This building was originally constructed as Dr David Blackley's residence and consulting rooms. Doctor Blackley (1882-1935) occupied the building until the mid 1940s, when it was taken over by Dr Thomas H. Thorp.
The house was designed by noted New Plymouth architect Thomas Herbert Bates, who arrived in New Plymouth in 1916, and from 1918 through to the 1920s and 1930s, was New Plymouth's foremost commercial architect. He was responsible for many reinforced concrete commercial buildings in New Plymouth’s CBD, with his domestic work predominantly large homes in the English Domestic Revival style, and rarely, single-storey bungalows.
A building permit for the construction of the house was granted by the New Plymouth Borough Council to Dr Blackley on 18 October 1929; Sidney Raymond Smith was listed as the builder, with the house having a construction value of £2972.
The house was moved off the site on 8 September 2020 to a new location in Tikorangi.
The house is architecturally significant as an English Domestic Revival style building with a gambrel roof (two-slopes either side). Gambrel roofs are rather rare in New Plymouth.
The legal firm Rudd, Watts & Stone moved into the building in 1976.
Blueprint plans for the building from 1929, along with drainage plans from 1932, are held by Puke Ariki. (ARC2013-1569)
Related documents:
Renovators save historic house (Taranaki Daily News 4 June 2020)
90-year-old building driven to its new home (Taranaki Daily News 10 September 2020)
Family's relocated 'forever home' full of history (Taranaki Daily News 3 October 2020)
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