Karen Rolleston - Arts & Crafts House in Highfield

Amateur Columnist

If your looking for an excellent read about Timaru's important buildings, you may have read Karens articles on the Civic Trust website: timarucivictrust.co.nz. Karen has written up a piece about her background and a home where her heart is...

I joined the Timaru Civic Trust when it reconvened after several years in recess. One of the ideas we had to raise our profile amongst the public of Timaru was to do a weekly column in the Saturday edition of the Timaru Herald. It’s been a rewarding exercise. Each week I write about a building, house, park, artwork or anything that is in the public domain for us all to notice. The feedback I get from people I run into makes me think it’s a valuable tool in raising awareness as to what surrounds us and what we have perhaps forgotten to see.

On the Civic Trust we have several architects, a teacher, an engineer, a historian, business people, an accountant, plenty of expertise. I am none of these and would consider myself an interested bystander at best, I have no background in research or journalism, but love aesthetics, art, gardens and discovering the layers beneath the lives we currently live. My articles are supposed to have a 200 word limit so it’s easy to find the information I need online or in the resource room at the Timaru Library. There is a rich history of settlement, agriculture and industry in our region and it’s been fun to dig a little deeper to discover what lies beneath.

WuHoo InvestigateYourHomeChallenge KarenRolleston 020 HighfieldHouseOur home is one of my favourites! It’s a beautiful big old Arts and Crafts house in Highfield which has been in my husband’s family since it was constructed in 1923, then on what were the outskirts of Timaru. Originally it was built as a ‘widow’s townhouse’ for Jessy Rhodes and her 4 staff to move in from the country to. After she died in 1937 it was turned into flats. It remained this way for some 80 years till we moved in in 2008 turning it, once again, into a family home. We’ve had lots of fun modernising it so it can run without the 4 staff while still maintaining the Arts and Crafts character of the house. We love it and consider ourselves very lucky to live here.

Designed by Timaru architect, Walter Panton, it’s constructed of Timaru red brick and has a red tile roof, these are flat red tiles as compared to the ridged Marseille tiles we see more commonly around Timaru. It reminds me of many homes I’ve seen throughout the English countryside. The original chimneys are still in place having suffered no damage during the earthquakes a few years ago. There are lots of quirky features to the house as you would expect in an Arts and Crafts home, it’s made out of natural materials like brick, wood and tiles, careful craftsmanship and is individual in character. It was well built and has stood the test of time.

- Karen Rolleston, Amateur Columnist. 2020.


Did you know...

Karen Rolleston has written heaps of interesting articles about Timaru homes and buildings, you can read them here: timarucivictrust.co.nz