The Hardy Houses- when were they built?

The following blog reflects my current view on the Hardy Mount Albert Road houses building dates, ownerships and occupation, arrived at after many hours reading and rereading deeds, Wises listings, electoral rolls etc.

The building dates

There are two photos of early Mount Albert that help in identifying the relevant dates.

The 1910 photo

I have copied this photo from the excellent book "Mt Albert Then and Now" by Deborah Dunsford. This is why there is a centre crease in the photo.

This photo is dated "around 1910" . Montana appears in the centre of the photo with Summit Drive on the opposite side of Mount Albert Rd

Note that at the date of this photo Kitenui Ave is not formed and Montana sits largely on its own. There is not an obvious entry into Montana from Mount Albert Rd. The house is sited facing away from Mount Albert Rd. Perhaps Charles wanted to be able to see his land and beyond from the veranda that is on that side of the house.

The 3 September 1920 Photo

This photo is very precisely dated 3 September 1920. It shows that at this date three houses are at the respective street addresses of 30, 34 and 36 Mount Albert Rd. I have used the current post 1940 numbering here and in the comments below. Prior to 1940 the numbering was 34 for Montana, 36 for the middle house with 38 being the third house.

Note that number 34 which sits in the middle is a villa style of house similar to number 30. This is in contrast to 36 which is a bungalow. The villa design was commonly adopted in the 1890s and early 1900s. Transitional villas then appeared and were replaced by bungalows going into the 1920s.

In contrast to number 30, number 34 faces Mount Albert Rd and there is a stone wall along the frontages of all three of these houses.

We know from the above that the house at 34 was built before 3 September 1920 and after "about 1910".

Charles' Will

Charles wrote his last Will on 16th August 1912. In his Will he left ".... my freehold section in Mount Albert Road being part of Allotment Forty of the Parish of Titirangi having a frontage of fifty feet to Mount Albert Road aforesaid by a depth of One hundred and fifty feet with the house and other improvements thereon to my daughter Florence Frances Hardy absolutely..."

This section and house (which is the property at 34 Mount Albert Rd) was specifically excluded from the agreement dated 12th June 1912 under which Charles made a sale to Teddy D'Ath of the other remaining parts of his original land purchase, including the house Montana. Charles had already subdivided and sold the lots that fronted Lloyd Avenue hence these were also excluded from the sale to Teddy D'Ath.

Who lived at 34 Mount Albert Rd?

The Wises street directories suggest that Charles and Alice probably stayed at Montana until the time of Charles' death. The lack of numbering of the houses at this time means we can only assume this from the order in which names have been listed. Teddy D'Ath is listed on Mount Albert Rd from 1913/14 and going by the order of the Wises listings appears to have possibly been living next to Charles and Alice in 34.

In 1915 the order in the Wises listing changes, suggesting that perhaps after Charles' death the D'Aths moved from 34 to 30 Mount Albert Rd and Alice moved into 34. This is consistent with the fact Teddy had entered into the agreement to buy Montana and the other land from Charles in 1912.

Alice looks to have lived at 34 Mount Albert Rd from shortly after Charles' death on 16 January 1914 until her own death in 1934. During part of this time, from 1930/31 until 1934, Ada is also listed as living at 34. I assume she was looking after Alice.

Helena's tragic death occurred in July 1924. In October 1926 Teddy remarried to Natalie Shaw and moved to 8 Pukenham Rd Epsom. The deeds entered into between Teddy and the executors of Charles estate for the final purchase of the Hardy land (excluding 34 Mount Albert Rd) are dated May 1926.

An interesting component of the transaction is that Teddy had in 1920 transferred his interest in the Hardy land to his then wife Helena, with a remaining debt of one thousand two hundred and pounds- the sum Teddy still owed to Charles' estate for the purchase. On Helena's death the property passed back to Teddy. He dealt with the debt that remained by way of a mortgage to Charles' executors, secured over the sale of the subdivision.

Montana remained within the lots for sale under the subdivision deal with Teddy D'Ath and Ellen Melville until Albert Beazley purchased the property in September 1942. By this date Teddy had died and Ellen Melville was the sole owner. Beazley sold Montana in April of 1943. It seems unlikely that he and Alice Maud lived in Montana. They resided initially in Alexandra Ave (later renamed Alexis Ave) and later in Ranleigh St.

The Wises listings show various names at 30 Mount Albert Rd over the period from 1927, reflecting that the property was probably rented until sold by Beazley. Similarly number 34 appears to have been rented at various times during its ownership by Florence. She looks to have lived there around 1935/36 and then again in 1942/43.

Conclusions

From the above it is apparent that there was a house on 34 Mount Albert Rd by 12 June 1912. It must therefore have been built at some time between about 1910 (the date of the first photo above) and early in 1912. There is one piece of information at odds with this- namely the advertisement Charles placed in the newspaper in 1907 seeking to rent Montana. Perhaps by then he was planning the build of the house at 34.

It seems as if Montana fell out of favour with Charles and Alice at some point around 1907 and they made plans to build a new house at 34. Teddy D'Ath was probably the guy on the spot at the right time to get his clever deal agreed to initially by Charles and to later turn this into a more complex transaction with the trustees of Charles estate, with Ellen Melville's help. Unfortunately the tragic deaths of Helena and her son Harry at Montana in 1924 most likely meant that none of the Hardy family members would have wanted to live in that house.

I am pleased to see that Montana still sits at 30 Mount Albert Rd and that it is currently getting a significant renovation. It is sad that the lovely villa Charles built at 34 Mount Albert Rd was moved somewhere else in the 1990s. Similarly the house Charles Lingham built is no longer at 32 Mount Albert Rd. Instead there are several small units on this site.

The family can be proud of the Hardy contribution to early Mount Albert. There are in fact many fine homes sitting today on the 3 acres that Charles bought in 1900. I do wish I had known about this family history during my days of attending Mount Albert Grammar school and cycling around Mount Albert. I may then have stopped and admired the old Hardy homes a few times.

I have made contact with the Mount Albert Historical Society and have shared some of our information about Charles with them. I hope to persuade them to include an article on Charles in one of their future newsletters.