Those who were born prior to the late 1980s will remember this penguin from the Bluebird potato chip advertisements of 1989.
The Penguin flat features on Nathan Secker’s Scarfie Flats poster (2000) and in 2011 was judged to be the worst in OUSAs Next Top Flat competition, despite their cute kunekune pig, Chompers! Pig skins hanging on the fence were not related to Chompers and a Radio NZ interview revealed the the residents were all from hunting backgrounds and regularly supplemented there grocery items. The NZ Herald reported the residents had a problem with rats as they backed onto the Water of Leith.
“One of the boys had left his jersey in the hall and he noticed it was rustling. When he picked it up, four rats fell out from it and two ran down the stairs into my bedroom. We set gin traps up and later that night one went off in my room, then a moment later another snapped shut in the lounge. We caught some big fat rats.”
While I’ve collected details of flat names and address for over 500 flats which you can see on the flats map, I do have a list of named flats where details are missing. I’ve heard about these flats from a variety of sources: memoirs, emails, facebooks posts…
In order to map a flat I need an accurate address (even if that street doesn’t exist anymore, like with Hobbit) and to see patterns of naming over time I need to know the decade that flat was present in.
How you can help
If you have any details about any of the following flats, please do email me at flatnames[at]gmail.com mentioning the flat by name and any details you remember.
1946: New Zealand’s population drew close to 2 million, the long war was finally over, Prime Minister Peter Fraser led the Labour government into a fourth term, Southland held the Ranfurly Shield and The Best Years of Our Lives beat It’s a Wonderful Life to take the Oscar for best picture. But what was life […]
Back in the mid 1970s there was a flat called Xanadu at 3 Eden Street. The name was painted in an Asiatic typeface in black on the white front door. The flat adjoined a corner store run by the Verkerk family.
The origin of the flat’s name may be lost in the mists of time but is has been suggested it had its origins in the poem Khublah Khan written by Samuel Coleridge, in an opiate haze c.1797 [1].
Whether or not this is the case, the flat was certainly around too early to be named for the 1980 roller-opera starring Olivia Newton John, and the hit song of the same name written by Jeff Lynne.
Eden Street no longer exists but was only a couple of blocks from the main University campus to the west. The street was built over in the redevelopment of the intersection of Union and Eden Street when Otago Polytechnic was expanding. The flat would have been where H Block is currently situated.
View of Eden Street. Map from DCC Rates Database, modified by Judy Fisher.
The photographs below show the intersection of Union and Eden Streets with Verkerk’s store on the left and Xanadu adjoined, and the photograph of flatmates outside their named flat are taken in 1976. Judy Fisher (third from the left), a resident of Xanadu from 1976-1977 remembers:
“We walked out of that door turned hard left and back into the shop, where they made the most amazing bacon burgers and chips … Mrs Verkerk always remembered us all 20+ years later, when she was in the new store ( which her son owns now).”[2]
The family shop, known as the Campus Wonderful Store is still 138 Union St where it’s been feeding local students with pies, chips and grocery items for decades.[3]
Photo taken from the intersection Forth and Union Sts looking towards the site of the flat Xanadu (yellow building) and the Verkerk’s store on the corner of Eden and Union Sts. Image source: Verkerk Family (via Judy Fisher)
Flatmates outside Xanadu, 3 Eden Street (1976). Image Source: Judy Fisher
References
[1] Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: Early Visions, 1772–1804. New York: Pantheon, 1989.
[2] Fisher, J. Email 23 May 2016
[3] The Verkerk’s intend to build a new store on site with apartments above. See Corner building opponent’s concerns dismissed, ODT 10 November 2016.
There have been several houses on Howe Street that pun on the street name. This house may also be a reference to the very popular song of the same name (different spelling) by OMC from 1996.
This 5 man flat was named after the novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson. The flatties, all from Auckland, listened to the audio book of Treasure Island on their summer road trip back to Dunedin.
The name of the flat is also influenced by its golden colour (think gold, m’ hearties) and the residents further embraced the name of their flat by dressing as pirates for the Hyde Street party this year (see below).
The flatties were interviewed in 2016 and featured on NewsHub.
Dunedin Flat Names Project 