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Story: Building materials

Stone mason

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Stone mason

A stone mason naps off a piece of a boulder with a hammer and a cold chisel in 1930. The block may be destined for the arch at middle right which is being built over a timber frame to get the shape. The mason is working on Wilkinson’s castle on the cliffs above Wai-iti beach in north Taranaki. It was designed by architect James Chapman-Taylor for Eltham MP Charles Anderson Wilkinson as a weekend and holiday retreat. Local stonemasons from nearby Ōnaero faced the concrete walls with sandstone quarried from Wai-iti beach below.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Chapman-Taylor Collection

Reference: 1/2-025375-F

by James Walter Chapman-Taylor

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jeremy Salmond, Building materials – Stone, bricks and mortar, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25101/stone-mason (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jeremy Salmond, published 4 March 2010.