Hamilton’s building boom a family affair
THE DEAD TELL TALES Walter Petalasa (Petelloch, Pittalock et al) Scott 1857 - 1938
The current building activity is a reflection of Hamilton’s growth in the early 21st century. Another period of intense building activity in the early decades of the 20th century reflects growth when, from a population of 1253 in 1901, Hamilton Borough’s population rose to 11,441 in 1921. In 1901 Hamilton Borough comprised only Hamilton East and Hamilton West, but by 1921 Frankton and Claudelands had been incorporated into Hamilton Borough and one-acre sections were being subdivided. A lot of new homes were needed, and new homes means a lot of building activity.
The Scott family, surely aware of the economic possibilities of Hamilton’s growth, shifted to Hamilton in about 1904 from Eltham in Taranaki where they had been working for the Egmont Box Company.
According to a family website, the patriarch of this family, Walter Petalasa Scott, was born in Burntisland, near Edinburgh in 1857.
In 1879 he married Margaret Diamond at Rockville in Golden Bay, where her parents farmed and where Walter was working an alluvial gold claim beside the Aorere River.
Walter built a house for his parents-inlaw, and several houses in Golden Bay.
Walter and Margaret had four sons: Walter William (Bill), David Oliver Brown, Victor Roy and Martin Alexander; and two daughters: Johanna Geraldine and Elsie Marie Grace.
In 1905 Walter and Margaret were living in Frankton, but soon after, they bought land at the corner of Grey and Brookfield Sts, and are presumed to have built the villa that still exists there.
The 1911 Electoral Roll lists Walter, Margaret, Martin and his wife Irene as living in Brookfield St.
Walter and each of his sons were builders or carpenters working separately or together.
Alliances shifted from time to time, with Walter listed in 1907 and 1908 as Scott & Sons with Bill; Victor, Bill and David working as Scott Bros; one of the brothers in business as Scott and Rosenberg; Bill as Scott & Cave in Hardley St with his fatherin-law.
At least two of the sons were involved with the Cottage Construction Company, David as manager and Victor as a builder.
This company was established in 1922 and built affordable homes in the Waikato but seems to have been short-lived. The Hamilton Building Permits index shows the Scotts had a prolific number of contracts, mostly for houses.
Scott Bros also undertook contracts in Te Kuiti, in 1908, and built a block of offices and additions to the Congregational Church. Scott & Cave built the 1912 grandstand at Claudelands, and also improvements to the totalisator house.
In 1927 Bill Scott was given a building permit for the shop and house on the corner of Norton Rd and Taniwha St, for Diamond relations.
On the family website are photos of Margaret and Walter and the house Walter and his sons built in Boundary Rd in about 1917 – the house, a substantial Californian bungalow, is still there. Margaret died in November 1918, victim of the “Spanish Flu” caught while nursing a flu patient. (Her story featured in “The Dead Tell Tales” in November 2018.)
A year after Margaret’s death Walter re-married Annie Parker. Walter died in 1938 and was buried in the BB block of Hamilton East Cemetery; Annie died in 1954 and is buried with Margaret.
For many years, Martin was manager of the New Zealand Dairy Company’s box factory in Frankton. Bill was a Hamilton Borough Councillor May 1919 until May 1921. In late 1945 he and Victor constructed State houses in Wainuiomata.
Regarding Walter’s middle name, Petalasa − this was sometimes recorded on official documents as Portallack, Petelloch, Peteloch, Portaslack, Portallock, Portalack, Bohallash, Pittiloch, Peterloch, Portamark – perhaps if said with a thick Scottish accent variations are understandable?
The implication is that he himself was uncertain of the spelling.
Walter Scott and his sons built many homes in Hamilton, contributing to a building wave in the first decades of the 20th century; ironically, most of their houses have fallen victim to later development as commercial areas intensified.