75_Eliot_Street_2017.JPG 75 Eliot Street. Hamish Crimp (2017).

75 Eliot Street is located on Part Town Section 1628 and was constructed in 1879-80 by Captain Henry Rogers. The rear northern corner of the house can be seen in a photograph of the area taken from Fort Niger between late-1880 and late-1883, and it is also present on Skinner's 1880 map of New Plymouth. 

It was reported by the New Plymouth Borough Council in October 1879 that "Mr H. Rogers was erecting a number of cottages in Niger Terrace, opposite Mr Hulke's, and as he wished to put up a fence in Elliot Street, he asked the Council to raise the footpath to its permanent level". This seems to date the present group of cottages to late 1879 or early 1880.

The back and side walls of the building are clad in plain, horizontal rough sawn weatherboards, with the front of the building clad in rusticated weatherboard - it is unclear if the rusticated weatherboard is original, although cladding only the front wall in the more expensive rusticated weatherboard was becoming common at this time. It is likely all of the original windows have been replaced at some point - certainly those at the front appear to date from the 1920s-1940s. It is thought the house originally had two chimneys in similar positions to the two identical homes located next door on Town Section 1603 (now demolished).

The building has large Kauri floorboards that are attached to the joists using handmade nails - an indicator of an early construction date. It has also been suggested that the house may have been prefabricated in Auckland and then shipped to New Plymouth.

This style of building was once more common in New Plymouth, however is now relatively rare. This is the oldest building of this style in New Plymouth - other similar surviving examples can be seen in Young Street (circa 1890s), and next door at 77 Eliot Street (built slightly later in the 1880s or 1890s).

Captain Rogers lived on Eliot Street until his death in 1905. 

Town Section 1628, Taranaki Land Deed Index I1 Page 385 and I5 Page 487

Related plans:

Taranaki DEED9 Sheet 1, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DEED49 Sheet 1 (1929), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP6080 Sheet 1 (1944), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

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