19/02/2026
This afternoon, alongside hundreds of others, we farewelled architect Pip Cheshire at the beautiful St-Matthew-in-the-City. Pip’s relationship with The Landing goes back 25 years; he designed the first building on the property after it passed into the current ownership: The Boathouse, a simple, rustic yet elegantly appointed ode to a former woolshed that stood on the same site decades earlier. From there, Pip has had a hand in every building here, from the sweeping solidity of the Cooper Residence to the functional grace of the winery.
His career achievements outside of The Landing are too extensive to cover easily, but include a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to architecture, an Gold Medal recognising lifetime achievement, memorable buildings such as the Congreve House, Q Theatre, the Leigh Marine Laboratory and Rore Kahu at the Rangihoua Heritage Park, the masterplanning of Britomart and ongoing collaboration with the neighbourhood for over 20 years, five inspirational years as an adjunct professor at the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau and a hand in Te Papa and the Britomart Transport Centre.
To us, as important as all of this is that he became a friend to many at The Landing. Pip was both genial and gruff, funny and uncompromising, and possessed of a unique vision that has left New Zealand a lasting legacy. Haere atu rā, Pip; mate atu he tētē kura, whakaeke mai he tētē kura (as one noble fern frond falls, another rises).
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