The cache title refers to Little Boxes, a song written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962 and made into a hit by Pete Seeger in 1963 (Wikipedia article here, sung on Youtube here, lyrics here). It parodies conformity in the United States. Its reference to cheap middle class housing developments was used a little unfairly to describe state housing in New Zealand.
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State Housing
In the 1930s New Zealand's first Labour Government, led by Michael Joseph Savage, saw a need for additional housing for the poor, and a need to improve housing standards generally. Over ten thousand rental state houses were built in the five years between 1936 and 1941. Construction was of native timbers, usually rimu and matai, and cladded in weatherboard, brick or plaster. Garages and driveways were not provided, the garages you see now were all added afterwards. Although over 400 plans were used to avoid streets having an all-the-same feel, many of these were only slight variations from each other, and it is this feature (all the same) that lead to state housing's comparison with Little Boxes. The other reference in Little Boxes, that the houses were made of ticky-tacky (low quality materials and/or poor workmanship), definitely does not apply to New Zealand 1930s state housing. State houses are well built and eighty years on are as strong and popular as ever.
In 1949 the National Government took office, and they preferred home ownership. Tenants in state houses were given incentives to buy their homes in the 1950s and again in the 1980s. Now, only about one third of the houses in the Savage Crescent precinct are still state rentals.
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M.J. Savage, 1935.
Labour PM 1935-1940
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Savage Crescent
Savage Crescent is just one of a number of state housing precincts in Palmerston North. Others are in Highbury, Takaro, Roslyn and Hokowhitu. This one was named after Michael Joseph Savage, the prime minister of New Zealand at the time. Reginald Hammond, the government's town planner, has done a good job with avoiding sameness, other places have taken less care (e.g. parts of Titahi Bay, Porirua). Despite this, the area is still instantly recognisable as a state housing estate. Hammond adopted the Garden Suburb concept here, doing away with Palmerston North's rectangular street pattern to create an oval street surrounding a large park. The houses themselves are mostly two bedroom family homes although sizes from four bedroom down to pensioner flats are included. There were also a number of communal garages provided however, as car ownership increased, their use dropped and in 1988 they were replaced with infill housing.
A feature of the garden concept was to supply power and telephone via the rear of the properties, rather than the front. These were undergrounded in 1983. Instead of a fence, a low concrete nib wall was installed along the front of the properties. You can see where this has been cut or broken to provide for the driveways.
All the buildings you see here are original, apart from the pensioner flats which were unpopular and have been replaced by a newer design. Savage Crescent housing precinct remains as one of the best examples of the first Labour Government's innovative state housing programme. To assist in maintaining the historical value of the precinct, the City Council has produced a free design guide for owners and renovaters.
Architectural Styles
The majority of the buildings in the Savage Crescent housing precinct conform to one of the architectural styles below, or to variations of these. Note that many of the buildings have rooms added, either during the design phase or after the property was sold into private ownership.
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1. Arts & Crafts Bungalow
Usually a gable roof, and the walls may be of any finish. Extended lounge or closed in verandah with lots of windows, resulting in an extended roof with a lowered roof profile. |
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2. Georgian Revival
Gable roof, walls may be of any finish. Usually central door. |
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3. Mediterranean
Hip roof, walls may be of any finish. The building often appears to have a square floor plan. Central door. |
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4. English Domestic Revival
Similar to Georgian Revival, but always with an extended room to the front. |
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5. Art Deco / Moderne
Flat roof, with plastered or concreted walls. Art Deco is the same as Moderne but also has lineal embellishments and may have curved walls. |
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6. Moderne Functionalist
Flat roof, with walls of a finish other than plaster or concrete. |
The Cache
This is a two part puzzle cache. First go to the page coordinates and read up on the history and values behind the state housing concept and how that was applied to Savage Crescent. Use the questions below to extract some street addresses.
Then visit each house to determine what basic type of architectural style it is. While you are doing this see if you can spot any houses identical to any others. Plug the architectural styles into the formula then go find the cache!
For example, if the answer to the first question is 12, then go to 12 Savage Crescent. If you decide that the house there is of architectural style 3 - Mediterranean, then use A=3 in the coordinate formula.
The questions have been arranged such that the answers are in house number order. Start by walking up Nathan Place, which is the angled road immediately behind the sign, then turn left onto Savage Crescent. Walk around Savage Crescent until you get back to Nathan Place, keeping an eye out for Hammond Place along the way.
The cache is located at:
S 40° 2 [D-I] . [N-H] [Q+C] [G-E-J]
E 175° 3 [L+F] . [B-R] [K-M] [P+O-A-1] |
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Look for the GeoX. Yes, a compulsory hint! This can be a high muggle area. Good luck!
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House
numbr |
Arch.
style |
| Savage Crescent |
| A |
Year that Edifice was shown. Third digit. |
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| B |
Year of the first state housing attempt, in Petone. Sum the digits and add one. |
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| C |
Year of the party in Nathan Place. Sum the digits. |
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| D |
Year that State Housing in New Zealand was produced. Sum the digits. |
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| E |
Address in Ranfurly Street. |
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| F |
Year that Savage Crescent was designed. Last two digits. |
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| G |
Arthur Tyndall, Director of … Number of letters, doubled. |
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| H |
Number of acres used by the Savage Crescent block, plus five. |
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| I |
Span of years of photographs of the same house. |
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| J |
House design number in the blueprint. First two digits, plus six. |
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| K |
Last year that Augustus was mayor. Last two digits, reversed. |
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| L |
Year of the second submission to the city council annual plan, last two digits. |
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| M |
Year that locals requested that Savage Crescent be a heritage site. Middle two digits. |
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| N |
Number of years in Lee’s second prediction. |
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| O |
Year that Jack Shortt spoke. Read digits backwards, then add one. |
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| P |
Upper limit of house area (sq. meters). |
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| Nathan Place |
| Q |
Twice the number of librarians. |
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| Hammond Place |
| R |
Savage Crescent Block No., minus one. |
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| Totals |
952 |
3 ea. |
References:
Palmerston North City Council heritage trail pamphlet: The Savage Crescent Walk
Palmerston North City Council: Savage Crescent Design Guidelines