About Braemar

The area now occupied by the High Court was once the site of Te Reuroa (the longer outer palisade) pa(1). Purchased by Governor Hobson in 1840 from the Ngati Whatua, the land was then sold under Crown Grant and divided up for housing and commerce. The following outline shows the use and ownership of the land occupied by Braemar, in context with the events of the times, from the Crown Grant up to the present day.

The “future-proofing” of the house has meant the installation of computer and telephone cabling, television and audiovisual cabling, gas installation, and fire protection. We are still considering upgrading heating, internal intercom and security system. It may also include the restoration of previously used facilities in the house, eg the dumb waiter, coal range, bell pulls, passive ventilation system and fire places. In addition, the service areas of the house required upgrading to more modern standards of hygiene and sanitation, whilst still maintaining and preserving the original fabric of the house. The main kitchen downstairs has now been renovated with new fittings, but maintaining the original timber joinery.

At the front of the house the drainage was inadequate to prevent dampness entering the house. It was necessary to have adequate drainage at the front and along the sides of the house so that water does not pool and seep into the walls and basement. Also we required the Middle Courtville Body Corporate to reroute the stormwater from the roof of their building so that it did not race down the side of and under our house.

We also removed the old wooden ladder at the front of the house and will re-instate the parapet.

Our moment of revelation came when John removed the wooden mantle and fireplace surround in our bedroom to have the fireplace restored. When he leaned the wooden mantle up against the wall, we noticed that the name “W E Hutchinson” was written in lead pencil on the reverse. Given the total lack of evidence anywhere else about a builder or architect called W E Hutchinson, and that includes where we looked at the City Council, Library, School of Architecture, Museum Library etc (basically everywhere), we had decided that if we were patient the house might reveal the builder to us, and that is what has happened. So we looked in the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand, and sure enough,a W.E. Hutchison was most certainly a builder in 1901, and he specialised in private residences. The Cyclopedia even has a photograph of him, looking very smart in a bow tie!.(3)Auckland Star , December 21 1918, “Passed Away – Mr W E Hutchison” In all likelihood a fireplace specialist made the mantle for W.E.Hutchison, and wrote the name of the builder on it for identification or delivery purposes. We don’t know whether the house was designed and built, or just built, by Hutchison. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand has this to say about him:

Unfortunately, William Hutchison died on 20th December 1918 after sustaining head injuries in a motor accident. His obituary was printed in the Auckland Star, 21st Dec 1918:

When (his father) retired he entered into partnership with his brother, Mr. James Hutchison, and carried on a successful business for a number of years. The firm erected many large blocks of buildings in Auckland.

Mr W.E. Hutchison also took an interest in public affairs. He was a member of the City Council for many years, his practical knowledge being of great value when a member of the Works Committee. Mt Hutchison also served on the Harbour Board for a number of years, and officiated for a time as deputy chairman. Deceased was an enthusiastic bowler, being a member of the Carlton Club. He was also a prominent Freemason.

He was survived by his wife Rachel, and their children William, Isabella, Olive and Douglas.(4)

(3) Cyclopedia of New Zealand 1901 Vol 2., Auckland Star, December 21 1918, ‘Passed Away’ Mr W E Hutchinson
(4) Cyclopedia of New Zealand 1901 Vol 2., Auckland Star, December 21 1918, ‘Passed Away’ Mr W E Hutchinson

John and Susan Sweetman (photo taken 1989)

Courtville Apartments Limited was formed principally for the purposes of purchasing and preserving the three buildings comprising the Courtville complex. This purpose was achieved in 1989 for a total cost of $1,450,000. The fifteen original members of the company were Stephen Ballantyne, Franz Broswimmer, Duncan Campbell, Grant Chilcott, Madeline Cox, Jane David, Daren Day, Sheila McCabe, Vicki Pomeroy, Susan (Oliver) Sweetman, John Sweetman, Peter Urlich, Melvin Webb, Rob Weir, Clare Zhang. By 1993 Madeline Cox had left the company and Anna-Mae Chilcott had joined.

We spent a lot of time in working bees in that first year. There was always a lot to do and we were proud of finding ourselves owners of these beautiful old buildings.(84)

During the period that Braemar was owned by Courtville Apartments Limited it continued to be rented out to tenants. Some deferred maintenance was undertaken by the Company, notably the repairs to the Marseilles tiled roof, spouting and bargeboards.(85) The upstairs linen-room was converted into a shower-room and its windows glazed with Georgian wired glass, Similarly reglazed were the windows in the downstairs cellar (located underneath the front entrance), the downstairs bathroom and the basement toilet. Over recent years modifications to the house have included a hatch cover to the coal cellar and the amalgamation of apartments 19 and 20. The backyard to the house was filled with soil excavated from underneath Middle Courtville, and tenants planted lawns and a vegetable garden. Also during this period the Fisher Trust rented out and tarsealed the carpark area to the rear of the house. These repairs and modifications were largely done to maintain the rental income.

It was always intended that the Corner and Middle Courtvilles be unit titled so as to prevent the ownership of the buildings by any one person.(86) During the years 1989 to 1994 the Courtville apartments were upgraded and converted into unit titles for individual sale. The sale of Braemar and some of the apartments in Middle Courtville was required in 1994 to generate the money for that upgrade to be completed. All properties were to be sold with heritage restrictions registered on their titles.

Courtville Apartments Limited sold Braemar at auction in December 1994, with settlement 27 th January 1995, to the present owners.(87)

(84) NZ Herald September 21 1989 “The Sweet Taste of Victory”
(85) MacMillan Slaters & Tilers Ltd Invoice 7038 dated 20 th January 1994.
(86) Metro Pg 105
(87) Susan Sweetman, owner.

On 14 th June 1978 Vera Ziman wrote of Braemar: (40)

The smallest Courtville was certainly the home of the Jacob Ziman family…However the house was not built by my family…we filled the spacious home..2 storeyed in the front and 4 at the back comprising 6 bedrooms, dining room, drawing room, study, breakfast room, kitchen (as large as most modern flats, complete with gas range, coal range, to which was attached a large boiler providing gallons of hot water, which was piped throughout the house) maid’s room, walk-in pantry, storeroom, 2 bathrooms, linen room. As the diningroom was on the floor at Eden St level and the kitchen and breakfast room (same size as the room above it) there was a lift (hydraulic) between the kitchen and 2nd pantry. There was a system of speaking tubes between all floors to avoid calling & running up & down stairs… In retrospect I realise Braemar was indeed a spacious late Victorian home. In latter years, when I had a flat in the “Large Courtville” I visited friends in the “Annexe” and laughingly compared the 1960s-70s with my girlhood days.

Vera Ziman took over the running of her father’s jewellery business. She retired as a jeweller in 1970 and was made an Honorary Life Member by the Jewellers Association. In 1985 she completed 50 years as a Justice of the Peace and was actively involved for many years with the Womens’ International Organisation. She was the youngest of the six children and cared for her father after her mother died. Vera Ziman died in 1984 at the age of 92.(41) Ralph Ziman was still a practising lawyer at the age of 87. Solomon Ziman was Auckland’s first Rhodes scholar, entered the Indian Civil Service and later, as Secretary of the Government of Bombay, sat in its Legislative Assembly.(42) By 1971 Sol’s oldest son John was professor of Physics at Bristol University and a member of the Royal Society in London. Timothy Ziman, younger son of Harold Ziman, became the third of his name to win academic honours when he scored more than 700 marks to gain a University Scholarship.

After his death, the family of Jacob Ziman donated his manuscripts and letters to the Alexander Turnbull Library where they are retained in the Rare Manuscripts room. Mr Peter Ziman, son of Ralph, lives in Papatoetoe with his wife and kindly provided some of the information to assist this project. (43)On 21 st January 1996 Timothy Ziman, visited Braemar with his French wife Lamya and wrote in the visitors book “ my father lived here from age 0 to 10 “.(44)

(38) Register of Naturalised Persons to 1949, file 1880/1154; held at the Auckland Public Library
(39) Obituary NZ Herald 27 th April 1942 (with photograph)
(40) Letter Vera Ziman to Mr Williams dated 14 th June 1978.
(41) Various clippings from file Z2 : Ziman , Miss Vera , held at the Auckland Institute and Museum Library. (NZ Jewish Chronicle Sep 1993, Hashofar Sep 1962, Auckland Star 16 th March 1971.)
(42) Goldman , L.M.,The History of Jews in New Zealand (A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1958)
(43) Photograph taken by John Sweetman at Braemar 17 th May 1995: Susan Sweetman and Peter Ziman.
(44) Photograph taken by John Sweetman at Braemar 21 st January 1996: (left to right) Timothy Ziman, his wife Lamya and Timothy’s uncle , Peter Ziman.

On 30 th March 1973 the shareholders of Topper Buildings Limited resolved to change the name of the company to COURTVILLE FLATS LIMITED and gave as their reason ” That the Company has purchased the property known as Courtville Flats and desires and deems it appropriate to identify itself with the property concerned .”(48) At the same time as the name change, the company moved its registered offices to Parliament Street.

Moves were afoot during this period to have the Supreme Court extended onto the site occupied by the three Courtville buildings and the adjacent Radnor building in Waterloo Quadrant. Mr George Johnson of Topper Buildings Ltd was quoted at the time as saying ” All my long-term tenants have known about the Government proposal for 12 months already – and they still have another two years to find flats. The others are temporary tenants who were told about the demolition possibility when they inquired about a flat. So far as I’m concerned my tenants have all had ample notice to find alternative accommodation .”(49)

On 22 nd August 1974 Braemar was taken for the “ public buildings of the General Government .”(50)

(48) National Archives Auckland, Company file A1966/1406 (Co-A1: 21590 Box 2216)
(49) City News, April 24 th 1974 pg 15. “City Flats to be Demolished”.
(50) Certificate of title 102/83 held at the Land Transfer Office , Auckland.

Retired GP Deryck Gallagher, who had lived with his parents in Apartment 19, wrote to me with his recollections of life in the “Courtville Annex in the 1930s………….

Dear Susan,

I have had it in mind for far too long to tell you some
Courtville tales of my primary school years when I lived in the entry level
rooms with my mother and father probably sharing kitchen and bathroom with
“father” Fred Batten dentist who had his own rooms up the stairs from the
hall. I can remember the hall quite clearly with its settee where I would
entertain my unusual pet white rabbit with carrots and sweets, his name was
Fred, also next door was a grander corner block of flats where a playmate
had a marvellous meccano set housed in a cabinet with drawers for a generous
array of gears-I think it was a number 10! Immediately next door was a
vacant section of summer perfumed fennel and loquat trees with summer fruit
accessible to a 10 year old Also up Waterloo Quadrant lived a boy Milsom who
had a pet tortoise who lived among his father’s prize dahlias. I think at
this time I was at Miss. Louche’s primary school just down the road behind
St. Andrews church. Fred Batten was a shadowy figure who lived a bachelor’s
life apart from his wife, but became a key person when my mother was taken
to bed with a mysterious illness incorrectly attributed to a gastric upset
by a Symonds Street doctor, Fred suggested another opinion from a respected
surgeon named Casement Aicken to my father. Mr. Aicken, a relation of Ken
Aicken from All Saints parish (Ponsonby) correctly diagnosed a life threatening
peritonitis from a ruptured appendix, admitted her to Mt. Pleasant Private
Hospital in Princes St. and saved her life by pre antibiotic surgical
drainage. My father, a pharmacist, nevertheless needed a year to meet the
medical expenses. As a small child I was only just aware of what was
happening at this time. Fred Batten’s two adult children, Jean the pioneer
aviator I remember as an occasional visitor of unusual beauty, and of
course her welcome at Mangere in 1936 at the end of her first ever flight
from England to New Zealand. I last saw Jean Batten in 1977 when she came to
visit her old music teacher in a hospital ward at Selwyn Village. John
Batten was as handsome as his sister was beautiful, remembered as a dental
mechanic on the Achilles who survived a direct hit on a gun turret above
the dental surgery, an actor in the Noel Coward war time film “In Which We
Serve”, as a newly briefly married visitor to his father with his bride, a
beautiful English author of romantic novels named Madeline Murat ,and in
later years as a radio announcer on station 1ZB until he left New Zealand to
live the rest of his life in England. Parliament Street was a fun place for
small boys, with lots of small parks for cowboys and indians, a villainous
bully, Lloyd Pritchard, who appropriately owned a pet white rat, a biscuit
factory where a penny would buy enough broken biscuits to ruin young teeth
forever, a fizzy drinks factory, and up the hill in Parnell, Heard’s lolly
factory. Life was good for a small boy.

The numbers 16 to 20 were painted on the entrance to indicate which apartments were in the house. These numbers continued on from the Middle Courtville apartments, which were numbered 1 to 15. In 1918, the Corner Courtville was built and the apartments in that building numbered 21 to 35.

During the time Braemar was owned by Potter and Stanton it was known variously as: “ The Annexe “ in Wises Post Street Directory

“ Courtville 3 “ in Potter & Stantons rent books

“ No 3 House ” also by Potter & Stanton

“ Courtville Mansions ” in “Jean Batten – Garbo of the skies”

read more

and at other times as

“ Courtville House “ see Womans Weekly December 1986

and “ Little Courtville “ see NZ Herald ,Sep 21 1989.

Ernest Herbert POTTER (b.1866 d.1951)(45)

William Stanton and Ernest Potter were prominent Auckland businessmen and building developers.

The china and cutlery merchants Boyle and Tanfield opened their shop at 142 Queen Street in 1861. In 1895 Potter bought the shop, and by 1912 Stanton was not only the shop’s manager but also a shareholder.

The shop, known since 1895 as Tanfield Potter & Co, was in 1995 Queen Street’s oldest surviving merchant. The business moved to the old Queen Street address in 1929 but is now housed on the corner of Elliot and Darby Streets and more recently was managed by Potter’s grandson Rowland Potter.

Potter and Stanton’s business association dated from around 1912. Companies in which the partners were associated included (dates approximate):

Tanfield Potter & Co. 1912

Courtville Securities Limited 1914

Civic House Ltd. 1928

Courtville Limited 1935

The long-term relationship of the two men was complex – Potter was a public figure heavily involved in local government, while Stanton appears to have managed their various enterprises.

William Stanton’s parents came out from England on the Lancaster Witch in 1865. William was born in 1872 in Alten Road in central Auckland. The death of his father at the early age of 46 obliged Stanton to provide for his family; for the rest of his life hard work and devotion to his family characterised his behaviour.

In 1898 Stanton married Elizabeth Jane McIntosh (born 1873 in Arch Hill, died 6 th October 1966). The couple produced six children, Ivy, Rhena, William Laurence (Laurie), Edna, Vida and John Rowland (Jack). The family home was 47 Pleasant St, Onehunga. In 1928 a new five double bedroom, rimu-panelled bungalow was built to Sinclair O’Connor’s design. The house (since demolished) stood in 5 acre grounds, and had garages, stables, a tennis court (in which a small aeroplane once landed) and extensive gardens.

In Jack Stanton’s recollection his father was “short and stout and always in a hurry. He liked jokes and loved flowers.” Every morning he would awake at 5 o’clock, take a cup of tea to the children, and sit on the verandah until dawn. Then he would tend to his flower garden until it was time to take the train to work. He would first go to Courtville to collect rents and meet with Miss Annie Clements, the manageress. From 10am to 5pm he worked in the china shop.

William Stanton was a close friend of Arthur Sinclair O’Connor (the architect of Middle and Corner Courtvilles). In later years they lunched together daily, either at Cookes Restaurant or John Courts. They often lunched with their friend and solicitor George Sanders, of the firm Jackson Russell. Years later Stanton arranged a flat in Courtville for Sanders whose health had deteriorated. After William Stanton’s death on 12 December 1944, the friendship was maintained by his son Jack,(by then a director of Courtville Securities Ltd), who would visit Sanders every Friday, both for company and to discuss business.

Jack Stanton recalls being taken as a child from Onehunga to the Courtville site by gig and Euclid the pony, and paid 6d to cut thistles while his father cut firewood.

After leaving Grammar School, Jack became a ‘chinaman’ at Tanfield Potter & Co. At this time, Jack and his brother Laurie, who was a carpenter, did all the routine maintenance on the buildings.

Jack tells of doing painting and papering upstairs in Braemar (or “Little Courtville” as it was known) for one of the tenants, Fred Batten, whose daughter Jean, the famous aviator, was coming to stay.

Ernest Potter was born in Hamilton in 1866, one of nine sons. He and two of his brothers are featured in the New Zealand Who’s Who of 1931; Colonel Harold Rowland Potter was commandant of Trentham Military Camp and Vivian Harold Potter was a Member of Parliament.

Ernest Potter was very active in civic life, in addition to being a director of the family business and being involved in a speculative partnership with Stanton. His association with local government dated from 1906. Potter was a member of the Mount Eden Borough Council from its formation, and mayor of Mount Eden from 1923-31. He was a member of the Auckland Electric Power Board from its inception, a member of the Auckland Hospital Board for 32 years, a member of the Transport Board, Chairman of the provisional committee of the Provincial Water Board, life member and past President of the Auckland Swimming Association and life member of the Auckland Sailor’s Home. His attempt to enter Parliament as Reform candidate for Mount Roskill was, however, unsuccessful.

In the recollection of his and Stanton’s sons Potter was always at meetings. However, every Saturday night he took his sons to the Astor Cinema, and on Sundays he took his family to the Mount Eden Congregational Church in Valley Rd. Potter went to church three times on Sundays. Sundays were a time of recreation for the family; in summer the whole family and a wide circle of friends would gather at the Potter house, Abley, in Valley Road, and play tennis. E.H., as he was known to his grand-children, would watch, wearing a three-piece suit with gold watch-chain and a homburg hat – the image of the Victorian patriarch.

Potter and Stanton speculated in building development for almost three decades. Their projects ranged from single house to land subdivisions, but they specialised in multistorey inner-city housing. The inter-war period saw great changes in the nature of New Zealand society. According to researcher Peter Shaw, increased demand for office workers and a need to house single people led to the construction of apartments to provide dwellings close to the workplace. Potter and Stanton recognised the opportunity and were in the forefront of the developments. They were successful enough to remain in business throughout the depression; unlike modern developers, Stanton and Potter often retained ownership of the buildings and set up management companies to administer their properties.

They acquired the land for Middle Courtville in 1914 and completed the building in 1915. In 1917 they purchased Braemar, converting it into apartments, removing the plaster name and painting “Courtville” in its place. At some stage a design for a 20-apartment building on the site was considered but this project never went ahead. In 1919 they commenced building the Corner Courtville and in the mid 30′s the final Courtville (now known as Westminster Court) was built.

The Potter and Stanton families owned and administered the Courtville complex until 1972. In this year Philip Potter had a heart attack. On recovering from this his attitude to Courtville had changed: until this time he had believed in maintaining the family assets, but after this illness it became imperative for him to sell. Both his brothers and the Stanton family agreed to sell, and the long association of the two families with the Courtville buildings ended.

Some of the tenants during the Courtville years have provided colourful recollections of a time long since past. One of those tenants was Bill Sanders of Milford who on 19 th January 1987 wrote this letter to the Courtville Residents Association:

Dear Mr Burgess,

It was with great interest and some nostalgia that I read about Courtville in recent articles in the NZ Women’s Weekly and the NZ Herald.

I lived in the old Courtville House in 1916 at the age of two until we moved to Remuera in 1923. My sister was born there in 1920. My parents , Mr and Mrs S Franklin Sanders lived in the back flat on the ground floor and an aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs P Bruford occupied the basement flat. We shared a bathroom on that floor and one of my childhood delights was to watch my mother light a huge hot water gas califont over the bath. Invariably this contraption went off with a loud bang that could be heard throughout the building.

In those days the tenants of Courtville were mostly professional people with offices in the City and naturally all walked to work down Shortland St. or Bowen Ave. They looked rather an elegant lot in their bowler hats and walking canes. There were very few children in the flats and my playmates were Mary and Coates Milsom, whose father Dr Milsom, resided around the corner in Waterloo Quadrant. We children attended Miss Partridge’s kindergarten in Parnell and were met each morning at the bottom of Constitution Hill and were taken by tram up Parnell rise to the old St Mary’s church hall. After returning from kindergarten our only play area was in the Supreme Court grounds or the small park opposite and outside the fence of Government House on the corner of Waterloo Quadrant and Symonds St. It was here that I was taught to ride a bike. Another vivid memory of that time was of Mrs Radcliffe who was the efficient caretaker of the buildings and she lived on the ground floor of the new Corner Courtville. The entrance halls of the building all had brass footplates which she kept brilliantly polished and anyone, particularly children , was severely punished if they dared to put a footprint on her gleaming doorsteps.

It was a pleasant and peaceful area in which to live and as a schoolboy everything seemed to be there. A well stocked little shop on the corner of Princes St and Waterloo Quadrant where the Hotel International now stands and further along opposite the Grand Hotel and next to Whites Services cars was the Auckland Museum. I knew that museum backwards as it was a good and free place to go on wet days. I remember spending hours staring at a fierce Island warrior bedecked in coconut matting armour with a spiny shell helmet. A chilling sight which I had the pleasure of seeing again last year at the War Memorial Museum in the Domain. After 70 years he is still looking as fierce as ever in his glass box.

Saturday mornings offered a rewarding interlude as this was when Bycroft’s Biscuit factory in Shortland St would sell you a sugar sack full of broken biscuits for six pence.

Many an interesting dessert my mother would serve made from these as the main ingredients.

Both my father and uncle had motor cars and ours was a 1914 Hupmobile with 3 bucket seats. It had an old gate gear box change and this required a lot of skill to engage the hole in the gear handle with the right stud in the gear box. The handbrake was on the outside. The cars were garaged in some wood sheds, the access being a driveway running past Grey & Menzies soft drink factory in Eden Crescent.

Another uncle of mine, Mr George Sanders of Jackson Russell Tunks & West lived as a widower for many years in the fourth Courtville building where he died some years before Mainzeal purchased the block.

Last year my wife and I seriously considered an apartment in Westminster Court but for various reasons decided against it. One of these reasons was that to my mind the new refurbishment set up seemed to sit most uncomfortably in surroundings so steeped in early Auckland history.

Yours Sincerely

Bill Sanders.(46)

(45) Extracted from “Corner Courtville Conservation Plan” , prepared at the request of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust for Courtville Apartments Limited by Graeme Burgess. Copies held by Courtville Apartments Limited and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
(46) Transcription of a letter written by Bill Sanders of Milford 19 th January 1987. Copy held by author.