
The New Zealand clubhouse is much more than another architectural variant.
The clubhouse encapsulates a thick slice of New Zealand sociological history.
It is a place ingrained on the New Zealand psyche - a place for many, around which everyday life revolves.
In my own lifetime thus far, the only clubs I've belonged to have been a tennis club and a netball club and once, temporarily, when all reason departed, a badminton club. It goes without saying that the latter was not a success. I quickly discovered that being good at tennis doesn't necessarily equate to being good at badminton and a few weeks later, crippled by humiliation, I creapt away. but that's a different story........







The grand bowling clubs (I swear there are more bowling clubs in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world; almost every town has one, many have more), the cute little 'halls,' the solid brick edifices that allude to far grander activities than reality presents - they're all there. The golf club is another favourite - you'll find those all over New Zealand too, based in anything from a huge, modern edifice to a rickety, corrugated iron shed clinging to the edges of some tiny town. Some clubs are 'open-doored' and easily accessed; others are virtually windowless with an air of secrecy and privacy that their close-lipped members seem to encourage. I find it all fascinating.