Article: Tools To Task
Reliving History In Comfort And Style
Over the years we have seen strong developments in our global cosmopolitan cities where the older, heritage homes have been much sought after. This development is due to the fact that in these densely populated places the room to construct new homes is virtually impossible on the account of complex regulations and simple lack of space. This trend has made inroads into New Zealand urban living areas some time now and it still is a popular property investment to find a ‘D.I.Y.’ project and renovate it to a pristine standard. However, to do the job justice it requires a lot of skill, time, and money and often you still end up with a colder, draughtier, and less than perfect home at the end of it.
A Perfect Solution
Heritage Buildings & Homes have launched a perfect solution to those of you that crave living in a home of the days-gone-by era. They built your desired heritage design to meet your specific lifestyle and comfort needs.
Heritage Buildings & Homes pride themselves on their design skills and ability to produce high quality Kit Set Buildings that are sympathetic to the wonderful designs of a time gone by. Through incorporating the use of sustainable and affordable products to future proof their Kit Set’s for many future generations to come. Heritage Builds & Homes form part of a lineage of a long established building company in New Zealand. Four generations of builders with 45 years experience in the industry.
“At Heritage Building & Homes, we believe in the age old philosophy of simplicity. Simplicity of process, choice, design, planning, & construction,” says Keith Mitchell, director and founder of the company.
True Recreation
“We specialise in recreating buildings from the Pioneer Cottage range, to the 1860 Villa and on to the ornate 1910 Villa, through to the classic retro bungalows of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
Our plans are true recreations of these eras but build by supplying you with today’s technical, sophisticated, and modern kitset components along with the easy to understand plans and specifications. You will note the high ceilings - 2.7 meters or 9 feet in the old language, is classic with these homes, along with intricate scroll design skirting boards and architraves around the windows and doors.
We also include the roofed verandas and posts. The Pioneer Cottage has simple post brackets were as the Villa has decorative post brackets and finials to the gable ends. The Bungalow has pairs of posts with splayed weatherboard bottoms, long low swooping roof style, and classic decorative timber shingles to the gables.
Heritage Buildings and Homes are able to supply you with a vast range of bungalow and villa products to enhance and add value to your Kit Set Home.”
Inside Information
Keith Mitchell is a very experienced builder with a well-known and recognised proven track record in the industry. He recently passed the reigns of Mitchell Builders over to his son John so that he could focus on his passion of recreating heritage home designs under his new brand of Heritage Buildings & Homes.
Mitchell Builders has been a family business for 4 generations. The company’s origins began on the Norfolk – Suffolk borders, England in the early 1900’s.
The company still operates today from the same area in a small village called Pulham St Mary by Robert Mitchell (3rd generation) Master Mason. The type of projects undertaken has never changed; from rebuilding and renovation of the 16th century buildings, through to new homes, village halls and farm buildings.
The New Zealand operation of Mitchell Builders began in 1972 by Keith Mitchell (3rd generation) Carpenter Builder. Based in Whangarei from the very beginning, the company has specialised in very high quality construction of all manner of buildings include large and small homes, specialised renovations and commercial projects.
John Mitchell (4th generation) Carpenter builder now plays the pivotal role in the business and is the main contact person on site, hands on, working with all the other trades people, customers and owners.
Best Of Both Worlds
From about the 1980s, villas saw resurgence in popularity. Renovation of these houses is now a significant part of the building industry’s work. Many have been renovated to a good standard. In many cases, these renovations have been extensive, sometimes leaving little of the original character except for the street facade.
However, typically, they are colder, draughtier, their spaces have a poor relationship to sun and site, and their service areas such as bathrooms are not well positioned to bedrooms and may lack what we consider modern amenities.
Therefore, the solution that Heritage Building & Homes offer, lets you as the homeowner, benefit from the best of both worlds. Firstly, you get to live in a much desired home designed to the style of the period you prefer and secondly, since these houses are built from scratch they provide you with all the modern comforts that this day and age demands.
The Pioneer
The Pioneer style of house built in New Zealand between 1850-1920 were an everyday sight in the golden era of steam and are still common and plentiful in many modern neighbourhoods. Traditionally you will see them in the early mining towns and a good example of this is our local Hikurangi where some pristine little cuties beautify the township.
Typical Features
Traditionally built from timber, this utilitarian design offers basic accommodation in as far as showing four rooms per house, two in front and two in the back with the lean-to featured to the rear.
The Cottage
The term Cottage is supposedly taken from an old Anglo Saxon term, originating from the word cot, meaning hut. Prior to the eighteenth Century, the word was associated with meagre living quarters. By the mid 18th Century the definition of the term, “Cottage” abruptly changed when the English Queen Charlotte titled her new country estate a “cottage”. Whatever the source of the name, the cottage resembles the charm and romance of yesteryear. Pretty and quaint homes, with every space utilised and every corner detailed.
Typical Features
Mainly two storied with a porched entrance making a statement in entering this lovely house. the first floor featuring the living, dining and kitchen whereas the bedrooms are located on the second floor. You will find that the quaint romantic settings ideally are surrounded by overgrown gardens of roses and flowering vines.
The Villa
(villa: The style of house built in New Zealand during the late 19th and early 20th century.) Design arose as the development of New Zealand cities and towns demanded more than the single or two-room cottages of pioneer settlement. The villa was almost the exclusive style in use until its demise at the beginning of World War 1. The earliest villas were simple in form, but grew in complexity and decoration over time as the construction industry responded to demand from increasingly affluent consumers.
Typical Features
The villa’s most distinctive feature was that it is typically constructed almost entirely of timber – including fixtures and fittings – with a metal roof. There are also villas constructed of brick masonry, and some have other types of roofing such as clay tiles or slate. While predominantly single-storied, there were a significant proportion of two-storied villas in the more affluent suburbs.
The Bungalow
Influenced by international trends, from about 1910 the villa gradually gave way to the bungalow. The bungalow was the most common style of house built in New Zealand from the end of World War 1 to the Great Depression in the 1930s. By the early 1920s, the bungalow was the predominant style of house being built in New Zealand.
Typical Features
Large, deep, projecting verandah; extended barge boards(barge boards: The flat boards at the edges of gable roofs, sometimes shaped or decorated.) in a variety of profiles; and a lower roof pitch.
Bungalows have a low-slung appearance with horizontal weatherboards and a low-pitch roof. Other typical features include bay or bow windows facing the street, one or more porches, timber weatherboard cladding, and a layout with rooms opening off a central corridor.
