Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be taken to visit this cottage. It has an interesting history. It was designed and constructed by NZ architect James Chapman-Taylor and is made from concrete; is basically one big room with walls that do not reach the ceiling. A husband and wife owned it - the wife outlived her husband by many years and lived in this isolated spot in the bush until she was 82. There was no power supply. The fireplace intrigued me, as it was in the corner of the room and if you look closely at the outside image, you can see the chimney right on the corner of the cottage. The land and cottage were bequeathed to the Forest and Bird Society in 1979. The volunteers from F&B maintain the cottage, work hard to control weeds and have traplines to eliminate mammalian pests. It is a lovely piece of bushland and is now filled with birdsong as the predators have been severely thinned out over the years.
A very interesting cottage and one that not many people would know about unless they belonged tto the F &B Society! Walls that don't reach the ceiling?!! Is there a gap?
@maggiemae Yes - there really isn't a proper ceiling, so the walls just go up a bit higher than the doors. We decided it was probably so the heat from the open fire and the coal range could circulate to the two bedrooms.
Looks fascinating - great collage to show us several aspects of the cottage. I too wondered about the walls not meeting the ceiling, but I'll bet it was for heat circulation.
