Offer of designing a hotel

1885 Job interview…
Lady Burdett-Coutts: I heard you picked up a building and moved it.
CT: Ah, yes. Chicago. It had its difficulties, being brick. Some fell off. But we did it. Big crane. Leverage. Steam. Lifted it up, turned it around and plonked it down on the piles prepared on the other side of the street.
LBC: My advisors were impressed. So they suggested you design a hotel for Southend on Sea. In brick. It would not need lifting.
CT: I have a year ahead of me.
LBC: You are not staying in England?
CT. It remains to be seen. There are opportunities in the Antipodes I hear.
LBC: Ah, you’ve been reading Samuel Butler?
CT: Actually the New Zealand Company prospectuses.
LBC: Well, we’d better press you into service before you leave us again.
___________
Voice-over
Who knows what other buildings CT would have designed in England? But he migrated to other shores, other stories. But before setting sail, he left this one which stood for eighty years.

Westward Ho

Woburn, Lower Hutt

In the archive…

Michael: I'm looking for any early photos you might have of a property called Woburn, designed by C.T. Natusch. Quite a mansion, with ornate facades, beautiful door and window surrounds, and attention to aesthetic details.
Aaron:

Let me check. Woburn, you said? I believe we do have a sketch of Woburn in our records. It shows the whole building.
Michael: Nice to know that there are records of it. Unfortunately, the house was bulldozed down some time ago.
Aaron: Yes, shame when significant architecture is destroyed. Ah, here’s the sketch.
Michael: I also have a later photo from the National Library. Interesting to compare. 
_________
Voice-over
Mansions often showcase the wealth and status of families. This one, built for Edward Vivian Riddiford (1842-1934), son of wealthy runholder Edward Joshua Riddiford (1879-1911), did just that.