Housewarming, a social art project hosted for the first residents of the newly opened Kāinga Ora apartments at 24 Point Chevalier Road, celebrates the importance of public housing in Aotearoa. This new Kāinga Ora development is also a contemporary example of quality public housing.

The corner site, at the junction of Great North Road and Point Chevalier Road, known as John A. Lee Corner, was previously the site of pensioner flats. The new apartments at John A. Lee Corner have been developed for residents 55 years or older.

The Housewarming project recognises the legacy of John A. Lee, a Labour politician who was an early proponent of state housing. His work in the mid-1930s was instrumental in the emergence of social housing.

Incorporating clay collected from the site during construction of the buildings, Public Share made 122 slip-cast cups as a housewarming ‘gift’ for the residents of the sixty-one apartments – two for each apartment. The inside of each cup was glazed with one of seven different sunset colours, a nod to the magnificent sunsets frequently seen to the west of the apartment complex. Inscribed on the base of each cup in handwritten gold lettering are the words: JOHN A. LEE, FIERY CHAMPION OF STATE HOUSING 1937. The cups feature individual apartment unit numbers below the handle.

We also made ceramic stirrers for use at the event, incorporating material from the site and stamped with various statements such as ‘state housing’, ‘John A. Lee’, ‘housewarming’, ‘social housing’, ‘24 Pt Chev Rd’, and ‘proudly social housing’ (a phrase used by the John A. Lee residents' group on their logo). Everyone attending the morning tea event was invited to use and then take away a stirrer.

Held in the John A. Lee apartment complex community room on Friday 27 June 2025 (between 10am and noon), the Housewarming morning tea was attended by apartment residents and other invited guests including members of the Albert-Eden Local Board who provided assistance for the project via Neighbourhood Arts Funding.

In developing the project we faced several challenges due to the fact that Kāinga Ora was undergoing major restructuring at the time. The ‘change process’, including redundancies and role changes, resulted in a delay in accessing clay and the cancellation of the community open day, where we had hoped to be included as part of that celebration event.

Ultimately, the making and distribution of the cups functions as both a connection to place and an act of welcoming residents to their new home.