Hobbit, 575 Cumberland Street #flatnames

Hobbit 575 Cumberland Street (1973)

“Hobbit” flat. Built 1901, demolished 1970s. DCC Archives, City Engineers Album – Cumberland/Castle Street Deviation, 1973

575 Cumberland Street doesn’t exist anymore, it was demolished in the 1970s when Castle and Cumberland Streets were deviated to their current course. Below you can see photos of a couple of hand drawn maps. The first, a detail, shows 575 Cumberland highlighted in green. Compare the larger hand drawn map (note the green on this larger map is NOT 575!) with the image from the DCC Webmap. You should be able to see the site of 575 Cumberland Street two sections south of 58 Albany Street.

Many thanks to the DCC Archives for providing these images.

DCC Archives, City Engineer’s Cumberland Street/ Castle Street Deviation Photos
DCC Archives, City Engineer’s Cumberland Street/ Castle Street Deviation Photos
The site of Hobbit, 575 Cumberland Street, prior to the road realignment of the 1970s, was approximately two section south of 58 Albany Street as indicated on the map above.

 

Zeta on Castle Street #flatnames

Theatrical release poster. Source: Wikipedia

Zeta came into being this year, the name was inspired by a sorority house “Zeta Alpha Zeta” in the movie, The House Bunny, from 2008. The film is a firm favourite of the Zeta flatties, who have painted a house sign to replicate that from the movie.

This isn’t the first time 241 Castle Street has carried a flat sign. Earlier this century, for a short time, it was known as The Cardboard Box and it carried a rather splendid stenciled sign.

 

Zeta, Cumberland Street, 2014 : Copyright Ginny Lawson (used with permission)
Zeta, Cumberland Street, 2014 : Copyright Ginny Lawson (used with permission)
The Cardboard Box, 241 Castle Street

 

 

 

Rate My Flat – you can have a scarfie experience without being cold!

There are plenty of flats around that are named for their state of preservation or lack of heating: The Fridge, The Fridgette, The Heap, The Manor all spring to mind. You might not be able to do much about the size of your flat, but you can have a say in it’s quality through a new site called Rate My Flat.

If you’ve not heard about Rate My Flat, do check out this article from the ODT.  The lovely people from The (Shit Show) Chateau (rated the OUSA Worst Flat in 2012), are behind this venture through Live the Dream. Rate my Flat is about making a change for good and improving living conditions for students.

“Know what you’re getting BEFORE you sign the lease. Rate My Flat is an online database of ratings, comments and insider knowledge from previous tenants, so you can have the power to decide if your next flat is worth it.” Source: Rate my Flat Facebook page

You can hear Lindsey Horne and Leander Schulz talking with Kim Hill on Radio NZ (8 February 2014).

You can register your flat online, over 1000 folk have,  and it may well make a difference. Landlords who look after their flats will benefit, and landlords who don’t may receive some constructive feedback. The Chateau team have plenty of experience with crappy living conditions having taken on a house in dire need of TLC. You can read more about that experience here, and bless them, they are still living there.

 

Huband / Husband House on Hope Street #flatnames

Sneaky Feelings was an early Dunedin Sound band who formed while at the University of Otago. Their hit single, Husband House (1985) which made it to 17 on NZ singles charts, refers to a house on Hope Street – the exact address is not known. The house referred to in the song was actually called Huband House, and according to legend, a group of eligible young men lived there.

The album cover and poster for the single both depict a house, but it’s not the flat itself, rather the photographer Jeremy, used the terrace houses on Dundas Street.

Poster for the release of the Husband House EP.

Poster for the release of the Husband House EP. MacLean, Lesley, fl 1985. [Maclean, Lesley], fl 1985 :Sneaky Feelings. New single. “Husband house”. A Flying Nun record. [1985].. Various artists :[Posters advertising sound and phonographic recordings made in 1985].. Ref: Eph-D-PHONO-1985-04. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23240531

In March 2014, a discussion formed around Ali Clarke’s blog post about the Dunedin Flat Names Project. A woman named Bronwyn commented, and to which Ali and I both replied.

“You forgot Husband house! (Huband House – donated to St Matthews Anglican Church) The sneaky feelings even wrote a song about it…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVCHn7-qBB8”

“Hi Sarah, this house is important to us. The Sneaky Feelings wrote about it (held the NZ charts at #2 for quite some time) because, living in the house were a number of lads. It seemed that every time girls went around there, they ended up getting married. Prior to my husband living there, three couples from the house ended up getting married off. We were the fourth, marrying in 2005 – long after the Sneaky Feelings. Since then, St Matts has demolished the house; it was not structurally sound.”

Positively George Street by Matthew Bannister

Positively George Street by Matthew Bannister

Find out more about Sneaky Feelings on Audio Culture, or heck out Matthew Bannister’s book, Positively George Street, at your local library.