Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Takitimu

Description of the Takitimu Carved House

page 202

Description of the Takitimu Carved House.

This building is 95 feet long and 38 feet wide, the walls are 11 feet high, the outer wall being built of concrete up to the level of the window sills. The frame work is of steel, the foundations are of concrete, while the timber throughout is sound heart. The Maori work comprises roof lining of kakaho reeds, which, if kept dry, will last as long as the soundest timber. The panel material consists of heart-rimu horizontal laths, lashed to vertical kakaho rods by carefully selected kiekie and pingao (a deep orange-coloured seaside grass) which are as durable, if kept dry, as the best timber in the structure.

The carvings were executed by experts and students of the Rotorua School of Maori Arts under the direction of the late Mr. H. Hamilton.

Most of the carvings were done at Rotorua, the rest being carved at Wairoa during the progress of the erection of the house.