![Brentwood manor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Brentwood_manor.JPG)
James Walter Chapman-Taylor (24 June 1878 – 25 October 1958) was a New Zealand architect. One of the country's most important domestic architects of his time, he is noted mainly for his
Arts and Crafts-influenced houses. Chapman-Taylor was also a skilled craftsman, builder, furniture designer and photographer, and had a keen interest in astrology.
Early days
James Walter Chapman-Taylor was born in London in 1878 to Theodore Chapman-Taylor and his wife, Ada Thomas. In 1879 Theodore migrated to New Zealand where he purchased land a few miles south of Stratford in the
Taranaki region
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.
The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...
. Ada, James and a younger brother joined him in June 1880, with the family subsequently becoming dairy farmers.
Career choices
By his teenage years Chapman-Taylor had decided against farming as a career and became an apprentice to a local builder. After completing his apprenticeship, he constructed his first building, a single- storied timber house for his parents on their Stratford property. On 12 April 1900 he married Mary Gibson at Stratford and in 1903 he enrolled himself in an architecture and design course with the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1904 he moved to Wellington after working on the construction of the Taihape railway station. From around 1907 he used the surname Chapman-Taylor.
Travel
In 1909 Chapman-Taylor travelled to England to study and meet first hand the works of
C.F.A. Voysey
Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (28 May 1857 – 12 February 1941) was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a Arts and Crafts style and he ma ...
, Baille Scott, and Parker and
Unwin whose names were famous in the field of domestic architecture. Upon his return to New Zealand Chapman-Taylor was determined to follow the basic principles on which good domestic architecture had been developed – designing and building houses with skill and sensitivity. He was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement's interpretation of rural English cottage construction and style and returned to New Zealand to integrate this into New Zealand materials and settings.
Furniture
![Chair (AM 1997](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Chair_%28AM_1997.71.1-1%29.jpg)
Chapman-Taylor believed that a hand finished technique using an
adze
An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...
gave a "woody character" emphasised the handmade nature of the work, reflecting light to add "interest and beauty" to the wood with no further need for decoration or embellishment. Richly coloured, dense
jarrah
''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with rou ...
was a timber he used so extensively in his houses and furniture that he was known as 'Jarrah Taylor.' Chapman-Taylor's distinctive approach using an adze by hand, and the Arts and Crafts principles of simplicity and honesty is evident in the joinery and overall design of a chair made in 1910.
Mature phase
As a mature style emerged, Chapman-Taylor's designs became more cohesive. Concrete was used as the preferred building material, finishing the outside walls in a roughcast plaster. Following in the footsteps and adhering to principles first exposed by John Ruskin and William Morris the consistency in his work became a result of his loyalty to their creed. Chapman-Taylor showed confidence to express his individuality and sense of freedom to explore and experiment. Chapman-Taylor's houses were designed through to the smallest detail. Many of his surviving buildings include pieces of his furniture designs.
![08 Looking NW at Sth wall of Whare Ra](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/08_Looking_NW_at_Sth_wall_of_Whare_Ra.jpg)
Exteriors were characterised by high roofs with
Marseille tiles, plain roughcast walls and small paned windows. The extensive use of hand shaped timbers in the interiors of the houses further defined his work. Chapman-Taylorʼs houses revealed his distinctive touch and his interpretation of the English cottage style that the Arts and Crafts Movement promoted. Chapman-Taylor designed many houses and they can be found throughout New Zealand. Several examples can be found in Taranaki, including the building fondly known as Wilkie's Castle, situated at Wai-iti in North Taranaki. In
Havelock North
Havelock North ( mi, Te Hemo-a-Te Atonga) is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of loca ...
he designed the
Whare Ra
Whare Ra is the name of a building in Havelock North in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand. The building housed the New Zealand branch of the magical order the Stella Matutina. It was designed and the construction overseen by one of New Zealan ...
building for the
Stella Matutina order.
Chapman-Taylor died on 28 October 1958 at the age of 80 from a sudden illness.
"All Chapman-Taylor’s houses are economical in their use of space, intimate in detailing, and extremely satisfying to live in." —J. Stacpoole and P. Beaven, ''New Zealand Art: Architecture 1820-1970''.
References
External links
Photographs and furniture by James Walter Chapman-Taylor and archival material relating to James Walter Chapman-Taylorin the collection of the
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
*"The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor" by
Judy Siers Judith Shelby Siers (born 1937) is a New Zealand writer and historian. In 2008 she won a Montana New Zealand Book Award.
Biography
In 1994 Siers won a by-election and was elected a member of the Wellington City Council for the Onslow Ward, standin ...
*James Walter Chapman-Taylor and Mary Gibson
*The Rewards of Romance in Heritage New Zealand, Spring 2007
*James Chapman-Taylor, Taranaki Wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman-Taylor, James
New Zealand architects
New Zealand astrologers
New Zealand photographers
New Zealand Anglicans
1878 births
1958 deaths
People from Taranaki
People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
20th-century astrologers