By Joel Maxwell on Stuff…
The box of old documents sat on Professor Deidre Brown’s desk beside her computer screen for months, a year and more… before she poked around inside and discovered history.
Lost documents from architect Gerhard Rosenberg [pictured], a Jewish man who escaped Nazi Germany, ended up in an internment camp, then helped design homes for Māori, were discovered in a University of Auckland storeroom.
The Rosenberg papers number about 100 pages, including designs for homes tailored to meet Māori and Pasifika housing needs in the 1950s and 60s.
A facilities manager found the documents and, after glancing at the contents, gave them to Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu), a renowned architectural historian and co-director of Māpihi, the university’s Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre.
The first folder she looked at was filled with newspaper clippings, so between work and writing a book, she left the box on her desk.
Read the full story on Stuff HERE.
