The Big House WORDS: KIM TRIEGAARDT
One of the world’s largest Victorian timber houses, McLean’s Mansion has been undergoing renovations of a suitably epic scale
8 Kōanga • Spring 2021
Victorian philanthropist and wealthy farmer Allan McLean had such empathy for “women of refinement or education in reduced or straitened circumstances” that he bequeathed to them his beloved Christchurch mansion as a place of refuge. Made of kauri, with 53 rooms spread over 2100 square metres, McLean’s Mansion (originally called ‘Holly Lea’ and now known locally as 'the Big House') was the biggest residential building of its kind in New Zealand when it was built in 1899. Designed by Christchurch architect Robert England, the
mansion embodied Jacobean style with its massive proportions, solid base and tall towers. Its two French-inspired roof domes dominated the Christchurch skyline between Manchester and Colombo Streets and Bealey Avenue. McLean could hardly have imagined that more than a century later the building that took two years to build would be damaged in the 2010–11 Canterbury earthquakes. As it sat vandalised, empty and broken, he would likely have been heartbroken to see the Category 1 building in its own straitened circumstances. However, the building has been able to keep its status as one of the world’s largest Victorian wooden houses thanks to efforts to fight the owners’ demolition plan.
The building’s demolition had been approved under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011, but Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga refused to grant an archaeological authority to demolish, which was challenged by the owners. The case went before the Environment Court, which ultimately supported the ‘no demolition’ stance due to the building’s outstanding heritage values. Says Frank van der Heijden, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Senior Archaeologist: “The court concluded that, even in its present condition, the building ‘has very high historical and cultural heritage value that justifies protection. The values of the building are such that it is of local, regional, national and international
Heritage New Zealand
IMAGERY: INTEGRUS – TOTAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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