High maintenance

It probably goes unnoticed by tourists, school parties or book lovers who walk through them, but many creative people’s houses in New Zealand are perched on a financial precipice.

Specifically, New Zealand’s literary houses have limited money available for maintenance and often cannot afford to be fully insured. These houses are dotted through the country. They are rarely grand, but culturally, they are important.

At one extreme, there is Frank Sargeson’s tiny Fibrolite bach in the Auckland suburb of Takapuna, sandwiched between infill housing and the relentless traffic that pours down Esmonde Rd. At the other is Katherine Mansfield’s grand colonial villa, which helps make the Wellington suburb of Thorndon appear even more historic and chic than it already is.

In the middle is Janet Frame’s old-fashioned bungalow in Oamaru, a house that looks somehow natural and homely, where the writer spent her girlhood and teenage years. Then there is Dame Ngaio Marsh’s home, where the writer lived for decades. It’s old, and nestles amid