Edward Teague Early Lyttelton Photographer

LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A NEW TAB OR WINDOW

This is a restoration of a recently discovered circa 1878 photograph by Edward Teague (1843-1928). It depicts a family of four in front of their early Lyttelton cottage, probably in the vicinity of upper Selwyn Road, where Teague is recorded to have been living in that time. Below is another photograph of a Lyttelton house by Teague that is dated from the same period.


English by birth, but an Australian from the age of four months, Edward Teague is recorded as a gold miner at Waipori in the Tuapeka district in April 1867. Bankrupt two years later, in 1872 he married and established a photographic studio in the same town. By 1874 he was recorded as a photographer at Balclutha, where he also carried on the business of a Tobacconist and Hairdresser.

At the end of 1878 Teague relocated with his wife and three children to Lyttelton, occupying photographic premises in residential Selwyn Road until 1881, when he moved to Canterbury Street. By 1885 he is recorded as the proprieter of the London Portrait Rooms on London Street, with a further move (possibly residential) to Oxford Street in 1886.

By the following year he was bankrupt again and had moved to Westport. After a short sojourn in that township the family moved on to Greymouth, then returned to Australia in 1888.

By 1897 he was again recorded as a photographer at Greymouth, but had left New Zealand by early in the following year, establishimg himself as a photographer at Zeehan in Western Tasmania. Sill living in that town 1913, he is recorded as being a 72 year-old Miner. He died at Launceston on the 8th of October 1928 in his 85th year.

Also probably dating from the late 1870s is the only other known landscape photograph by Edward Teague. In a westerly view of Lyttelton's inner harbour, it depicts Dampier's Bay, then a popular bathing beach. The bay succumbed to reclamation in 1881 and two years later the extant graving or dry dock was built in the vicinity to the Left of the photograph.

Edward Teague kept no samples of his photography and apart from one photograph taken of his wife and her three sisters, no examples of his work remain with family members. But although business acumen may not have been among his strong points and churning out portrait cards may not have allowed much room for artistic expression, his rare landscapes attest to a genuine talent for composition and the use of light. Accordingly, he well deserves recognition for his contributions to early New Zealand photography.

Edward Teague specialised in producing cartes de visite in his Lyttelton studio. There are three examples known to be held by the National Museum of New Zealand, but they are not available on-line. A further eight of his cartes de visite can be viewed on the Early Canterbury Photographers web site

We're greatfully indebted to Steven McLachlan of the Shades Stamp Shop at 108 Hereford Street, Christchurch for the top photograph, which precipitated this article and also to Heather Bray of Dunedin for the biographical details of her great great Uncle.

Addendum
Yesterday, some cattle were being driven along Oxford street, Lyttelton, when one of them, being headed, turned into Mr Teague's (photographer) shop. Mr Teague, who was absent at the time, came up promptly, but the bull blocking the way, he could not effect an entrance. Mr Garforth, who happened to be on the spot, managed to get into the gallery, and, at no small risk to himself, seized the animal by the head and backed him out, fortunately before he managed to do any damage. The Star newspaper 18 October 1883

1875 Central Christchurch Building For Sale

1905

The former premises of Mascot Finance Ltd are currently being offered for sale at an undisclosed price by the Perpetual Trust. Owing $68 million, the failed finance company was put into liquidation in March 2009.


1973
Designed by William Bernett Armson (1834-1883) and built in 1875, with additions in 1893 and 1923, the Venetian Gothic style former Christchurch Library is situated on the the northwest corner of Cambridge Terrace and Hereford Street West. The detached Librarian's house is one of the few brick townhouses of the 1890s to survive within the inner city and complements the main building.

At one stage threatened with demolition, the renamed Library Chambers building and adjacent Librarian's house were extensively renovated for commercial use in 1984 by the Architect Don Donnithorne.


2001
Right next door to the Christchurch City Council's next headquarters (above), with imaginative redevelopment, the historic buildings could prove an ideal opportunity for the next Central Library, for which it's understood that a budget of $83.5 milion has already been allocated.

Our proposal would be to enclose the group of buildings in a six storey steel and glass structure, similar to this recent design for a Dutch library.


Perhaps even cantilevered out to the Avon River bank, possibly along the lines of this Zaha Hadid design for the Antwerp Port Authority.

Crucifixional Complexity

A recent north-easterly aspect of Cathedral Square by Jose Sanchez.

Behind the War Memorial of 1937 can be seen the 1901 facade of Warners Hotel, which is currently undergoing significant restoration and extension.

1863 is the date usually attributed to the foundation of this hotel as John Etherden Coker's Commercial and Dining Rooms. However, the records indicate that by that year the Publican's licence had already been transferred to William White. Renamed as the Commercial Hotel, it would appear from contemporary correspendence to have been commonly known as White's Hotel.

The current name was acquired in 1875 and the hotel's greatest claim to fame came in March, 1927 when King George VI (as the Duke of Cornwall) stayed there. Thirty years later the hotel was still claiming "under royal patronage."

Below: from the Christchurch City Council comes an artist's representation of the completed development.

Melbourne House

Behind the modernised facade of the building occupied in 2008 by Hunters and Collectors on the western side of High Street between Cashel and Lichfield Streets is the 1875 Melbourne House.

Built by the Polish Ironmongers Solomon and Hiram Nashelski to replace their single storey hardware shop of 1864, they shared the ground floor with Hermann Isaac, a watchmaker and Solomon Nashelski's son-in-law (Isaac would later become a local name to be reckoned with).

Christchurch was something of a Wild West frontier town in the late nineteenth century (some might consider that it still is); revolvers could purchased over the Nashelski's counter in the late 1880s and business was good - they had added a fourth storey before 1900. 68 year-old Solomon Nashelski of Armagh Street died on the 5th of May, 1890 and his hardware shop became Ashby, Bergh and Company.

Edward E Ashby and the Norwegian Ludwig Bergh (1848-1895) had both begun work at the original Ironmongery in 1864, and although their names remain incised into the Limestone facade, the 145 year old ghost of the Nashelki brother's humble enterprise lingers on in the twenty-first century as the automotive parts retailer Repco.

One of the sixteen major buildings gutted in the Great Fire of 1908 (centre) Melbourne House was refurbished to its current appearance in the following year.