Lopdell House

Story

Lopdell House is situated next to Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery as part of the Lopdell Precinct arts centre in Titirangi, Auckland. It was first opened as Hotel TItirangi in 1930. In 1942 it was bought by the Ministry of Education and became a school for the deaf, and then a teacher's residential centre named Frank Lopdell House. The Waitemata City Council (later Waitakere City Council and then merged with Auckland Council) purchased it in 1983 and it reopened in 1986 as an arts centre. Adjacent to the house is a statue of Titirangi founder, Henry Atkinson.DesignThe original architects of Hotel Titirangi are Messrs. Bloomfield, Owen and Morgan of Auckland. Of these, William Swanson Read Bloomfield, based on Shortland Street, was one of the original directors of the Hotel Titirangi Ltd company. He was born in Gisborne and is considered to be the first qualified New Zealand architect of Maori descent, having trained in England, Europe and at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Bloomfield retired in 1959 and is also known for the design of Queen's Arcade (Queen St), Yorkshire House (cnr Shortland and O'Connell Sts) and the Masonic Temple (St Benedict's St).Designed in a Spanish Mission style to accommodate over 60 guests, Hotel Titirangi was noted for having central heating, hot and cold water in every bedroom, and private bathrooms attached to five of the 24 bedrooms, all of which were fully carpeted. The building also had tea-rooms, two shops, a post office, a roof garden and a garage below. The main room on the ground floor was a tearoom and cabaret, running the whole length of the building to accommodate 200 people, with a dining room on the first floor. The cabaret featured a special dance floor laid down on rubber buffers. Particularly innovative was the installation of a "Wireless and Talking Machine", which allowed music or talking to be simultaneously broadcast to the cabaret, roof garden and all landings.