Marian House a survivor
Some of the buildings that I find the most interesting are not the perfectly conserved heritage marvels but rather those that hint at an earlier life and form. One such building is part of the Catholic precinct in Hamilton East.
Marian House stands at the north end of Firth St and, despite appearances, it was built almost 100 years ago. Erected as the Marist Brothers’ Home in 1924, the building was a one-anda-half storey bungalow with a square footprint and a crossgabled roof.
The house was featured in an advertisement placed in the Waikato Times by the BB Hollow Block company in April 1925. Also featured in the halfpage pictorial ad were the Anglican church at Ohaupo, HE Follett’s shop in Matamata and the Leach house in Whitiora, Hamilton. A form of concrete block, the BB Hollow Block was said to be ‘fire proof, damp proof, [and] borer proof’.
Local architects Chitty and Cray had called tenders for the house in January 1924.
The firm also designed the Ohaupo Memorial Hall using a concrete block system (1923) and Jack Chitty went on to design the convent chapel for the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions (1926) on Clyde St as well as Frankton Hotel (1929).
Thomas Cray had earlier been in partnership (1914-17) with Fred Daniell, who specialised in concrete construction. Daniell & Cray were responsible for St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (1913-14) in River Rd and the 1914 extension of St Paul’s Methodist Church, which used to stand in London St. The Marist Boys’ School opened in February 1922 and initially held classes in the church hall on Clyde St. Numerous bazaars funded the school and the Marist Brothers Old Boys’ Football Club, which preceded it.
A purpose-built school building was opened by Bishop Liston on February 25, 1923; it too was designed by Messrs Chitty and Cray.
By 1961 the Marist Brothers’ Home had been extended to the south and more recently another wing was added to the north. At its core, the 1924 building remains; it now houses Marian School’s administration offices. After the Jubilee Catholic Early Childhood Centre, which was built as a private home for Helena Le Quesne and her father Philip in c.1908, the former priests’ house appears to be the oldest surviving structure within the Catholic precinct.