Elizabeth House

Perhaps the most glamorous accommodation ever afforded to those in the service of New Zealand, try asking ask anyone who has ever been barracked at Burnham or Waiouru.

Elizabeth House was built, in the pretty and prime waterfront of King Edward Parade, as a private hotel, named 'The Ventnor' and was happily trading as such until the needs of the Navy busted in on business in 1944. The WRENS, (Women's Royal New Zealand Navy Service) a growing force of New Zealand based female Navy staff, had been searching for decent accommodation for several years by that point, and their boss, one Miss Herrick, commandeered the Hotel, using special wartime legislation. It was able to accommodate 280.

*“The introduction of women into sacred masculine preserves may have been accepted as a grim necessity and one of the inconveniences of wartime conditions, but the way the Navy has received the WRNZNS has given each one of us a sense of being wanted as an essential cog in the machine, however small, which if it fails, upsets the working of the whole. This recognition and appreciation goes a long way towards achieving results and gives us a pride in belonging to the service”.*Ruth Herrick, 1943.

They had to give it back after the war, but eventually the Navy purchased The Ventnor, and changed it's name to Elizabeth House in 1956. Another women's hostel, named Margaret House, was set up around the corner in Calliope road.

The unusual architectural features of this building would be that it is a transitional villa style, but made from brick rather than timber, and decorated with 'Art Nouveau' tulip patterns cut into the balusters. It did eventually return to private ownership and has now been converted to apartments.

Image Credits: Auckland Libraries Special Collections, Ventnor Private Hotel 1911