George Hartnell purchased Lot 2 of Deeds Plan 21 from Thomas Kingwell Skinner in February 1910. Hartnell on-sold the property to 'Hardwidge' in 1913 and then constructed the villa at 7 Belt Road for Hardwidge in 1913, with a permit for the construction of a residence on Sections 2 and 3, Belt Road, granted to Hardwidge on 28 July 1913 - the estimated construction cost was £285.
George Hartnell was a well-known builder who constructed a number of villas across New Plymouth in the period prior to WWI - the wide front gable is a characteristic feature of Hartnell's villas. Both 9 Belt Road, and 122 Hine Street, were also constructed by Hartnell around the same time.
Hardwidge rented the home for a time, before selling it to 'Oldham' in May 1917. Oldham didn't own the house for long, and it was purchased by M. M. Bishop in December 1918, who soon on-sold it to N. P. Rickards in July 1919 - Rickards retained ownership until at least 1927 when the property title was issued under The Land Transfer Act.
Related items:
Taranaki DEED21 Sheet 1 (1909), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki Land Deeds Index I14, page 311. (Archives New Zealand)
Please do not reproduce these images without permission from Puke Ariki.
Contact us for more information or you can order images online here.
