Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield was born in this house on October 14, 1888. Location: 25 Tinakori Road, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand.

Two or three siblings, her grandmother, parents, and an aunt all lived in approximately 8 rooms: 4 bedrooms, a "night nursery," a parlor, a living room, another sitting room, a kitchen, and a bath that was sort of a lean-to. Several servants seem to also have been there, if not actually living there. I think all restored Victorian homes make one realize how very much space we expect for modern living!

Like many author's homes, this one is privately owned, and was rescued from a decayed state and restored by a group of dedicated volunteers just in time to avoid total destruction. Many furnishings are typical of the era -- rather than specific to the family. Scraps of original wallpaper, discovered behind paneling or heavy layers of other wall coverings, allowed restoration of some rooms by use of reproductions.

The family soon moved to another house nearby. It was grander -- but in the 1960s, was torn down to make a motorway, which runs past the otherwise peaceful back garden here.

I think the story "The Garden Party" takes place in that home, and that the poor and run-down neighborhood nearby was perhaps in the ravine where the motorway now runs. But maybe not. Real experts probably have mapped the entire opus onto Wellington and nearby towns where the family spent time at the seaside (and thus where other stories are set). In reading one book of stories during the trip, I was quite intrigued at the parallels to today's city and the memories taking place almost exactly a century ago.

Why is this interesting? Well, quite a few of Katherine Mansfield's stories deal with her childhood memories. Obviously, relevant quotations from the stories are available to anyone touring the house, supplied on laminated pages that you carry along on your self-guided tour. You can't help becoming interested!

Family photos on display in virtually every room in the house show the way the family members all looked during the time they lived in the house. A photo shows the grandmother holding a baby who had just died -- a long quote describes Katherine Mansfield's childhood memory of the sad event -- including the arrival of the photographer. Certainly this underscores how times have changed in a century.

One famous Mansfield story is called "The Doll's House." It begins as the children of the family are looking over this new plaything. Of course the management had to have a dolls' house on display. The one they have is designed to match the words in the story. However, it's entirely modern -- in my own doll house I have exactly the same living room furniture. Victorian style furniture is probably the most popular choice for recent collectors. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable thing to see.

Here is how Mansfield wrote about the children of the family opening the house:

"The hook at the side was stuck fast. Pat pried it open with his pen- knife, and the whole house-front swung back, and-there you were, gazing at one and the same moment into the drawing-room and dining-room, the kitchen and two bedrooms. That is the way for a house to open! Why don't all houses open like that? How much more exciting than peering through the slit of a door into a mean little hall with a hat-stand and two umbrellas! That is-isn't it? -- what you long to know about a house when you put your hand on the knocker. Perhaps it is the way God opens houses at dead of night when He is taking a quiet turn with an angel. . ."

Somehow, seeing Katherine Mansfield's birthplace has a strange similarity to looking into the all-revealing doll house. You know so much more than you would if you really visited a real, living family.