a nostalgia for a particular version of Britain ` solid, provincial Britain. These street names are Mayfair and Soho and Kensington. Bungalows represent the earliest sprawling of cities. These places were designed around the trams, so they are still in very desirable parts now ` inner suburbs, inner city. Bungalows are characteristically dark inside. Goes with the reserved, restrained thing. Part of the darkness is taste ` like, a lot of the dark timber, but also made possible by the extension of electric lighting at the same period ` a wonderful expression for the 'electric bungalow'. It simply means that there's one 40-watt bulb dangling in a rather frightening power point. And unlike villas, you still see bungalows everywhere in their original form. The bungalow is a harder thing to expand. It's sort of intensive, more gables that's kind of reproduced up the top. And they need for a contemporary taste to get more light into them and so that they resist being pavilionised very easily. There's a tremendous inertia in our built stock, which is why it matters so much how well we do it. What we build reflects who we are. That's a really interesting viewpoint. The dowdy English built a dowdy home style. But the bungalow wasn't just an English house form. In 1909, the first Californian bungalow was built here in Fendalton. Are you hot? Cos I'm burning up, eh. How do we get the fan...? Look, just wind the window down. Just wind the window down. Oh, oh, OK. Jeez. Calm down. The Californian bungalow was another big step in the evolution of our NZ homes, adding a bit of girth and flamboyance to the boxy English bungalow. And the first one in the country is a beauty. It's stood here on the corner for well over 100 years. Once neglected and overgrown, it's now a stunning little piece of California right in the heart of Christchurch. Welcome to Los Angeles. Los Angeles? In Fendalton. But how relevant are these imported ideas? Do they lead us forward to a more Kiwi style of home? I think this is even a little too big for me. 1 Ken's brought me to Los Angeles ` a piece of the 1900s in Fendalton. Confusing, to say the least. He seems convinced that it's a step in my journey. You said it was built in 1909. 1909. So it's more than 100 years old? It is. Good architecture doesn't date, does it? The California bungalow had a huge influence on NZ home design. It was the predominant style for the best part of 20 years. It's way more modern than my house. It was built in the '70s. (LAUGHS) Come in. Steve and Mandy have owned Los Angeles for 11 years. They've lovingly restored it to its former glory. So what was this place like when you first moved in? Well, it was amazing. Even if it hadn't been touched for 70 years. I just loved the architecture and the colour of it. It was black, and it just seemed mysterious. We knew it was going to be a bit of work. We just loved it so much it didn't matter. UPBEAT MUSIC I lived diagonally opposite for a wee while and always, sort of, looked across at it and thought, 'Wow, that's a great house. I love it.' And it was built by a sea captain? Captain McDonald. He'd take beef and wool to the States and bring back timber. And came up with bringing that type of architecture to NZ. Yeah. They did that as a little bit of a reaction from the industrialisation of the Victorian era. I feel like I'm in a lecture. ALL LAUGH Did you guys feel like you were in a lecture? Are you taking notes? Yeah, I've forgotten my refill and pen. LAUGHTER The first Californian bungalow is an interesting watershed in NZ architecture. It was about a crafted house ` you know, all those beams and rafters that you see. Work around the, uh, joinery. And then changing from an entrance hallway to open plans for dining and living together. It was a revolution, wasn't it? Mm. 1909. So this was the beginning. Mm. 'Sadly for this extraordinary bungalow, Christchurch's earthquakes have taken their toll.' The earthquakes just sort of came and knocked things out of the park a wee bit. Chimneys fell in the second one, other things like the bay window blew out in the last of them, and the two fireplaces imploded. GENTLE MUSIC Each time we had an earthquake, I used to just chalk it up. 22nd of February and the 4th of September and 13th of June. All the cupboards flew open and everything smashed out. There was jam and pickles and... it was just horrendous. Just absolutely horrific, really. It must have been hell to live through and heartbreaking to see their beautiful restoration so knocked around. But even before that, people said it had a gloomy, brooding kind of look in the landscape. MYSTERIOUS MUSIC There was something mysterious about it ` had a bit of an urban myth about being haunted. Mainly probably because it was dark. A reclusive couple lived here for a while. And you'd just see the old guy at the gate every now and then, sort of, getting his letters out of the box. And I think that's where it developed its 'ghost house' myth. You haven't encountered any ghosts? No paranormal activity? No. No ghosts. Our daughter Emmeline thinks she saw something one night ` an image of an older man. Do you believe in ghosts? I don't. You've never seen one? Never felt one? Never heard one, Mandy? Mm, yes, I have felt them here, yep. Ah, OK, so maybe it is haunted. Some people, when they've stayed here, they've felt really creeped out. Has anybody died here? There were rumours that Captain McDonald hanged himself, buried his wife and all that sort of stuff. But it's all rubbish, because we know exactly where they ended up. Everyone has got a different story. I think every home has its ghosts, at least its own stories. The older the house is, the more stories of the inhabitants, of events that shaped people's lives come out. I certainly believe in ghosts, especially the sort you're talking about. FOOTSTEPS MARCH, TRUMPET PLAYS MAN: First contingent swings past ` chins up, shoulder square, band, soldiers all. The youth of a free country offering itself to keep it so. In 1914, NZ was plunged into turmoil ` the Great War that we now call world War I. It was a European conflict, but it had a huge influence over here, as a large group of able-bodied men left NZ to fight. GRIM MUSIC During the first World War, there were 250,000 eligible young men in NZ, and 18,000 died. Goodness me. So all of a sudden, the male population's been tragically cut. What did it do for the housing industry? Well, it had a huge effect. Firstly, all the resources were being channelled into the war effort, so there was no money for housing. Secondly, all the young men ` the builders ` were offshore. Talk to me about what it did for the Kiwi psyche. Look, I think it had a huge effect. We all went away as members of the British empire. We fought, however, under the NZ flag. And, you know, I think we succeeded, and we were seen, ultimately, as Kiwis. So I think it was really a turning point for the nation. And as the war ended and the men returned, people once more began to think about their homes. Arts and Crafts was an international movement that flourished in Europe and America around this time. This was a fine arts style that rejected dreary, predictable, industrial England. It's celebrated and encouraged a back-to-basics handmade look. Simple forms, romantic decoration. And thanks to the wealthier members of society, perhaps also reacting to the hardships and shortages of the war, NZ got its next major home evolution based on Arts and Crafts ideas. A superb example of the style sits on the slopes of Mt Eden in Auckland. This is more like visiting an art gallery. Sir James Wallace has one of the best collections of contemporary NZ art in the world, and he's graciously allowed us to visit. Back when I was at primary school, arts and crafts would be something that we did before lunch or a little play. And you'd just be mucking around. I didn't realise it was a style of home. What are the key features of an Arts and Crafts home? Simplicity was the important part of it, as opposed to the complications of Victorian active, predictive furniture. And a lot of it you saw how it's put together. So it was hand done, hand add. So you can actually see the implements that are used. Another characteristic is you have huge roofs with great overhangs. It oversailed the walls. By a great deal. Yeah. And often oversized as well. What first attracted you to this house? It was big, and I could hang a lot more of my collection ` a gallery that goes from one end of the house to the other. They were very generous with the size of their rooms compared the end of Victoriana. It is very comfortable to live in. I'm very keen on Georgian architecture, but I think we skipped anything worthwhile during the Victorian era. Started to come right again with Arts and Crafts. LIGHT MUSIC What did you like about the Georgian period? Because that sort of escaped NZ, in a way. Uh, the symmetry, basically. When you had equal windows and a door` Paladian. Paladian. Back to some plain, basic, undecorated style, as opposed to Victorian. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC This room is particularly Arts and Crafts. There's a really comfortable feel about it, and very small furniture you've got in here (!) (CHUCKLES) Where did this one come from, James? Uh, an auction, but its provenance, apparently, was Spanish, from some castle where they had winds or something. You needed a high back. You look like the king. And we're the paupers. Yeah, we're the paupers. UPBEAT MUSIC This is more than just Arts and Crafts. This is, kind of, embellishments all through this place. We gather that Mrs Rayner ` she was a Chicago meat heiress, of all things, got stuck into things like the entrance hall, which is not at all Arts and Crafts, with its columns and details and so on. And the fireplace here ` nothing like Arts and Crafts. No, not at all. They travelled a lot, and they must have seen something like this somewhere and said, 'Let's have a fireplace like that.' So even in the grand old Arts and Crafts style, a bit of variation adds personality. I can use that idea. I'm all for upsizing things, but this is a little too big for me. How do I get outside? It doesn't have that indoor-outdoor connection that we are so familiar with today. The indoor-outdoor flow. The indoor-outdoor flow. 'Good to see what doesn't work, if you know what I mean. 'I'll be wanting indoor-outdoor flow in Birkdale.' GRAND MUSIC Where does this home sit in the whole spectrum of the NZ home? Well, I think even though it was an imported style, there were a lot of features that that actually carried on that we see in later eras of the NZ house. Overwhelming. But how does all this art and style translate into a purely NZ home? So he's done these lovely carved Maori faces, and the tongue is the latch. LIVELY MUSIC Well, there's nothing uniquely Kiwi about putting an English mansion at the top of a hill, is there? I think that was an era where we were still looking at the mother country and being very influenced by her. And so we did adopt, in many ways, that style of architecture. Between an English mansion and an American bungalow, like, it just seems to me that we're just stealing stuff from other countries. I think we do grab part of the NZ context and adapt the houses to accommodate that. I'm glad we're not living like English people any more. Jeez. LIVELY MUSIC TRAIN TOOTS The 1920s was an era of great technological advance. Electricity brought lighting, refrigeration and hot water into our home. And the rapid expansion of city suburbs meant Kiwis had the highest home ownership rate in the world. It was a time when European NZers were beginning to strongly identify with their country. And that was reflected in their homes, breaking the rigid boundaries of the bungalow. There was a common element to all the homes of this era that led to one of the important and arguably the best changes in home design. The plumbing was coming inside. The outhouse was a feature of the NZ home for many years, both in the country and the city. And it was only when cities had enough water pressure to flush that sewerage systems could work properly. That didn't happen until the mid 1900s. It must have been a great relief when the dunny finally moved inside. Sorry about that, mate. Jeez, imagine if, you're, like, busting for a... you know what, and you gotta run outside to do it. That's crazy talk. That's how I grew up. How old are you?! That was just in the '60s. In the '60s? The toilet was outside. Oh man. How did you cope? Wasn't easy. But back at the turn of last century, the 20th century, all toilets were outside. And they used to have night carts that picked up their waste. Oh, no way. So people had to do that for their job? That was their job. That was their full-time job?! Picking up excrement? Taking... buckets of waste. Man, I'm glad times have changed. Tipping them out. I don't` I don't need to know any more. Stop it. What a genius idea ` bringing the toilet in from outside; putting it in your house. Oh, the convenience. Why didn't they think of that before? It's interesting, isn't it? We take it as the norm these days to have all the plumbing inside, but it's quite interesting, though, that it wasn't without its issues. There were some fundamental problems, especially with the Maori population. (ARCHIVE) MAN: Another of NZ's battles ` a special reference to our Maori people ` how best they can adapt themselves to the changed ways of life brought by the Europeans? It is a problem which both our races are united to solve by mutual effort, by goodwill and by cooperation. There was still a large misunderstood cultural gap in NZ in the 1920s, and the idea of moving the toilet and bathroom into the main home highlighted that gap. One culture's convenience was another culture's obstacle. The modern European home flouted beliefs that went back centuries. For Maori, toilet and kitchens didn't belong in the same building as meeting places. And bedrooms certainly didn't have a place alongside those service areas. UPBEAT MUSIC Deirdre Brown, who whakapapas to Ngapuhi and Ngati Kahu, wrote the book on Maori homes and has thought a lot about this. Maori had traditionally separated tapu state ` a sacred state ` when you were sleeping, for example, or you were meeting with people, from the noa, or the profane areas ` the dining, cooking and ablution areas. So they were completely separate SOLEMN MUSIC European homes, however, tended to keep all of these aspects together. These family homes were very difficult for Maori to live in. Often there's not that connection to the house next door or the house across the road. They didn't have porches. So Maori people have been cut off from their communities if they were living in urban areas. Maori had to start to adapt to these buildings, and that often meant the loss off values that were central to being Maori. And this just exacerbated a loss of culture. Citing hygiene and health benefits, Maori were strongly encouraged to live in European homes. There was no other option. But not all Europeans were immune to the culture of the land they now belonged to. And that new understanding was reflected in one Mt Eden home, admittedly with strong cues from one of the world's most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright. Intriguingly, it has some ideas that today might seem really token but at the time were seem as pretty avant-garde. Kay bought this home as a bit of a do-up. A bit of a do-up? It is in a state of disrepair because it hasn't been lived in for 32 years. UPBEAT MUSIC It always intrigued me as a child, walking past it, going to school. It was just a mystery house to everyone. It was for sale on the open market, and I was very excited to be the lucky purchaser of it. We're going to restore it in a sympathetic manner. It's got a Heritage NZ Category 1 listing. So we're going to bring it back to its former glory and live in it as a family home. Designed by Scottish architect John Anderson in 1925, it's a three-storey concrete house sitting on a base made from local stone. It was originally built in 1926 for Trevor Lloyd, who was a well known NZ cartoonist and artist, probably one of the first people to portray the kiwi as a NZ icon. Yep, that is a famous image and a famous game. The All Blacks smacked the lions 29-0 in 1908. Trevor made a lot of things for the house ` like, he made light shades, he did a lot of carvings that were the decorative elements in the property. UPBEAT MUSIC Trevor Lloyd loved everything Maori. He was enthralled by Maori arts and crafts, so he copied it. In the entrance, you can see many of Trevor's Maori carvings. He's done these lovely carved Maori faces, and the tongue is the latch. And also the light switches he's made himself, and going up the staircase, these carvings he's done ` they're all different on each side. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC Coming up the stairs, the architecture changes from the Maori motifs downstairs to more of the Frank Lloyd Wright influence. GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES He's done a lot of beaten copper work ` on the fireplace and on some of the doorjambs. MUSIC CONTINUES The most expensive and interesting part of the renovation is the basement, which has to be earthquake-proof. So there's a lot of work to do. I'm glad I don't have to pick up the restoration tab. And a home this important needs a passionate owner, someone who's not too daunted by the amount of work that needs to be done. 'This all makes me wonder ` did people affect their houses or did the house styles affect the people?' That is really modest for the prime minister of the country, isn't it? JAUNTY MUSIC As NZ moved towards the 1930s, nearly 60% of our people were living in cities. And most of them now had electricity. The world was getting smaller as the newly invented radio played music and news from around the globe and international air travel became a reality. Although still a very conservative country, people were also beginning to change with the times. There you... Oh` Green light. Let's go. SWIFT MUSIC The 1920s was an era sandwiched between two huge international events ` World War I and the Great Depression that was still to come. It was a time of expansion for NZ, a time when cars and trains were allowing people to live further from the centre of the city in the famous quarter-acre pavlova paradise. So many of the suburbs we know today began to grow in the 1920s? That's right. Well, here we are in Lower Hutt. This, in fact, was the site that was earmarked for the city of Wellington. Is that right? You're not yanking my chain? This is it, man. True story? True story. Well, why did they move? Cos it's nice and flat, easy enough to plonk houses down on. Well, that was the plan, but unfortunately the Hutt River had a propensity to flood. (CHUCKLES) Right. Well, they must have fixed it, cos people are still living here today, right? They did fix it, and this was one of the garden suburbs that sprang up in the '20s and '30s. Come in. I've got something to show ya. OK. After you. Well, this was Sir Walter Nash's house, who was a prime mover in the Labour Government in the 1920s and the 1930s. He was a man of the people. He had strong Christian values. He didn't wanna be showy or ostentatious, and so he decided to build his own house. And it was really reflective of him and his politics. He was elected to represent the Hutt in 1929 and rose to become Minister of Finance at a really tough time in NZ ` a time when we were heading down the slope to the Great Depression. He was later to become NZ's 27th prime minister. There's no better place in the world than NZ. Instead of having an electoral office, his constituents used to come up here for meetings. The old blueprints. Oh, look at that. Front of the house still looks identical, doesn't it? Exactly the same as it was in 1930. We got one, two... just three bedrooms. That's really modest for the prime minister of the country, isn't it? It was a small, modest bungalow. And during the Depression, he took it upon himself to help endless people. Wow. Like, literally taking people into his own home? Yeah, exactly. Says a lot about the man, doesn't it? Yep. Really was a champion of the people, wasn't he? Oh, extraordinary man. When he finally sold the house after 38 years here, he gave the proceeds to charity. Charity? You've gotta be kidding me. Nope. Do you think the Prime Minister of NZ will do that today? < (LAUGHS) No. It's a nice, comfortable suburban home, still. A family home ` warm and friendly. That's the feeling I'd like in my home. JAUNTY MUSIC And this is where our story goes full circle. The Government's unsuccessful state-house scheme of 1905 was about to get another chance. But this time, Walter Nash and his government were determined to get it right. I'm beginning to see just what a big picture you're painting for me, Ken. Gee, Ken, I don't know where we begin to sum that up. We've seen the transitional villas, with the reduction in the fretwork and the finials and their construction; the bungalows ` the one in Christchurch ` Fendalton. And Walter Nash's. What are the key learnings that I should be taking away from all of that? Well, I think this was a period in our home design of incremental change. You know, we started bringing the toilet and the bathroom inside so that they were much easier places to live. OK, so before it was, like, 'Here's the house. Go away and live in it.' Now not any more. We're finally having the say. We're dictating to the house. Yeah. People are central and the most important part of house design. But still it's a series of single-cell rooms that don't relate that well to the outside and the sun. You know the ironic thing? In my house, I've got everything inside, and I'm the only one outside. I'm in the sleep-out, in the cold. How does that happen, Goran? You buy a house in Auckland. And then you've got a massive mortgage, and you need to pay it off. So you get flatmates in, and you can't put the flatmates out in the cold, so you` you bite the bullet and you go outside, they live in damn near luxury inside with the heat pump on, and all I've got is a blanket. You're a generous man, and I've always said that, Goran. You know, the funny thing is, I can still go to the bathroom outside. (LAUGHS) TWINKLING MUSIC