Furnishing  Trade.

SCOULLAR AND CHISHOLM (Arthur Scoullar and Robert Chisholm), Cabinet­makers and Upholsterers, Furnishing Ware­house, Corner of Rattray and Maclaggan Streets, Dunedin. Telephone, 159. Post Office Box, 310. Bankers: National Bank of New Zealand. Private residences: Mr. Scoullar, Wellington: Mr. Chisliolm, Ross Street, Roslyn. Factory, Rattray Street (above the warehouse and showrooms). Wellington house, Lambton Quay. Particulars of Messrs. Scoullar and Chisholm’s fine premises in the “Empire City” appear on pages 656 and 657 of the Wellington volume of the “Cyclopedia,” reference also being made to the career of Mr. A. Scoullar, the senior partner of the firm. Mr. Chisholm is under notice as chairman of the United Districts charitable aid and hospital boards, and as a member of the Dunedin city council, in other parts of this volume. An interesting description of the firm is here reproduced from “New Zealand Scenery and Public Buildings.” published in 1895 by the “Otago Daily Times and Witness” company, Ltd. “The well-known firm of Messrs. Scoullar and Chisholm, furniture manufacturers and importers, had its origin in a very humble way about thirty-two years ago. Among many others who, in the sixties, came over from Victoria to seek their fortunes in the newly discovered goldfields of Otago, were Mr. Henry North and Mr. Arthur Scoullar, the original partners in the firm. Like good colonists, they were willing and ready to turn their hands to anything they could find to do and the building trade being, on their arrival in Dunedin, particularly brisk on account of the demand for house accommoda­tion, they had no difficulty in securing work for a time at remunerative wages as house-carpenters. Securing an unpretentious building at the corner of Canongate and Rat-tray Streets, which had for many years served the purpose of a slaughterhouse in connection with the butchering business then carried on by the late Mr. George Duncan, they subsequently started manufacturing furniture for the firm of Key and Beswick, then in business in Dunedin. Soon afterwards, however—in 1863—Messrs. North and Scoullar, with the view of commencing business on their own account, leased a wooden building at the corner of Rattray and Macclaggan Streets, which, though a one-story, dilapidated structure, was dignified by the name of the Shakespeare Hotel, and this building they converted into a furniture warehouse. Success attended their efforts—they had but little opposition—and they speedily found their business increase to such an extent as to necessitate their obtaining additional assistance. In July, 1868, Mr. R. Chisholm entered their service, and, the business continuing to prosper, the old –Shakespeare Hotel had to give way to a substantial, three-story stone and brick warehouse, while the old slaughterhouse, which had up to that time served as a workshop, was displaced by the extensive factory that now exists. A few years later the firm’s business had assumed such dimen­sions that it was found necessary to extend the already large warehouse to the full ex­tent of the land available, thus making it one of the largest furniture warehouses south of the Line. In 1880, Mr. North retired from the business, and Mr. Chisholm (who had for many years served the firm) becoming a partner, the name of the firm was changed to Scoullar and Chisholm. Such is the repu­tation of the house throughout New Zealand that its name alone is regarded as a suffi­cient guarantee of the workmanship and design of every article produced by the firm. At the Wellington Industrial Exhibition in 1885, Messrs. Scoullar and Chisholm obtained the only gold and silver medals that were awarded for furniture and furnishings, and their goods were in such demand, and were so much admired by leading citizens in Wellington during that exhibition, that they decided to extend their business to the “Em­pire City.” Securing a site on Lambton Quay, they erected a handsome, four-story brick and stone warehouse, with the factory — a substantial brick building fitted up with machinery and all the latest improvements— behind it and Mr. Scoullar removed to Wellington to take charge of the business there. At the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in 1889-90, the firm again took a first class award, and the “Onslow” pavilion, fitted up as a hall, dining-room, drawing-room, and bed-room, constituted- in itself an exhibition which was a centre of attrac­tion to visitors. Messrs. Scoullar and Chis­holm import extensively from England, the Continent, and America; they have, never­theless, always given prominence to our beautiful native woods in the manufacture of their furniture. In 1887, when the city council of Dunedin decided to send to the Queen an offering on the occasion of Her Majesty’s jubilee, the firm produced to the order of that body a casket which was a unique specimen of art cabinet work, made from about 200 pieces of twenty different varieties of New Zealand timbers; in the same year they designed and manufactured a remarkably fine specimen of cabinet work in the shape of a cabinet and album, as an offering from the Roman Catholic bishop and clergy of the diocese of Dunedin to His Holiness the Pope, on the occasion of his sacerdotal jubilee. In the cabinetmaking, upholstering, and polishing departments of their business, Messrs. Scoullar and Chis­holm employ in Dunedin alone, at the present lime, from thirty-five to fifty hands, and. as a result, they are enabled to make a magnificent display in their furniture ware­house. As one enters the spacious show­room on the ground floor, one immediately sees that special care is taken by the firm to convince visitors that they are determined to produce—and that they do produce— furniture and furnishings which, in point of variety, style, and finish, are equal to any­thing that can be seen in the Old Country. In this room there are three distinct group­ings of furniture—drawing-room, dining-room, and bedroom. The drawing-room furniture is conspicuous by the variety com­prised in it, from the elaborate and elegant “cosy corner” to the more modest every-day articles. There is an almost bewildering variety of style in these goods, and the blending of shade and colour in the uphol­stery is excellent. The dining-room furniture is displayed in suites of red pine, oak, and walnut, upholstered in various colours of Morocco, buffalo, and roan, while the hand­some, massive sideboards—some with elabor­ately carved panels and mouldings—are placed on an elevated platform, so as to afford visitors an opportunity of seeing them to advantage. The bedroom furniture, which is chiefly in red pine, relieved with mottled kauri and bird’s-eye maple, is so arranged that one can see at a glance wardrobes, duchesse tables, duchesse washstands, Parisian bedsteads, and in fact every requisite for the bedchamber. Nothing short of a visit to the various rooms can, however, convey any adequate conception of their contents, which embrace pianos, carpets, floor-cloths, and other furnishings, as well as furniture of the kind already indicated. The firm’s factory in Rattray Street is the largest furni­ture factory in New Zealand, and is a Dunedin landmark. The machinery in it is of the latest description, and is driven by a 12 horse-power (nominal) steam engine. The firm guarantee every article manufactured on their promises, and, that they may safely do so, they constantly have large piles of timber stacked on a hill at the rear of their factory undergoing a thorough process of seasoning.”

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Last modified: 11/15/07