Roy Brewster's Beehive House "Norian" (1953)

"Norian" [NO RIght ANgles] was Edgar Roy Brewster’s house in Sanders Avenue, New Plymouth. Many Taranaki people remember ‘The Bee Man’, known as Roy (1906-78).  A brilliant but enigmatic man, Brewster believed that right angles were alien to harmonious living, and set about creating a home environment which suited his philosophies. 

In 1953, he and his wife Nettie built the beehive house, a hexagonal house in Sanders Avenue that became a popular tourist attraction in New Plymouth. The accompanying photographs from postcards of the time show the house and some interior rooms. Brewster demolished the house in 1974 and began reconstructing a new version at the Frankley dairy factory but it remained incomplete at the time of his death in 1978.

Brewster, an apiarist from his youth, produced and sold his own honey under the "Norian" brand. He also experimented with aviation theory and technology - he was, briefly, the owner of a Flying Flea - and wrote and published music. 

Some of Norian's furniture and Brewster's models are now held by the Taranaki Aviation Transport and Technology Museum (TATATM) located on Kent Road at Mangorei.

See: Video of Beehive House 1957 Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Related documents and plans:

Noran honey advertisement (Taranaki Herald 13 September 1954)

Hexagonal living (Taranaki Herald 10 February 1968)

Brewster's Norian Cottage at Hurworth for Sale (Taranaki Herald 19 May 1979)

Taranaki DP6863 Sheet 1 Sanders Ave, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)