Greek Orthodox Railway House

Twenty three Bay street in Petone is an excellent example of cultural fusion in the New Zealand suburban landscape. Railway cottages, houses and stationhouses are scattered liberally throughout New Zealand, a decades long project in Social Housing. Those in coastal Petone are amongst the earliest, and their architecture demonstrates that. A batch in nearby Moera are from the 1920s era, when kitset houses were railed around the country from the factory in Frankton.

With almost all now having made their way into private ownership, some former railway properties are in gentrifying areas like Petone, and a variety of treatments has seen their character enhanced, revived, improved, and in this case, completely changed. The Hutt Valley Branch of the Greek Orthodox Church has made their mark on their railway whare, formerly the Godber home, amongst a row in Bay Street. Different, but still similar.

Image Credit: Godber family outside their Railway Whare, at 23 Bay Street, Petone, circa 1906, Godber family standing on the verandah of their house at 23 Bay Street, Petone, William Albert Godber, Laura Godber and Phyllis Mary Godber. Photograph taken by Albert Percy Godber on Christmas Day 1917. Godber Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, and Google Maps.