This arts and crafts home at 32 Sefton Street Timaru was built in 1919 and designed by local architects Turnbull & Rule.
The Marriotts, Their Turnbull-Designed Home, and the Link to the Oxford Building
In 1919, architect James S. Turnbull and Percy W Rule designed the substantial Arts and Crafts home at 32 Sefton Street, Timaru for Mrs Florence Marriott, wife of the well-known Timaru draper Herbert Marriott. Turnbull & Rule were architectural partnership.
In 1919 James partnerd with Percy Watts Rule (1888–1953), est Turnbull & Rule. Percy was born in Napier and moved to Timaru with his family as a boy in the 1890s. Son of Scottish parents Alexander and Clara. Percy, and brother Cyril, went to Timaru Main and Timaru Boys' High Schools. After an apprenticeship as a builder, he joined James’ office in 1907 and worked his way from junior to first assistant, becoming a partner in 1919, taking over the practice in 1938 when James retired.
Herbert Marriott was a prominent draper on Stafford Street. He initially worked for, then purchased, the Penrose drapery business and later expanded into larger premises near the Old Bank Hotel. His commercial world placed him in the heart of the very streetscape that Turnbull and, later, Turnbull & Rule shaped with their architecture.
Together, Turnbull & Rule became responsible for many of Timaru’s interwar commercial landmarks, most notably the Oxford Building on Stafford Street. This provides a direct architectural link between the Marriotts’ private residence, designed by Turnbull alone, and the commercial environment in which Herbert Marriott worked, which was shaped by Turnbull’s later partnership with Rule.
Thus, the Marriotts’ story connects two sides of Timaru’s architectural history:
• their 1919 family home, a refined example of Turnbull & Rules’s domestic work
• the Oxford Building and other interwar commercial structures, created by Turnbull & Rule in the very retail district where Herbert Marriott built his career.
The Marriotts lived at 32 Sefton Street for decades. Florence died tragically in a road accident in 1932, and Herbert died in 1939. Both remain closely associated with the history of the house that Turnbull designed specifically for their family.
Timaru Herald, 6 March 1920 – “Town and Country”
Item 1 – Sale of Drapery Premises
A sale of great interest to South Canterbury has just been completed during the last few days, Mr Herbert Marriott having acquired the freehold of his drapery premises from the trustees of the late Mr Geo. Gabites. Quite an historic interest is attached to this property, as the building was used in the seventies as the Timaru General Post Office. When the postal authorities removed to the new G.P.O., the premises were converted into a drapery establishment and were successively occupied by Messrs Drummond and Glasson, and Mr W. Penrose, from whom Mr Marriott purchased the business eleven years ago. The trustees of the above estate decided some time ago to dispose of several properties, and Mr Marriott was given the first offer.
This plan was collated by Charles Bowker, who arrived in Timaru in 1865 and first worked for Clarkson and Turnbull as a young draper. He later established himself as a land, estate, and commission agent, becoming a well-known figure in Timaru’s growing property and commercial scene. Courtesy of the South Canterbury Museum.