Architect's sense of place endures

INTEGRAL: Sarjeant Art Gallery, front view from top of museum building - photograph Tesla-Denton Studios, undated.PHOTO/SUPPLIED 300615WCSUP05

Henry Monk Helm practised architecture in the city of Wanganui in the early 1900s.

He was an accomplished artist and came to New Zealand from Shropshire, England where he was born in 1898 and where he formally trained and qualified in architecture. Over the duration of his journey he regularly made etchings of passing ships as he viewed them, including carving a hanging wall profile of the sailing ship he sailed on, under full sail. This was carved during the voyage from the oak floor-boards from the ship. One of these etchings included a Norwegian barque fully laden with hardwood.

Helm's local commissions included the design of the church building for the Parish of Christ Church, numerous bungalows in St Hill St, Brassey Rd, Ingestre St and Peakes Rd. He also designed the Infant School which was located on the corner of Ingestre St and Victoria Ave and a nursing home in Waverley. It is possible that he designed the delightful Accountants Chambers in Maria Place; this is yet to be authenticated.

However, the most notable and visually prominent commissions were the Braeburn Hotel and the Veteran Steps, though due to his Braeburn plans being never completed, the task was undertaken by Robert Talboys. It is worth noting that Henry Monk Helms' practice was later purchased by Reginald Ford and Robert Talboys (known as Ford and Talboys) circa 1919.

However, it is the Veteran Steps which are of import and significance here. Helm had earlier designed the layout of Queen's Park. It was Helm's intention to link these steps with the front entrance of the then proposed Sarjeant Gallery. As a forward-thinking man, the steps were intended to be an integral part of the Sarjeant's architectural design.

The recumbent lions were sculpted by George Sherriff. The veteran steps were remodelled when the gallery was built. (The Wanganui Story, M Smart and A Bates, p270, 1973.) The steps were originally built in January of 1920. When the design competition was announced for the Sarjeant in 1915 it would be fair to say that Henry perhaps assumed that naturally his design would be a strong contender.

When the results were announced that Edmond Anscombe had won (having submitted the design by his pupil Donald Hosie) he was naturally disappointed. His design for the gallery was runner-up followed by the then architectural partnership of WG Young (William Gray Young) and JB Young who were placed third. An architectural submission in the name of C Winter was placed fourth. ( Wanganui Heritage Study, Chris Cochrane, Vol.2, 1990.)

Regrettably, Henry Monk Helm may have only practised architecture for a few more years in Wanganui after the 1916 announcement of the gallery competition.

However, sometime around 1920, disillusioned he uplifted hearth and home as it were, to the Motueka River valley, taking with him his wife and four sons where he ventured into farming, initially camping for eight years in the bush while breaking in the land by hand and designing and building a beautifully crafted family home. It is purported that he never practised architecture again.

Later Helm became involved in an artists' community and befriended Rita Angus, Doris Lusk and Colin McCahon, surviving their pacifist beliefs during the early 1940s.

They contributed to the war effort as workers on his tobacco farm, by then named "Altham" from where they all painted including the Motueka region.

However, Helm's enduring legacy to the city was a vision which included a focus on the heart of the city.

This encompasses the historic axis which extends down Maria Place from Cooks Gardens and the Golden Gates, including the museum and more recently the War Memorial Hall.

Henry Monk Helm may have lost the architectural design competition for his proposal for the Sarjeant Gallery, but his vision, foresight and his creation of a sense of place and importance endures.

It is a wonderful legacy that the city of Wanganui can enjoy today and be proud of.

-I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Arnold Huguenot - Henry Monk Helm's grandson.