This private house is an attractive bay villa made of timber with an iron roof; it was built c1896 by local builder Thomas Mutton. It is a local landmark due to the very large fan palm tree in the front garden. Originally there were three palm trees here, with a pair surviving until quite recently, but sadly a previous owner chopped two down; long-time local residents Mr T. Hay and Mrs G. Mahar, remember these trees in their youth so the surviving tree must be at least 80 years old, these were not visible in photos of the area taken between 1903-12 so probably planted shortly after this. The Hobbs family lived here in the 1920's and 30's and their daughter remembers playing by the three trees as a child.
The house has very decorative bargeboards, plus a north-facing veranda with detailed iron-lace work. The house is elegantly proportioned with the correct sash windows typical of houses of this era. It was built on land originally identified as Town Section 275, which began its legal history in 1851 when The Canterbury Association sold the section to the Rev. John Albert Fenton for £26. On 26th December 1854 Rev. Fenton sold the land to John F Ballard for almost double the price of £50.
The following June he sold the land for the same price to Captain John Parsons, his next door neighbour, who had built and lived in a house at 3 Brittan Terrace, TS 277 between 1851 and 1856 (An illustration of this house and environs can be seen in, A History of Port Lyttelton by WH Scotter, plate 13 ). Captain Parsons also owned the section on the other side of 5, Brittan Terrace (TS 273) so in buying the land from Rev. Fenton he joined his two sections to make one large stretch of land out of three. Much of this area of Dampiers Bay (as west Lyttelton was known then) was planted as orchard in the early years of settlement.
Parsons was the captain of the Lady Nugent when the Godleys came out in her to Lyttelton in 1850; he was appointed Harbour master in 1851 until illness prevented him carrying out his proper duties in 1857. After Parsons’ death in 1860, the three sections (with TS 275 in the middle) were inherited by his wife Louisa Parsons, as shown in the rates books of 1864.
The 1868 rates record show TS 275 and 277 still as land, by the following year Louisa still owned and lived at TS 273 (no.3) but had sold the land at TS 275& 277 to Thomas McClatchie, Master Mariner for £475; by now TS 277 had a cottage on the land (no.7 where the McClatchies lived) but TS 275 was still orchard land. In 1892 the McClatchies sold both sections TS 275 and 277 to Mrs Annie Cordelia Galbraith for £700, a year later she sold the land comprising TS 275 alone to Miss Ellen Ferguson for £200.
Mrs Annie and Mr John Galbraith lived at Brittan Terrace and their son John Edward Galbraith married ‘their next door neighbour’: Ellen Ferguson in December 1893; which meant that the land was back under the Galbraith name once more. It was subdivided in 1893 with John Edward Galbraith (junior) taking out 3 mortgages between 1894-1897, two to the Oddfellows Society and one to Lyttelton builder Thomas Mutton. Therefore it is most probable the house was built for the newly married couple in 1896 ( J.E. Galbraith, Tally Clerk, was listed as living here.)
In 1901 the house at 5, Brittan Terrace was sold for the first time to Mr H Smith, a Lyttelton engineer who also owned a workshop, store, yard and dwelling at Norwich Quay/Dublin St corner (later to become the site of Sinclair and Melbourne).
By 1920 Janet Smith lived here, and in 1921 it is recorded as her estate, with rates paid by Frederick Hobbs, who then became legal owner in 1927. Mr Hobbs was the Town Clerk for Lyttelton, he died in 1939 and his wife Beatrice transmitted the property to E.P and J.T Hobbs who continued to live here until 1947. When Mr Ivan Newton and his wife Jean bought number 5, Brittan Terrace, living here until 1976 when Mr & Mrs Bowden moved here. The Bowdens nurtured the garden with its extensive collection of fruit trees growing on the quarter acre section where they also had an abundance of lilies and Bird of Paradise plants.
The Dunlay family have recently bought it as their family home and plan to restore the garden to its former glory.
