TURNBULL HOUSE

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1 May 1975, Page 19

TURNBULL HOUSE

Some ten years ago it was reluctantly accepted that the Library would have to move permanently from its birthplace within a relatively short time. The compelling reasons for departure —an earthquake-risk rating and quite inadequate working space, malevolently reinforced by motorway access road demands—made it appear inevitable that the building could not long survive the withdrawal of staff and collections. The labour of planning for the temporary home in the Free Lance building almost concurrently with work on an even more challenging brief for the National Library building inhibited any sustained campaign for the preservation of what we have come to call Turnbull House. The often expressed wish that it could remain, looked, in 1972, as though it had a chance of becoming more than a last-ditch gesture when a combination of circumstances gave hope to those who felt that its place in the City’s cultural and architectural history justified its survival.

The then Chief Librarian attempted to give some permanence to a precarious reprieve by seeking higher authority for its continued use for some Library activity but this was rejected. Happily, the individual efforts of several friends found support among members of the City Council. During 1973 the Committee of the Friends made a carefully planned effort to assess the physical limitations of the building and to interest the Council in its permanent preservation and the National Gallery and the National Museum in its possible use as an exhibition centre. The substantial progress which has been achieved to date is due, not merely to the merits of the case and the sympathy of members of the organisations potentially involved, but particularly to the sustained personal attention to the important negotiations by Professor D. F. McKenzie as President of the Friends.

A comprehensive report was prepared early last year in which some eleven specific recommendations were put forward as set out below. The subsequent negotiations, it will be seen from the President’s most recent report, have ensured the preservation of the building for a minimum period of ten years, under the administration of the City Council and subject to specific agreements between the parties involved. Friends and all Wellingtonians interested in the retention of the building and its use as an art centre eagerly await an early and successful outcome to these discussions.

The initial recommendations of the Friends’ Committee were: 1. That, pending a firm decision by Government to modify roading plans, thus ensuring the invulnerability of the site of Turnbull House, the Wellington City Council agree in principle to the use of Turnbull House as a period art gallery for the next ten years. 2. That the City Council seek formal confirmation from the Ministry

of Works that the building would be available for at least ten years, whatever its fate thereafter. 3. That a Committee for Turnbull House be constituted, comprising the Director of the National Gallery, the Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Director of the National Museum, and a member of the Wellington City Council (or their nominees) as a permanent committee of management. 4. That this Committee, pending a firm decision about the permanence of Turnbull House, adopt a five-year plan (one room a year?) for its progressive restoration in a form that would realise the aim of a gallery of earlier New Zealand paintings in an appropriate domestic setting. 5. That this Committee, in association with other sympathetic bodies (e.g. The Friends of the Alexander Turnbull Library, The Historic Places Trust, The Thomdon Residents’ Association, the several Historical Societies and Associations, P.E.N. etc.), seek (a) from the Minister of Works his agreement to the modification of reading plans which threaten the preservation of Turnbull House; and (b) from the Minister of Internal Affairs some financial assistance towards the cost of strengthening the building permanently.

6. That the City Council Works Committee have estimates prepared of the cost of immediately refurbishing the building to a standard acceptable to the National Gallery and Turnbull Library for the display of pictures. 7. That firm estimates be obtained for the provision of such additional security systems as the Director of the National Gallery and the Chief Librarian of the Turnbull Library would require. 8. That estimates of staffing the building on a timetable of 10-4.30 daily (2-4.30 weekends) be prepared. 9.. That an approach be made to the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council for a subsidy to cover the cost of staffing Turnbull House. 10. That all other administrative costs be carried by the participating parties (e.g. the selection, transport, hanging, insurance) for the first year of operation. 11. That some measure of subsidy be sought for the short-term capital costs involved in (6) and (7) above; but if negotiations under (5) above prove successful that further support be sought by way of public appeal in order to bring Turnbull House up to a high standard of restoration. The situation as at 31 January last is outlined by Professor McKenzie: It is now many months since we prepared a full report on the preservation and future use of Turnbull House, but it is pleasing to note that

quite positive progress has been made along the lines of that report. It was proposed that the building be administered by the Wellington City Council and that its specific use as an art gallery be secured by the active participation of the National Art Gallery, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the National Museum. The Trustees of all three of these major institutions generously agreed to co-operate so long as Government also approved such a use of the building. The Wellington City Council had already determined to keep Turnbull House as a characterful inner-city domestic building and clearly valued its association with the city’s history and one of its greatest benefactors. The regional committee of the Historic Places Trust also nominated it as a building of historic interest.

In July 1974 a most helpful meeting was held with a committee of the Wellington City Council, chaired by the then Mayor Sir Francis Kitts and with the supportive presence, among others, of Mr George Porter and Mr Michael Fowler. The Committee agreed to recommend to Council along the lines of the original report and Council subsequently endorsed the proposals. This meeting took full account of such matters as the safety of the building.

A further equally helpful and co-operative meeting was held between the Mayor, representatives of Council, the President of the Friends of the Turnbull Library, and the District Commissioner of Works. The Council asked the District Commissioner to grant it permission to use the building as a public art gallery for a minimum period of ten years, at the end of which time the future use of Turnbull House might be reconsidered. Such a minimum period of use, however, was felt to be necessary to justify the cost of interior renovation, providing improved security and so on. The present situation is that this approval has, in general terms, now been given. The details of a formal agreement between the Ministry of Works and the Wellington City Council are still being settled.

Turnbull House will be administered by the Wellington City Council, but its day-to-day use will be controlled by a committee composed of representatives of the Alexander Turnbull Library, the National Art Gallery, the National Museum and the City Council. Once it has been refurbished, the building may also be used as a meeting place for small cultural groups whose interests are relevant to the main function of Turnbull House as an historic home and art gallery.