Fairfield House in 48 Van Diemen Street,

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, New Zealand, is registered with

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

as a Category I structure. Originally built in 1849, today's house was constructed as a residence for Arthur Atkinson in 1872. It was at some stage owned by the

Nelson College for Girls Nelson College for Girls is an all-girls state school in Nelson, New Zealand. Established in 1883, it has close ties with the all-boys Nelson College and has a private Preparatory School. Nelson College for Girls was one of the highest rankings ...

, who used it as a boarding house. After the

1929 Murchison earthquake The 1929 Murchison earthquake occurred at 10:17 am on 17 June. It struck the Murchison region of the South Island, with an estimated magnitude of 7.3, and was felt throughout New Zealand. There were 17 deaths, mostly as a result of landsli ...

, boarders from

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

also moved in, as their hostel got damaged. The house was given to

Nelson City Council Nelson City Council is the unitary local authority for Nelson in New Zealand. History Local governance of Nelson began with Nelson Province in 1853, which covered the entire upper South Island. The town of Nelson was managed by the Nelson ...

in 1979 and was threatened with demolition. A community group formed that had the objective of saving the house. Alan Stanton (1945–2014), a local toy-maker, moved into the derelict building as a squatter and started restoring it. Today, it is a community centre. Atkinson, who was the brother of Premier

Harry Atkinson Sir Harry Albert Atkinson (1 November 1831 – 28 June 1892) served as the tenth Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier of New Zealand on four separate occasions in the late 19th century, and was Minister of Finance (New Zealand), Colonial Tr ...

, had an observation tower built onto the house in 1883, as his hobby was astronomy. He was tasked by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

to observe the

transit of Venus A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as ...

in 1882. The tower had at one point been demolished, but a replica has since been built.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, -41.283894, 173.283463, display=title, format=dms Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Nelson Region Buildings and structures in Nelson, New Zealand Houses completed in 1872 1870s architecture in New Zealand

References

Further reading

External links