Menu
Ivey Hall: The Architecture
Ivey Hall has been the iconic face of Lincoln University since 1880. Originally one of only a handful of buildings on the campus, Ivey Hall now sits at the heart of an expansive and vibrant university campus environment as home to the library.
The striking building is the earliest remaining large-scale Jacobean building in New Zealand (it’s rare!) while its façade is protected by a Category 1 listing under the Historic Places Act by Heritage New Zealand.
So, let’s dive a bit more into the architecture of this historic building…
Between 1880 and 1923 Ivey Hall had three architects and underwent several stages of additions to form part of the joined complex of Ivey and Memorial Halls as we know it today. Since then, many internal changes and extensions to the rear of the building have also significantly altered the building from its original conception.
When plans to establish a School of Agriculture at Lincoln were underway in the 1870s, submissions of designs for a “homestead building” were publicly sought through the newspapers. The only stipulations were that the building was required to provide accommodation for the farm manager and family, bedrooms for twenty students, and a 70-pax lecture room, and that the construction materials were to be of stone or concrete.
The winning design was submitted by Frederick Strouts, a notable local architect and one of the founders of the Canterbury Association of Architects. His design arrived in an envelope with the required “distinguishing motto” on the envelope. Strouts used a Latin phrase: “Nec timide, nec temere” (“Neither timidly, nor rashly”).
Designed in the Jacobean style, Ivey Hall has also been described broadly as Elizabethan or Anglo-Dutch. Whichever term you favour to use, influences from all three architectural styles can be found in the design. Reviewers of Strouts’ work generally stress that he tended to eclectic designs by mixing contrasting architectural features. In searching for a design for the new homestead building for the School of Agriculture, Strouts rejected the fashionable and prevalent Gothic and Classical Revival architectural styles of New Zealand’s nineteenth century colonial tastes and instead looked to the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles.
It was commonplace in England during the reign of King James I (1603-1625) for Flemish craftsmen and architects to work on public buildings, firmly planting their artistic styles and skills onto the English built environment. Flemish pattern-books were highly influential on this architectural fashion frenzy in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and its influence in Britain continued through to the late nineteenth century. Flemish features that can be seen on Ivey Hall are the ornate curved and stepped gables, mullioned bay windows, strapwork, and cresting.
Strouts was heavily influenced by one existing example for his design: Rothamsted Manor, in Hertfordshire, England. That manor dates back to the sixteenth century owned by a family from Belgium. Rothamsted uses a mixture of European architectural styles, with Flemish influence obvious in the design of curvilinear gables.
The likeness of Ivey Hall to the design of Rothamsted is striking, both have the belltower/clocktower above the main door, symmetry, tall octagonal chimneys (ours now removed), multiple curved gables, open loggia (arches), and red brick. The similarities do not stop there – Rothamsted estate also houses an agricultural research station, established in 1843 to conduct experiments on using different fertilizers. Strouts must have been led by this knowledge when looking for inspiration for a similar venture in New Zealand.
Ivey Hall was constructed from locally sourced bricks, Greystone, and Oamaru limestone, with sand brought in from Lake Ellesmere. One feature of the original design that is missing today is the distinctive paired, octagonal chimneys. Following an earthquake in the 1960s, these were deemed unsafe and finally were removed in 1971. They hadn’t been in use since 1954 anyway when the fireplaces were sealed.
Ivey Hall in 1955
Same view in 2015, noticeably without the original chimneys or the ivy.
The porch at the main entrance was an afterthought but is itself an impressive display of ornamental features such as tapered columns, raised panels, open strapwork, the crest, stone spheres and a new balcony. The bell tower rises behind the porch first with gabels for the clock, then to the cupola (turret) housing the bell.
Ivey Hall’s west wing extension in 1881, also designed by Strouts, provided additional accommodation for students. The east wing extension to the rear was designed by J. S. “Jack” Guthrie and built in 1918 to enlarge rooms for the Director and provide space for additional service rooms, as well as add on a second floor. The façade here features a triple-arched loggia (series of arches) similar to Rothamsted Manor, and continues with the tapered columns and curved gables, as well as the warm red brick and pale Oamaru limestone.
Plan drawn by the M. O. W. in 1954 when Ivey Hall was renovated. From Ivey Hall, a Pictorial History by Ruth Burns, 1977.
These were followed by the addition of Memorial Hall, designed by Cecil Wood in a simplified Jacobean style, which opened in 1924. Both architects were respectful towards the original architectural style of the main homestead building and blended their designs seamlessly for the complex to seem of a coherent design and time.
The south end of Ivey Hall is the result of further modifications and extensions in the 1980s and 1990s and is an example of Post-Modern architecture, using pre-cast concrete as the material. The design takes cues from the style of the original heritage building, such as the Flemish stepped gables, but is a very different style altogether.
Ivey Hall seen from the Stewart Building, 1991.
Sources:
Louw, H. J. (1981). Anglo-Netherlandish Architectural Interchange c. 1600-c. 1660. Architectural History, 24, 1–144 https://doi.org/10.2307/1568393
Selwyn District Council: Lincoln University report, Dave Pearson, Heritage Architect, 2020
Ivey Hall, a Pictorial History by Ruth Burns, 1977