“Time for a Change. Winkler & Eisenhofer: the New Zealand Houses of the 1960s

During the 1960s the booming economy allowed a greater clientele than before to employ architects to create modern and individually designed houses. Examples that demonstrate this are the 1965 Littlejohn House in Karori, Wellington and the 1969 Tustin House in LowerHutt. Both were built by the partnership of the Austrian immigrants Erwin Winkler and Fritz Eisenhofer. Swimming pools and carports demonstrated, among other things, the taste of the inhabitants for luxurious living and the influence of modern North American, mainly west coast, houses. The use of an American house as model was not a singular event. During the 1960s a trend can be discerned that displays the growing influence of American ‘lifestyle’ in housing, furniture, and fashion. This led to a critique of the use value of the vocabulary of a modern style outside of the socio political and cultural climate in which it had emerged. Intentions that led to the adaptation of role models were reflected upon because the long discussed question arose again as to how a distinct New Zealand identity might express itself in its built environment.