Lockdown Thoughts

You may have heard recently that the old house at Lunns Road has been sold. About 2 years ago during the Project Chinook planning phase we had a full renovation priced up. We wanted to bring it up to full commercial standards and use it as a cafe and conference facility, but the price tag was around $5m which just seemed too much to swallow. Instead we chose to see if we could give it away as a renovation project. After about 12 months of marketing it for the handsome sum of $1 we found a buyer willing to meet our terms of safe removal and full restoration.

The original 9 acres of land was bought by Frederick Wilding (father of tennis star, Anthony Wilding) from the Canterbury Association in 1883. In 1890 he sold it to Henry Francis Wigram who sold it to Rosamond Mary Teschmaker (wife of Thomas John Teschmaker, sheep farmer) of Otago in 1903.

The Teschmakers of Oamaru, built the house circa 1908 as a summer residence and somewhere to lodge his daughters during the ball season in Christchurch. Mrs. Teschmaker sold the property in 1927 to John McCrory, a retired farmer of Christchurch. After a couple more owners, and even being used to keep racehorses at one time, Bill Hamilton bought the property in November 1944. Two years later he transferred it to the newly formed CWF Hamilton & Co. Ltd, and around 1960 the adjacent land was purchased making the total site at that time 7.66 ha (about 19 acres).

The Hamiltons used the house as a lodging for new employees for many years, and eventually the building became an office, with functions like finance and HR occupying the various rooms in the house. Sadly the earthquake caused too much damage and it has been a store ever since.

The new owners have not given us details on what they will ultimately do with the property, but apparently it is going up to a site near Russel in the Bay of Islands. To get there it will be cut into sections and go overland to Timaru before being barged up the coast to Russell and across land to its final destination. It will be sad to see it go, but we wish them luck with the restoration and will keep you all posted if we hear any news.

Ben Reed
Managing Director - HamiltonJet