Statement of Significance
Built for one of Wellington's most significant legal firms, Brandon House has considerable historic significance as the
purpose built chambers of one of Wellington's most significant legal firms, Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young. Founded
in 1889, and today known simply as Chapman Tripp, it is a long standing and prestigious law firm. These offices were
the firm's home for 70 years.
The building is architecturally significant as the work of important Wellington architect Fredrick de Jersey Clere. The
Classical design, treated in a restrained and careful manner, is appropriate for the offices of a legal practice in the centre of
Wellington's commercial district. Its colour, texture and comfortable human scale in this often anonymous part of the
city adds to its aesthetic vlaue. The building has technical interest for its construction and materials, and a high level of authenticity both in the facade to Brandon Street and in interior elements such as the elevator and staircase. The elevator, complete in all finishing details, is a very rare example in Wellington of a lift of this age.
History
Brandon House takes its name from Brandon Street, which was, in turn, named for one of Wellington's most famous
lawyers, Alfred de Bathe Brandon. The building was actually constructed in 1910 for an even more famous legal firm,
Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young (then Chapman, Skerrett, Wylie and Tripp).
Chapman & Tripp began in 1889 by Martin Chapman (1846-1924), who had previously been in a partnership with
William Fitzgerald, and Leonard Tripp (1862-1951). Fitzgerald had died in 1888 and Chapman sought a new partner
Chapman was the son of a judge, one of the country's first 10 King's Counsels, a keen sportsman and, for two years, a
city councillor. Tripp, the son of an Orari Gorge farmer, was also a sportsman and sports administrator, founder and
president of the Red Cross, and both men held several company directorships.
The partnership took offices in Brandon Street and later acquired the adjacent building and business of the newly
appointed Judge W.B. Edwards in 1890. After a distinguished career, Chapman retired in 1912 but, before he did, the
firm amalgamated with another prominent firm, Skerrett and Wylie. The enlarged firm demolished its existing timber
buildings and built its new building on the two sections. Designed by Frederick de Jersey Clere and built by Watt Brothers
of Newtown at an estimated cost of £10,587, work began early in 1910.
For several decades the firm occupied part of its new building but gradually it expanded and the number of tenants
declined. In 1929 a timber framed structure was built on top of the roof but behind the parapet. In 1930 Brandon
Street Chambers was formed to manage this and any other buildings that the firm erected or invested in. This
company went into voluntary liquidation in 1959.
By 1955 the firm's name had been trimmed to Chapman and Tripp and, by 1975, it occupied the entire building,
although it had sold the building to Tohunga Properties in 1963. In 1980, Chapman Tripp moved to AMP Chambers
on Featherston Street and the building has since been occupied by a variety of tenants.
Description
Brandon House is architecturally interesting as a purpose-built commercial building for a prosperous firm of lawyers
The whole of the four storey structure - columns, beams, floors, roof and walls - is of in-situ reinforced concrete
Finishing timbers were rimu, and the double-hung windows heart totara. The building was well serviced, with a
centrally placed elevator surrounded by a graceful curved stairwell, heating by hot water radiators, electric lighting and
"provision for telephone wiring". Internal spaces were mainly offices, but there are now retail outlets in the front spaces
on the ground floor, and offices and apartments in the floors above.
The front facade of the building is divided into five bays by six full height rusticated brick pilasters. These are strong
vertical elements, resting on three ground floor arches and supporting a moulded cornice. The two outer arches are two
bays wide, with a single bay-width arch in between them, providing contrast to the strong rectilinear character of the
upper floors. Windows are grouped in pairs with decorated spandrel panels between, these supported by simple
square-section columns. A balustrade caps the whole elevation, which is Classical in inspiration but simplified to give a
building of repose and authority.
The building has streetscape value for its colours, textures and the articulation of the facade, which provide a scale and
personality in contrast to the later commercial buildings in the area. It has technical interest for its relatively early
reinforced concrete construction, enhanced by the existence of a full set of architectural and engineering drawings, and
also for the original elevator still operating within. This machine is extremely rare, retaining all original decorative
features including mirrors and highly ornate ironwork. In fact, the level of authenticity of the building is high. That
the building has remained unaltered (until recent upgrading for apartments) is perhaps a reflection of its long
occupation by an established firm.
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