Vogeltown

On a fine Saturday afternoon in April 1910, Mrs Howden hosted a garden party at her home in Fortunatus Street, Vogeltown, to raise money for the Wellington Kindergarten Union (free kindergartens).

For the garden party, tea was served in the house by Mrs Howden, on a table decorated with dahlias. The cake selection had been donated by women living in Brooklyn and Vogeltown. Several little concerts were given in the drawing room and a violist and a harper played music on the verandah. In this photograph, you can see the musicians holding their instruments on the verandah. A glasshouse is attached to the house on the far side.

Mrs Davies from Island Bay told fortunes and Miss Cobb read characters from scraps of handwriting. Children’s races were organised in a nearby paddock. Guests could explore the gardens which were described as ‘… full of unexpected corners, and from the summer-house on the knoll a magnificent view is to be obtained of Island Bay and the Straits …’. The house could be accessed from either above it on Fortunatus Street, or from below on Whaui Street, up a series of winding paths.

Mary Elizabeth Howden (born Niblett) was born in 1851 in Devon, England. She married Patrick Grieve Howden in 1873 in Cheshire and they moved to New Zealand in 1876. The Howden’s had six daughters and one son (the last born).

Patrick died in 1914 and Mary in 1930. Their property in Fortunatus Street was then subdivided into five sections, with the lower ones having direct access from Whaui Street. The house appears to have been substantially altered since the subdivision, and the glasshouse removed to make way for a sizeable extension. The house is still standing.

References:

Garden Fete at Vogeltown. (1910, April 11). Dominion, 3.

Subdivision Fortunatus Street, Wellington City Council Archives, 00009-36/1042

Ancestry.co.uk (family trees)