Buchanan House, Dilworth Avenue, Remuera, Auckland, 1937.

Buchanan House was commissioned by Miss Buchanan and tendered in 1937. The commission Hooper accepted was for a design of a new house. The residence showcases Hooper’s adept skill with simple materials in combination with his good sense of the rules of harmony and proportion.

Douglas House, Ribble Street, 1938.
Photograph courtesy of Ralph Allen

Possibly the only house in the South Island designed by Hooper after his move to Auckland, Douglas house faced major issues in its construction. The residence, known locally as the ‘half-house’, is missing what on Hooper’s original plans was labelled the drawing room (a term no longer used in New Zealand house design by this time), and as such appears to stop abruptly. The missing room is speculated to have been deleted either due to Dr Lennox Douglas’s untimely death in the Second World War or because the design was simply deemed too big and elaborate.

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Winstone House, Mt Eden, (date unknown).
Photograph courtesy of Ralph Allen

In the 1930s Hooper was selected as one of a small group of architects to create dwellings to demonstrate the versatility of Messrs George and W.P. Winstone’s building products. Very American in outline, Hooper’s resulting bungalow is a departure from his usual design in both the exterior and interior. The roof shape and Hooper’s use of motif are still meaningfully referenced.

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Takle House, Mt Albert, 1938.
Photograph courtesy of Ralph Allen

More highly decorated than what is to be expected of the late 1930s, Takle House is nevertheless a thoroughly modern house in other respects. The second commission for his client Sidney Takle, Takle House is also Hooper’s last known residence in Auckland. Fittingly the building shows the range to which Hooper could design. Regardless of architectural influence, particularly the challenge to tradition expressed by Modernism, Takle house clearly demonstrates Hooper’s ability to acknowledge his client’s wishes without abandoning the precepts that guided his career.