ARCHITECTURE OF THE WESTERN SPRINGS PUMPING STATION AND ENGINEERS COTTAGE

There are more than 100 paces between the back door of the Engineers Cottage and the entry to the Pumping Station, the engineer’s workplace.

Western Springs Lake, to the north of the Pumping Station, from which the water resource was drawn is not to be seen nor featured. The lake was formed by Auckland City Council in 1875 to contain water discharging from a volcanic aquifer and spring1.

MOTAT is bult around the legacy site of the two separate distinct buildings. They are the anchor stones of MOTAT and foundation artefacts to its collection and existence.

The lake is not an artefact.

Constructed 1877, the Engineers Cottage is a single storey twin gable (transverse) weather board dwelling, of a type seen all around the adjacent suburbs of Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Arch Hill. It predates the next wave of residential subdivision in Auckland represented by the bungalows of Westmere and Pt. Chevalier.

Homes of the era address the street, like any other home with a white painted picket fence in this case facing east to Great North Road. Pre motorway Western Springs and Great North Road would have been a very different community. The lake a less picturesque and utilitarian setting.

The Engineer would have gone off to work through the back door of the cottage and strode the 100+meters to oil the pump and maintain the fire in the boilers. He may have used the main entry on the south side of the assembled building group, walking into the prevailing cold southwest wind hardening his determination for a hot fire.

The Western Springs Pumping Station (design by William Errington and constructed in 1877) is an ensemble of building made up of three joined parts, each diminishing in stature, height and grandeur. The Pump House is the show piece on the west, the boiler house is practical and central, with a utility lean-to office on the east (perhaps a later addition).

The Pump House with elevated granite entry steps to double doors leading to a furnished two storey lined interior housing the dinosaur sized pump, a living entity moving and rhythmic. The of form of the building follows the functional requirements of the Beam Engine Pump serving and delivering water to the population of Auckland.

Construction is of Avondale (assumed) brick set in complex courses (English Bond) with colour and brick face variation to fascinate the eye.

Exterior elevations of the Pump House feature Bluestone basalt rock plinth and corner quoins on the exterior corners to frame the brick fabric with a concrete frieze and cornice line with concrete corbels. The hip roof with ventilation lantern is unseen from close quarters behind a low brick parapet but can be seen from an elevated distance. Originally the hip roof was slate now corrugated steel. Large arched windows give light to the interior and visual elegance with slender fenestration to lighten the exterior proportions.

The Boiler House is a separate building joined to the Pump House and accessed internally from it. It is a building of industrial utility and purpose with only a few high-level windows and twin large high arched door openings on the south side. The stone quoin edge of the Pump House drops to ground between the Pump and Boiler Houses to delineate the hierarchy. A fragrance of burned coal and heat with the potential energy of the boilers displayed and active excites the Boiler House interior. The Boiler House interior is unlined, the wonderful timber structure of the roof can be seen above, dark with coal dust and soot.

Bricks (some or all of them perhaps) from the former chimney, demolished in 1948, lie on the ground as paving.

A simple lean-to is the third building at the east end is of basic brick with orthogonal access doors and windows scaled for people to enter and look out from, serve the boiler and pump engine with supplies or equipment and keep records of service. The brick exterior courses are ordinary running bond. The mono pitch roof is corrugated steel sheet. This building may be an addition as the junction between it and the Boiler House is very clearly distinct and butted together.

It is the south (cold) side of the Pump Station buildings on which all the coming and going happens and the museum experience is gained. The lake an extremely picturesque vista of sun warmth, shelter and water with New Zealand and exotic trees and bird life is not engaged other than as back drop. Unfortunately. The north side of the Pump House is leaned on by an inventive tram barn roof, it is to my eye, one of the nicest roofs in Auckland.

Why the design of the residence and the industrial plant turned their backs to the sun and arcadian environment of the lake is a signifier of the times and culture in which they were designed and built. The intent being to provide a visible show of serious importance and stature to the public domain of Great North Road. Displaying with civic pride the new technology and healthy resource provided to the people and development of Auckland in clean fresh water.

A vision for the future might include the lake as an artefact drawn into the museum domain, the beam engine delivering water to an entertaining feature enjoyed by people occupying the sun and shelter of the north side of the Pump Station on the edge of the lake, a research fellow resides in the cottage (heated by steam) exploring the future use of steam technology to supplement other motive power sources.

1 Auckland Council information

Bruce Wild is an Architect, Volunteer at MOTAT and Committee member of the MOTAT Society

photographs by Bruce Wild or as noted