#highwic

Auckland. Alberton House. orange clivias in the garden beneath the trees. by denisbin Via Flickr: Alberton House. This heritage listed property is in the suburb of Mount Albert. Alberton, a typical wooden construction two storey mansion was built in 1863. The towers and porch were added in 1870 and rooms above the kitchen were erected in 1910 or thereabouts. Mount Albert is another one of those volcanic cones. Alberton was once a 500 acre country estate but it is now enclosed with suburbia. Allen Kerr Taylor a Scotsman inherited money from his father and purchased the land in 1849 and built the house as a farm house in 1863. In 1862 on a visit to England he had married and needed a house for his new wife. His wife produced two children that died at birth and alas she also died at the birth of the second child in 1864. He remarried in 1865. As Taylor’s wealth grew from his real estate subdivisions and land sales (he was a successful speculator), he expanded the house which he needed to do to accommodate his 10 children with his second wife. When the towers were added, giving the house a slight Indian look, the mansion had 18 rooms. This was not surprising as Allen Kerr Taylor was born and spent his early life in Madras when his father was stationed there with the British army. The house remained in the Taylor family (Allen Taylor died in 1890) until a descendant of Allen Taylor bequeathed it to the public in 1972 complete with William Morris wallpapers and the furniture and contents.