Townend, Garrick, Gilpin and Foweraker Houses

The oldest of the four, Townend House, is named after Annie Townend, a wealthy Christchurch heiress who also owned Mona Vale: the first house was bought and moved from the residence known as 'Holly Lea' with money from her estate. Wikipedia's timeline dates it to 1914. The present house was erected in 1955-1956 on the site of its predecessor; a photograph caption from a local museum speaks of a replacement in 1957, a small discrepancy between sources.

Garrick House is named after Mr M. Garrick, who gave a large collection of cacti and succulents in the late 1950s; Wikipedia's timeline dates the house to 1960. It includes a desert diorama painted by Gordon Gee, the gardens' sign and label writer from 1956 to 1974. Gilpin House dates from the 1960s. Foweraker House, opened in 1967, honours Jean Foweraker, a Christchurch alpine plant enthusiast and donor of many collections.

After the 2010-2011 earthquakes, a newsletter of the Friends of the gardens reported in late 2012 that engineers' reports on Cuningham and Townend Houses had still not arrived. On 2 September 2024 the council closed Townend, Garrick and Gilpin for about two months for strengthening and maintenance work and to receive plants from Cuningham House, itself closed for an 18 to 24-month restoration.

The council speaks of six glasshouses in the Botanic Gardens, and its conservatories page describes six: Cuningham House, Townend, Garrick, Gilpin, the Fern House and Foweraker. The four houses covered here are small single-storey buildings. OpenStreetMap draws them as separate buildings of roughly 175 m² for Townend, 155 m² for Garrick and Gilpin traced as a single outline, and 37 m² for Foweraker; these figures come from map geometry, are only indicative, and do not come from any official publication.

The group works as a suite of rooms rather than as one hall. The Heritage New Zealand listing for Cuningham House mentions double doors in its north wall leading to 'a separate display building, the Townend House'. Visitor guides then describe a door at the back of Townend into Garrick, and another behind the cactus display into Gilpin, which the council calls a modest-sized conservatory. Foweraker runs alongside Cuningham House, in cooler air. Each house therefore has its own climate: seasonal flowers, desert, tropical conditions, and coolness for the alpines.

The council does call them glasshouses, however, and the September 2024 closure was for strengthening and maintenance works.

Each house has its own speciality. Townend House is a flowering house: it shows a regular succession of popular greenhouse plants, among them calceolarias, cyclamen, begonias, impatiens and primulas. For as long as Cuningham House is closed, part of the tropical collection replaces its usual floral display.

Garrick House is devoted to cacti and succulents, given mostly in the late 1950s; according to the tourism site Christchurch Attractions, some specimens almost reach the ceiling. The painted diorama depicts a desert scene running from South Africa to South America. Gilpin House, adjoining, gathers orchids, tillandsias, bromeliads and carnivorous plants. Foweraker House shows indigenous and exotic alpine plants whose display changes with the seasons, set against a permanent show of slow-growing conifers that gives a neutral backdrop; the same site also mentions oxalis and jonquils.

The four houses stand at the heart of the Botanic Gardens, in the group of display glasshouses beside Cuningham House, currently under restoration and close to the central rose garden. Visitors describe a chain of interior doors: from Townend House into Garrick House through a door at the back of the first, then into Gilpin House through a door behind the cacti. Foweraker House runs along Cuningham House.

The Fern House, built in 1955 and separate from this group, is on the same circuit. While Cuningham House is closed, Townend shows a selection of the tropical collection instead of its usual flowering display, which differs from descriptions written before the restoration.