46 Memorial Avenue

Hidden behind large trees at 46 Memorial Avenue is one of Fendalton’s interesting older homes - of particular interest because it has remained in the hands of one family for the last 112 years. Current owner of the property is the widow of the author Antony Alpers (1919 - 1997) Margaret Alpers (nee Cregoe).

Mrs Alpers’ grandfather, Fulbert Astley Archer (1859 - 1911), bought about 20 acres of land before 1888, adding to his holding in 1907 when he paid £1000 for an area of land nearer Clyde Road, now with Otara Street running through it. Mr Archer was the Manager of Dalgetys and was married in 1888 at the Fendalton church (St Barnabas). His wife was from Devonshire, near Plymouth. Like many other early settlers, she named her NZ home after family property in her homeland - Colwell. However, this house did not have a long life. Mr Archer’s father, of Miles Archer & Co. importers of Timaru, lived in a Blighs Rd property, still there today near the railway line. His family arrived home to Colwell after an afternoon visit with him to find the house burnt to the ground - everything gone except a chimney surround with a kettle still on the hearth. Probably, like most of the disastrous house fires of the time, the fire had started in an unsafe chimney. In the replacement house, built 1898, the chimneys were built double.

Sadly Fulbert Astley Archer was to die in 1911 in his early 50’s. His younger son, Stephen Radcliffe Archer of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, Mrs Alpers’ uncle, was killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915. Mrs Archer gave St. Barnabas Church an oak and iron Font-Cover in memory of her husband; she also gave the marble base to the font in memory of Stephen.

At the turn of the century, Colwell was a busy home run with little domestic help. The gardener, George lived for many years where the supermarket car park is now. Mr Archer kept polo ponies, stabling them on the property; he played locally. The ponies were expected to be versatile. The favourite, called Biddy, pulled the gig to the Selwyn Huts taking the family on holiday and to the West Coast - a ten day trip. Old photos show the children holidaying at Hurunui; the family had also travelled there in the gig.

A favourite pet belonging to Mrs Alpers’ mother, Hester Amy, was a little Shetland pony which was known to trot through the front door and out the back door of the house. The family also had a house cow they named Mildred Maud. Mrs Alpers’ mother as a child used to milk her, hiding a mug in a tree ready for sampling the fresh milk.

Hay parties were a frequent form of entertainment, featuring much frolicking in the hay - not pleasant for hay fever sufferers. Croquet was played on the lawn and there was a summer house for relaxing in. Strawberries and cream were usually on the menu. Tennis was played on courts down by the stream.

Mrs Alpers’ uncles rode to Christ’s College on ponies named Darkie and Tommy. Later Mrs Alpers took the tram from the terminus on the corner of Clyde and Fendalton Roads to school at Rangi Ruru.

Mrs Alpers’ grandmother’s hobby was illustrating the family’s many photo albums with delicate watercolour sketches. She felt the black and white photos of the time needed a lift with some colour.

Neighbours of the Archers until 1910 were the Dowlings (of cricket fame) whose large house was - and still is - at 29 Gleneagles Terrace. The drive to their property, now the entrance to 52b Memorial Avenue, ran down through large plane trees, a few of which are still standing. The five Dowling boys used to run through the Archer’s paddocks to school in Clyde Road. On the way they used to eat fruit from the Archers’ orchard. The market garden next to the Archer’s was owned by Mr Chick. Later owners of the Dowling property were Dr and Mrs David McMillan. They gave the Cregoe family their gate posts which are still there today. This happened when the road was widened and the old gate posts were not strong enough to withstand the move.

Another property in the area dating from the turn of the century is 49 Memorial Avenue, the home of a Miss Paget during the war years.

The Archer family’s land stretched right across to the Wairarapa stream on the other side of Woodford Terrace and to Clyde Road, opposite the Fendalton Library (sold 1949 approximately). The land between Woodford Terrace and Memorial Avenue was sold off as recently as 1967. Some land near Clyde Road had been sold in 1924 for £3,317/16/3 to Duncan Oliver Rutherford of the well known North Canterbury family. Some land was taken for road-widening when Burnside Road became Memorial Avenue.

Today, the property is still large by today’s standards with a section area of about half an acre. The Council regards the house as of historic or architectural interest and listed the property in the Waimairi District Planning Scheme. The chimney pots are of particular historic value. There are several mature cabbage trees on the property. One of them is thought to have the biggest girth and height of any in NZ.

The house is largely in original condition. Gone from the property is the windmill used to provide artesian water until 1970. Inside, the panelling is original and the house has a smoking room. The rooms have double-sash windows. The hall displays antlers from deer shot by Mrs Alpers’ uncle, Cave Archer, in the Rakaia Gorge during the first World War when he was manager of the Lake Coleridge Station owned by John Murchison. The room in which Mr Archer’s daughter and grand-daughter were born in was Antony Alpers’ study where he wrote his books.

Acknowledgement: Mrs Antony Alpers