Welcome to ‘Lost Property’
‘Auckland’s Alternative Modernist Architecture and History’: A Work in Progress.
Gregory Smith (3D designer, curator and architectural enthusiast/researcher) invites visitors to contribute to the site (via the contact page), by supplying factual information and images. This is a not-for-profit website for researchers, students and anyone who wants to know about lost and ‘at risk’ iconic houses, people, paintings and stories from our recent past.
‘Lost Property’ used to be a box, or a cupboard where items that people had forgotten or left behind were kept, in the hope that one day they would be reunited. So it is with ‘Lost Property’ the website, exhibition and publication.
The ‘modern’ era of architecture, design, literature and the arts has only recently been acknowledged as a defining period in our cultural history – yet sadly many of its finest works have already been lost or destroyed!
‘Lost Property’ is a rediscovery of unique houses, stories and pieces of history – a site for researchers, students and anyone who wants to know about lost and ‘at risk’ iconic houses, people, paintings and stories from our recent past. Combining historical imagery and in-depth research, ‘Lost Property’ connects the art and the writer to the room in the house in that it was conceived ! (Enter) the kitchens, bedrooms and hallways in which history and a new era was given voice.
September 2010 – ‘the North Shore’-
About Lost Property
Unique, iconic, interesting and ‘at risk’!
Names like Franz Iseke, Yvonne Bendall, Maurice Patience, Gordon Tovey or Reg Uren seldom tend to appear in association with ‘The Group, Sargeson, McCahon, Plischke or Vernon Brown in reference to the ‘modern’ history of New Zealand, yet their contribution and inspiration should not go unaccounted…
The ‘Lost Property’ site is but a small part of an ongoing project to raise awareness and document facets of our fast disappearing ‘built and social history’ – and includes photo’s and articles related to ‘Fibrolite’, the development of subdivisions, murals, art, concrete construction, Hyperbolic Paraboloid roofs… as well as histories of pivotal yet largely unrecognised architects like Dick Hobin and Structural Developments; insights into the growth of landscape architecture, etc…
Still ‘rough around the edges’, the site and the exhibition are an attempt to make visible much of the information largely held in the memories or libraries of a disappearing generation. We apologise for the ‘typo’s’ and grainy images but hope these will improve over time. Sincere appreciation and many thanks to “Home” magazine ACP media and the ‘Block Foundation’ for their generous and gracious support. Thanks also to the Depot Gallery, Architecture Archive and the Auckland Museum.
