It was built for Mr Frank Parker, who was prominent in Levin Borough Council and other public activities. The advertisement for the tender appeared in the Levin Chronicle about 1910 or 1911.
Mr. Harry Barnett remembers it existing in 1911, when his family moved to Levin while Mr. Swanwick knew it about 1913.
Mr Parker – for whom Parker Avenue is named – operated a hardware and farm supplies shop from about 1914 to 1938 on the Bath Street – Oxford Street corner now occupied by the Public Trust. His wife was one of the pioneering Prouse family.
Mr. Parker died in 1951 and Mrs Parker converted the house into two flats, living in one herself for two years.
Then Number 71 was sold to Miss Vera Richards in 1953. On her death in 1968 Mrs Kean inherited the property but did not live in it. The flats were rented until 1981 when Mrs Kean sold the house to Mr Denis Breakwell.
Mr. Breakwell and his wife Liz are re-converting the flats back to one house. They have retained the original lines of the exterior but have modernised inside.
During Mrs Kean’s ownership the site underwent a major change, when the house was shifted to the rear of the section to make room for the building of a doctor’s surgery.
Until that move, in 1973, the house faced Bath Street at the intersection with Winchester Street. Mrs Kean also replaced the corrugated iron verandah and acquired wooden moulding to replace some which had been removed.
A feature of the 1800 square foot house was the four fireplaces.
