Charles Gray (1874 – 1943) was a prominent landowner who was the first to subdivide Pukerua Bay land for settlement. Gray was a sheep farmer, inventor, developer and staunch advocate for Pukerua Bay. Although he gave land for the school, the RSA, a store and post office, a lodge and the golf course, Gray was remembered by many as a confrontational figure who took three disputes with residents to court.
In 1909 Gray, then a sheep farmer in the Horokiwi Valley, Pāuatahanui, made his first purchase of land in Pukerua. In 1917 he moved to Pukerua for his health and purchased the Waimapihi Block from the estate of Frederick Bright in 1919.
The Gray homestead was designed by prominent Wellington architect Joseph McClatchie Dawson who was instrumental in the design of over 60 buildings in Wellington including T. G. Macarthy Building, Hatricks Motor Garage, the Hope Gibbons Building and James Smith Building façade. Further afield he designed the Opiki Suspension Bridge and the Palmerston North Electric Power Station. Dawson was a foundation member and later president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects and founder of the architectural and engineering firm King & Dawson.
Kemp wrote in 1982 (King & Dawson: An Historical Study:1906-1981, p65):
By the 1920’s many more smaller houses were being modelled on the Californian Bungalow. In America such designs were thought best suited for holiday use, but our warm climate made them particularly adaptable for a more permanent residence. JMD’s interpretation of this style is best seen in the Gray House, Pukerua Bay, (1920). In elevation, strong emphasis is placed on the horizontal, with projecting gables over entrance porticos and side rooms. Detailing is simple with no direct reference to timber lattice work that had been in vogue only ten years previously.
Russell and Fill’s description in Porirua’s Historic & Cultural Heritage: Places of Heritage Interest includes:
The homestead is a substantial single-storey building in a characteristic “transitional” bungalow style. It has many of the features which have come to typify the 1930s bungalow but also has typical villa features. The house is notable for its relatively grand scale, befitting (or perhaps built to enhance) the status of Charles Gray.
There were no roads to Pukerua Bay at that time. Arrangements were made with NZ Railways for a special train to stop adjacent to the property to unload building materials. In 1922 Gray put up for sale 32 sections along Ocean Parade which would have helped to finance the house.
When the Pukerua Bay Ratepayers’ Association was formed in 1926 roads within Pukerua Bay were a top priority. A road was constructed from the railway station to the beach and another to the properties at the northern end of the bay. Gray, at his own expense, formed “Gray’s Road” (later called Manuka Street) to connect the two roads.
In 1937, when construction of the highway between Plimmerton and Paekākāriki was planned, Gray influenced the route so it would pass his main gate. Charles and Elizabeth Gray hosted many dignitaries who drove from Wellington to observe progress of the work.
Charles Gray retired from farming in 1929 and his son Lindsay managed the farm, apart from the time during WWII when he served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Elizabeth Gray was well regarded in the community. She donated the land for St Luke’s Methodist Church and was a dedicated supporter of the Plunket Society. Many parties and fairs were held in her garden and in spring local people and the Foundation for the Blind were invited to pick the daffodils.
References
Kemp, N (1982). King & Dawson: An Historical Study:1906-1981.
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Murray, Russell and Barbara Fill in Price, Sam (2009). Porirua’s Historic & Cultural Heritage: Places of Heritage Interest. Porirua: Porirua City Council.
Wellington City Heritage https://wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz/