Alsop's Workers' Dwelling, 25 Paynters Avenue (1918)

By 1916, New Plymouth, along with other New Zealand towns and cities, was grappling with a severe housing shortage. At this time it was reported that two families occupying one dwelling was not uncommon, new residents were forced into lodgings, and the Borough Council was losing employees who could not find residence in the town. 

As a means to improve both the supply and standard of worker housing, the Liberal Government had previously passed the first Workers Dwellings Act in 1905. Whilst this Act was revolutionary, it was largely unsuccessful due to high construction costs and a suburban emphasis which failed to recognise the need for workers to live near their places of employment. 

A new Workers’ Dwellings Act with strengthened freehold provisions was passed in 1910. Under the new Act, the State was prepared to build landless urban workers their own house for just a £10 deposit, and whilst workers could still lease or rent from the state, applicants who were prepared to own were favoured.

Eventually suitable land was found in the eastern New Plymouth suburb of Strandon, where sections 11, 12 and 13 of Chilman’s Subdivision, Paynter’s Avenue, were purchased by the government from Daniel Barry and subsequently subdivided into four lots during July 1917. The new subdivision would be known as Hooper’s Workers’ Dwelling’s Settlement, and tenders were called for the erection of four Workers' Dwellings at New Plymouth. 

Initial tenders were considered too high for the type of dwelling being constructed, however after applicants agreed to double their deposits from £10 to £20, new designs were prepared. By January 1918, it seems all the homes were nearing completion, with the builder Luke Langridge, advertising for a "good painter and paper-hanger" at the Paynters Avenue Workers' Dwellings. A Taranaki Daily News reporter described them in March 1918 as having "nothing of the monotonous and forbidding appearance usually conceived when 'workers' dwellings' are mentioned".

The motorman Richard Cullmore Alsop and his wife Ethel Emily (nee Hole) moved into the new house and lived there for the rest of their lives. Richard until his death on 28 January 1961 and Ethel until her death on 14 July 1972. 

Related items:

Alsop’s Workers’ Dwelling, 25 Paynters Avenue New Plymouth, Draft Heritage Assessment (Hamish Crimp, 2019)

Taranaki DP3580 Sheet 1 Workers Settlement, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)