- J. N. Mané-Wheoki
Extract
(b Hastings, E. Sussex, Sept 5, 1814; d Bakewell, Derbys, Oct 19, 1890).
New Zealand architect and Clergyman of English birth. He was elected to membership of the Institute of British Architects in 1836 and practised in London before emigrating to New Zealand in 1843. Under the direction of George Augustus Selwyn (1809–78), the colony’s first bishop, he designed St Mary’s church, New Plymouth, in severe Early English Gothic, and Te Henui parsonage, also in New Plymouth—both stone structures dating from 1845.
Meanwhile, in 1845 Thatcher had been appointed Superintendent of Public Works for New Zealand, as well as being supervising architect at Selwyn’s College of St John the Evangelist, Auckland. Assisted by Reader Wood (1821–95) he developed and refined the ‘Selwyn Gothic’ style in structurally expressive timber buildings reminiscent of medieval half-timbering. Their exposed framework consists of chamfered horizontal and vertical members and arched bracing, with cladding of upright planking on the interior. Roofs are steeply pitched with deep eaves. In the College Chapel (...
