John Scott’s Werry Francis House on the market

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An image from Mary Gaudin and Giles Reid’s photo essay on the Werry House and the Francis House, which sit side by side. Image: Mary Gaudin

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The Werry Francis House in Greytown. Image: Mary Gaudin

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The Werry Francis House. Image: Mary Gaudin

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The Werry Francis House soon after its completion in 1979. Image: Supplied

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View of the house from the garden soon after completion in 1979. Image: Supplied

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Today, the house (marketed by real estate agents Tremains) is for sale for the first time. Image: Supplied

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Real estate agents Tremains are marketing the house for sale for the first time. Image: Supplied

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The late John Scott designed two connected dwellings, the Werry House and the Francis Cottage, in 1978 for the current owner and her mother. The only example of Scott’s work in the Southern Wairarapa — in Greytown, north of Wellington — the Werry Francis House has now been listed for sale.

The Werry Francis House. Image: Mary Gaudin

The main three-bedroomed Werry House has many of the signature features of a John Scott (1924–1992) house – concrete block construction, use of exposed timber posts, contrasting ceiling heights and exposed rafters. The Francis Cottage was designed as a connected ‘granny flat’, featuring low-set windows for garden views while seated or lying down. The Werry Francis house is well known within architectural circles, with renowned photographer Mary Gaudin and architectural writer Giles Reid publishing a 36-page book on the home, which was available for purchase on Gaudin’s site.

In remembering the design and build process, the current owner of the home says that she found John Scott an infuriating genius. “He was always late for his appointments, so much so that I thought my home may never be completed,” she says. “Any feedback I gave was clearly unwelcome and my ideas, however small, were stonewalled, until finally I gave in.” She felt that Scott’s attention to detail and demands of the highest of standards from the contractors were informed by his own skill as a builder, and no problem was left unsolved when he finally arrived on site.

As with many of his clients, they remained good friends and she remembers that he would suddenly appear and “walk through the house like he owned the place, and would drink your grog while calling his current client, saying he had been delayed on business in Greytown”. The very last time he called, the current owners were out and they found a note he had left saying: “I could live in this house.” Scott often remarked to the owner that he was particularly pleased with the cottage and hoped to design a similar one for his mother one day.

The owner shared some of Scott’s early designs and sketches for the project with ArchitectureNow (below). She has made some typed notes on some at a later date.