A house with its own unique style
Initially designed by the renowned James Chapman-Taylor, the house at Tupare was built under the direction of Russell Matthews. Much of the furniture and accessories were bought on overseas trips, or commissioned to Matthews' specifications.
Russell and Mary Matthews were familiar with the work of James Chapman-Taylor through the house he had designed and built (work began in 1930) for C A Wilkinson, the MP for Egmont, at Pukearuhe, now known as “Wilkinson’s Castle”.
Chapman-Taylor prepared drawings for Tupare. The Matthews required minor changes to these including the size of the dining room in order to accommodate the family dining table (hence the cantilever above the garage).
Chapman-Taylor was not prepared to make the changes, and furthermore he insisted that he should provide full-time supervision for the construction of the house.
This was entirely unnecessary, in Russell Matthews’ view, and the commission was terminated. The house as built, however, followed the general form and plan layout as originally designed.
The main construction during 1932 to 1935 was supervised by Russell Matthews. The house took 12 years to complete with most of the construction work carried out by Russell Matthews’ road construction gangs in the winter off-season through an employment agreement with a government department.
Foremen included Roy Smith, Stan Riddick and Cliff Corkill.
New Plymouth building firm Jones and Sandford carried out some of the work including the preparation of timber. Sand and shingle from the neighbouring Waiwhakaiho River were used to make the concrete for the house and the original cedar roof shingles were imported from Canada.
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