The Great Depression (1929–1935) had a deep impact on New Zealand. Exports fell by 45 per cent in just two years and so, too, did the national income. However, Waikato was protected from this slump through the government’s commitment to stabilise dairy prices. By the late 1930s, Waikato accounted for a third of the country’s dairy exports and, during the Second World War, the British Ministry of Food made bulk purchases of dairy products. This allowed Waikato farmers to plan their futures with confidence.

After the war, Hamilton experienced a prosperity unlike anywhere else in New Zealand. Small architecture firms began to flourish: among them, Edgecumbe and White. Harold White first advertised his services as a sole architect in Waikato in 1919. John Edgecumbe joined him in 1920 after relocating to Hamilton from Auckland. Together, they would establish the single most influential architecture firm in Waikato. Over time, the practice (referred to here as E&W) would change its name to reflect new partners joining and established partners retiring.

The firm’s enormous success is due in part to Hamilton’s exponential growth after the war; this required new industries and infrastructure, creating new clients and generating significant commissions.

The practice had several keyclients that provided a pipeline of work lasting decades: most notably, Hamilton City Council. Eventually, the firm would do almost all Council work throughout the region from its Hamilton office; the work included administration buildings, city depots and stores, parks and sportsground facilities, a theatre, swimming pools and an airport. At the time, Hamilton City Council’s region covered Tūākau to the north, Taupō to the south, and from the east coast to the west coast in-between.

The firm also had a reputation for innovative design, earned from key projects such as Bledisloe Hall (1935) and the dome in the Hamilton Chief Post Office (1940). E&W’s modern approach to structure stemmed from the capability of partner George Leigh who held qualifications in both engineering and architecture.

E&W would become so busy that the firm was referred to locally as the ‘City Architects’. Its portfolio was impressively broad and demonstrated a remarkable continuity that was unique within New Zealand at the time and contrary to the observation by Stacpoole and Beaven (1972) that architects belonged to a “weakened post-war profession”. Confirming its enduring status as the City Council’s architects of choice, the firm designed two buildings for it, nearly 30 years apart: E&W’s Municipal Chambers Building (1932) on Alma Street, and White, Leigh and de Lisle’s Municipal Offices Building (1960) in Garden Place.

Despite its output, which literally shaped the city, the firm began to lose momentum in the 1980s. A lack of large-scale work, increased competition, the stock-market crash of 1987 and the subsequent economic recession all contributed to a decline in E&W’s fortunes. By 1987, the practice was known as Smith Pickering Wealleans, and, by 2012, it ceased business altogether, bringing an end to nearly a century in business for what had been a significant regional firm that, at its peak, was as large and capable as were the bigger practices in New Zealand’s larger cities.

Firmography

The firm Edgecumbe and White began in 1920, when John Harold Edgecumbe (1886–1963) joined Harold Leonard White (1893–1982) in partnership, over time changing its name as new partners joined the practice and others retired or moved on. Edgecumbe was articled to prominent Auckland architect William Holman who, at around the same time, articled William Henry Gummer. In 1939, George Innes Leigh (1909–1991) joined Edgecumbe and White, which operated as Edgecumbe, White and Leigh from 1946 to 1950. John Edgecumbe would retire in 1948.

Aubrey Frank de Lisle (1919–2004) joined Edgecumbe and White in by 1945, having just spent a year in Christchurch working for Colin Lamb, and, in 1950, de Lisle became partner, with the practice called White, Leigh and de Lisle from 1950 to 1955. In 1955, engineer Colin Fraser joined the firm, which became known as White, Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser from 1955 to 1961.

In 1961, the firm split into two, when Harold White left to form a new practice with his son Alan, and Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser formed their own partnership. In 1964, graduate architects Tom Smith and Adrian Pickering would join Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser, with Smith becoming a partner in 1978. Pickering left to join the Ministry of Works, and from 1974 to 1976, worked as a government architect in Samoa, returning to the firm in 1978 as a result of Smith’s encouragement.

George Leigh retired in 1978 but the firm kept his name and added Smith, to become Leigh, de Lisle, Fraser and Smith.

Aubrey de Lisle retired from practice in 1985, and Colin Fraser followed shortly afterwards. Around 1987, Pickering became a partner and, with engineer Ken Wealleans, the firm became Smith Pickering Wealleans Architects and Engineers. In March 2001, Pickering retired from the practice, by which time the firm was Smith Pickering, and it wound up for good in 2012 upon Smith’s retirement.

THE ITINERARY

1. 1925 — Power Board Building

24 Empire Street, Cambridge Edgecumbe and White

In the early days, the firm handled a wide variety of projects, covering all areas of design. Clients such as the Central Waikato Electric Power Board and, later, the Bay of Plenty Electric Power Board provided a continuing source of commissions. Often, city regulations stipulated these commercial buildings be constructed of permanent building materials such as concrete and steel. This, combined with the firm’s favoured use of the Stripped Classical design language, gave these utilitarian buildings a dignified appearance. Upon the opening of the Power Board Building, the Waikato Independent reported “the style of architecture is distinctly pleasing to the eye”.

2. 1932 — Hamilton Municipal Chambers

3 Alma Street, Hamilton Edgecumbe and White

As one of the few inter-war architectural firms in Hamilton, and one that was infinitely capable, E&W attracted numerous civic commissions and, with the Municipal Chambers, began an association with Hamilton City Council that would last more than 50 years. The Municipal Chambers’ Stripped Classical style gives way in places to an Art Deco influence on the building’s exterior embellishments, such as friezes below the first-floor windows and the heavily decorated parapet with an inverted fan pattern. The building housed 1XH radio station as well as recording studios in the 1970s. An additional floor has been added (in keeping) and, today, the building continues to be successfully used by various businesses.

3. 1935 — Bledisloe Hall

125 Mystery Creek Road, Hamilton Edgecumbe and White

According to J.R. Baird, the design engineer, Bledisloe Hall was entirely arc welded and the first steel building in New Zealand to be erected without a single rivet in the framework. He argued that lightweight steel structures had a better chance of survival in earthquakes — this one survived a tornado in 1948. The building is an impressive 15 metres high and 67 metres long. Originally built to host the Waikato Winter Show and other exhibitions, from 1942 to 1947, it was taken over by the New Zealand Air Force as a repair workshop for planes used in the Pacific War.

4. 1937 — Office of the Waikato Hospital Board

6 Sapper Moore-Jones Place, Hamilton Edgecumbe and White

The firm worked as a consultant for the Waikato Hospital Board for many years, and completed major projects in Hamilton, Rotorua and Thames. This office building is in the city centre but the practice also designed a number of large buildings on the grounds of Waikato Hospital, including the Administration Block (1937). The hospital’s rapid expansion since the 1950s has seen many E&W buildings demolished to make way for new facilities, so this surviving building is all the more valuable to the city’s history. Today, Waikato Hospital is the largest single-site hospital facility in the southern hemisphere.

5. 1940 — Hamilton Chief Post Office

346 Victoria Street, Hamilton Edgecumbe and White

Hamilton’s new Post Office was designed to be the most up-to-date facility in the country. The building provided not only post and telegraph services but also housed banking, welfare and other government agencies. Vertical light to the central atrium is provided by a dome on the roof, designed by John Edgecumbe. The dome is 12 metres wide, weighs 93 tonnes and contains more than 1600 glass lenses. When the building was refurbished in 2013, the dome had to be raised eight metres to accommodate the atrium’s new height. See Home and Building June 1941.

6. 1947 — Claudelands Substation

Corner Grey Street and Claudelands Road, Hamilton Edgecumbe, White and Leigh

Hamilton’s rapid growth in the 1950s meant increased demand for electricity, with additional infrastructure required. In the 1950s alone, Hamilton City Council granted building consents for 19 suburban substations, with the locations coinciding with the newer suburbs north and south of the city centre. The firm designed the Claudelands Substation and others in Kent Street (1967) and at Whitiora School (1971). The Waikato power supply came through existing hydro stations dotted along the Waikato River but increased demand led to two new dams, Ātiamuri and Ohakuri, commissioned in 1959 and 1961, respectively.

7. 1958 — Farmers’ Co-operative Auctioneering Company Building

115 Kent Street, Frankton, Hamilton White, Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

As agriculture developed in Waikato in the early 20th century, so, too, did commercial and industrial activity in Hamilton. Local and regional farmers moved into the Hamilton retail and supply trade, setting up the Farmers’ Co-operative Auctioneering Company in 1906. As farming grew after the Second World War, farming supply companies grew as well, as evidenced by this huge, two-storey retail and manufacturing plant in Frankton. The building was used to manufacture, package and sell raw goods along with general hardware items “in the company’s modern premises”. Business was good for Waikato farmers in the 1950s.

8. 1960 — Hamilton Municipal Offices

Anglesea Street, Hamilton White, Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

The new Council building was officially opened on 9 July 1960, facing what was then Worley Street. The firm’s long-standing relationship with the client meant there was no tendering for this project, causing consternation among other local architects. The brief for the project was developed over a year, in discussion with various heads of department. Many of these heads requested more floor space than was required, leaving large portions of some floors barely in use once the project was complete. The top floor was originally designed as a cafeteria and staffrooms but later changed to the mayoral suite.

9. 1961 — All Saints Anglican Church

6 Hohaia Street, Matamata Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

In its lifetime, the firm designed numerous churches across many denominations, though most were for the Anglican Church, including those in Pirongia (1959), Otorohanga (1958), Tūākau (1960), Matamata (1961), Putāruru (1962), Claudelands, Hamilton (1963), Bader, Hamilton (1963) and Piopio (1977). It also designed Catholic churches in Fairfield, Hamilton (1957) and Te Awamutu (1958), as well as a Methodist church in Morrinsville (1955) and Presbyterian churches in Fairfield, Hamilton (1957), Ngāruawāhia (1961) and Matamata (1979). Only the chapel at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls made it to print. See Home and Building March 1959.

10. 1962, demolished 2024 — Hamilton Founders Memorial Theatre

221 Tristram Street, Hamilton Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

Inspired by the Belgrade Theatre (1958) in Coventry, ‘Founders’ opened in November 1962. The project was driven primarily by a committee led by H.H. Innes, which raised the necessary funds to have the theatre built. The main space accommodated up to 1250 people and could be divided by floor-to-ceiling curtains when audiences were smaller. One of the earliest performances at the theatre was by jazz legend Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars band on 20 March 1963. Despite a public campaign to have the building saved, it was demolished in 2024, with the grounds proposed to become a reserve.

11. 1965, demolished 1996 — BNZ Building

354 Victoria Street, Hamilton Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

The BNZ was a seven-storey commercial building located next door to the firm’s 1940 Post Office, with both buildings featuring double-height entries. The bank is believed to have been the first commercial building in Hamilton with centralised air conditioning. Mahogany was used for the front face of the public counters as well as the double-height concrete columns, as was the case in the Hamilton Municipal Offices (1960), which today remain largely original. The exterior façade glass had a green hue, a colour that was carried inside with the vinyl counter tops and emerald-green carpet. See NZIA Journal Aug 1965.

12. 1966 — Air Terminal Building, Hamilton

Airport Airport Road, RD2, Hamilton Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

The Hamilton air terminal is a large, nearly 4000m2 building, designed to house public lounges, a mezzanine level and an observation platform. The building was designed by Henry Clarke, who worked briefly for the firm before leaving to join Rod Smith as a partner in 1964. The shape of the roof represents a cross-section of an aileron (the horizontal flaps located near the outer end of an aircraft’s wings), seen here floating on a continuous glass curtain wall. Various interventions and upgrades to the building have obscured the original design intent. See NZIA Journal Aug 1965 and Home and Building April 1969.

13. 1967 — Salvation Army Citadel

99 London Street, Hamilton Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

This is one of several Salvation Army commissions brought to the firm by Tom Smith, who was active in that organisation. The original building comprised three large halls, with the main hall accommodating 250 people and a gallery for a further 80. A raised platform allowed for a band of 38 and a choir of 50. Special attention was given to acoustics, with vertical pivoted fins along both internal side walls allowing for adjustments for different sound conditions. Extensive additions to the original building completed in 2009 were sensitive to the original design. See Home and Building July 1969.

14. 1970—1976 — Bryant Hall Student Village, University of Waikato

122 Knighton Road, Hamilton Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

The establishment in 1964 of a university in Hamilton created a number of opportunities for local architects. The firm was responsible for not only these residential halls, which are still in use today, but also the Warden’s House, the Chaplain’s House, the conversion of a shed to the Student Union Building and the Vice-Chancellor’s House. The client for the halls was a committee of the Bryant Trust Board and, although the University ultimately approved the project, the halls were paid for by the Bryant Trust, entirely as a gift to the University and to the city of Hamilton.

15. 1974—1981 — Centennial Pools

Garnett Avenue, Te Rapa, Hamilton de Lisle, Fraser, Smith and Pickering

Completed and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in October 1981, this project was undertaken in stages, commencing in 1974. The complex was first opened to the public in late 1976, 15 years after Hamilton Jaycees suggested a new swimming pool complex in Fairfield Park. The suggestion led to a proposal in 1964 to mark the city’s centennial and, in 1973, the decision was made to build the complex in Te Rapa instead. ‘Waterworld’ remains a Hamilton City Council-owned pool complex that also features three hydro slides and a large outdoor playground.

Photography: Matt Grant – 01, 04, 07, 09, 13; Hamilton Central Library Heritage Collection – 02 (08945, Photographer W. Young), 03 (06158), 05 (14977), 06 (M00277.34), 08 (03191, Photographer A. E. Graham), 10 (07618), 11 (2007.31.88), 12 (03248, Photographer A. E. Graham), 14 (03480), 15 (M00729.23).

OTHER ADDRESSES

1934 — Cambridge Town Clock 

Victoria Square, Cambridge
Edgecumbe and White

1950 — Signals Building 

135 Ward Street, Hamilton
White, Leigh and de Lisle

1957 — Cadbury Fry Hudson Ltd 

120 Kent Street, Frankton, Hamilton
White, Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

1968 — BOP Electric Power Board Office Block 

4 Pyne Street, Whakātane
Leigh, de Lisle and Fraser

SOURCES

Despite the firm’s prolific output, and as the first Hamilton practice to be published in Home and Building in 1941, not much of its work appears in print, aside from a few commercial and residential projects published in the 1950s and 1960s. Both Aubrey de Lisle and his wife Mary (also an architect) were interviewed in 1999 as part of Hamilton City Libraries’ Oral History Programme, ‘Back to the Drawing Board: Abstracted Interviews from the Architects’ Oral History Project’ (1999–2000). The interviews from this programme are an invaluable source and those with the de Lisles informed much of this itinerary. Useful published sources include: Andrew Barrie and Jade Shum’s ‘A Guide to Waikato Architecture’, published as Map No. 5 in Block: The Broadsheet of the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, nos 1/2 (2020); Peter Gibbons’ Astride the River: A History of Hamilton (Christchurch: Whitcoulls, 1977); Barry Lafferty’s Frankton: From Farm to Inner City (Hamilton: Print House Ltd, 2014); and Venetia Sherson’s edited collection, Heritage Hamilton (Hamilton: Ramp Press, Wintec, 2006). I have also written on Hamilton architecture previously, in ‘A Visual Survey of Hamilton Architects and Waikato Architecture 1935–1955’, a Master of Architecture thesis, completed at Victoria University of Wellington in 2024.

The Itinerary series is supported by Dulux Colours of New Zealand. Dulux Colour Specialist Davina Harper has selected a Colours of New Zealand palette based on this itinerary. See the full range and order colour samples here.