A Brief History of Victoria House

Victoria House has always attempted to give a hand to those breaking out from convention and into independent lives. Though the founding members of the Women Students’ Hostel Society may at first seem traditionally austere, their goals reflect independent and irregular thought that is the aspiration of all personal development. The society comprised of noted wives form the academic community and members of the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches . Margaret Wallis, wife of the Bishop of Wellington, was devout upon establishing a place where women could come together and make their university experience more than simply the taking of notes in a lecture room. To foster this shared experience Wallis intended self-discovery rather than hierarchy and rules. The efforts of Jean Gibb, wife of the minister of St John’s Presbyterian Church and the first Vice President of the society, are commemorated in Gibb House, the original building that remains part of the current hostel. Before its opening Wallis outlined that the hostel was:

“not a Boarding School, nor its Head a Mistress … We intend that there shall be very few rules to be observed in it, but what we do hope is that those who make use of it will always be loyal to its principles, and will create a sort of orderly, cultured atmosphere which will be worth any amount of hard and fast rules.”

This concept is rather unconventional for a society largely modelled on the rigid class structure imported from Victorian England. The conflict between setting rules to create an ‘orderly’ atmosphere and the need to allow social freedom to develop a ‘culture’ was to play a large role throughout the life of Victoria House.

Increasing social freedoms in wider society were reflected in debates about the expansion of Victoria House during the twentieth century. One of the first actions taken by Pat Hislop, warden from 1964-69 and 1971-72, was to issue a front door key to all residents. This replaced the late-leave registration system, designed to regulate the social virtue of the younger residents; it had “proved a challenge to students and a penance to wardens.” In 1972 the hostel increased its size with the addition of 112 beds in a new building – officially named Wallis Wing in 1983. The addition also brought with it 28 male residents. It was accepted that to fill all beds required the presence of males. At the same time however, an agreement was reached with Weir House that the once all male domain would be reciprocally open to females. With the increasing liberalisation of New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly led by the universities, these changes show the staff and students of Victoria House as a small community on the crest of social change. There was indeed debate about the changes; in general they illustrate the desire to explore the balance between authority and personal freedom required for individual development. One resident present during the Hislop era described the warden as less a “mothering figure” and instead more committed to “making young women think.”

Victoria House has been added to twice more since the 1970s but still retains the idealism of Margaret Wallis. Isabel Pope House was opened by New Zealand ’s first female Governor-General, Dame Catherine Tizard in 1993. And in 2006, Agnes Bennett Houses increased the size of Victoria House to its current 180 residents. It has been mixed gender for over a quarter of a century and adapted policies to echo the prominence of the individual in contemporary society outlining both their rights and responsibilities. However, Victoria House remains one of the smallest Halls of Residence to offer accommodation to students of Victoria University . As student accommodation has been taken up as a business enterprise by entrepreneurs seeking profit before all else, Victoria House remains under the direction of a non-profit making society. This allows the staff to focus on fostering a community conducive to the free pursuit of knowledge and wider personal development.

Only a supportive community will allow young people the opportunity to develop their independence of thought. The “orderly, cultured atmosphere” as envisaged by Margaret Wallis in 1907 remains the principle upon which Victoria House works toward.

For further reading see: Frances Porter, Away from Home: The Story of Victoria House, ( Wellington : Bridget Williams Books, 2002)

Now the ‘Victoria House Society Incorporated.’

Margaret Wallis, Letter to Spike, Spike, June, 1907, Box 37 .

Frances Porter, Away from Home: The Story of Victoria House, ( Wellington : Bridget Williams Books, 2002), P84.

Porter conversation with V. Vaughan, March 2000, in ibid., same page.