Historic House visit
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Last Sunday a group of 20 Rotarians and Friends visited our friend and past caterer’s historic home in Doylston.
This home was built by Deborah’s Great Grandparents and she and her husband, Andrew, decided to buy and keep it in the family after it became too much for her parents to look after and maintain.
It was built in 1886and has a grade B historic places trust listing. Deborah and Andrew have lovingly restored it in the style of the period and were thrilled to be able to show it off to our admiring group. In true catering style we were given a wonderful lunch and the grand tour of house and grounds followed.
The main entry hall is especially worth mentioning for its highly decorative paint marbled effect walls known as scafitto, which was done in houses of significance at the time the house was built. There are very few examples of this work left in NZ and the Historic Places Trust required it be saved and restored. It required the skills of a specialist conservation artist from Auckland come down to complete this work.
We can only praise and thank Deborah and Andrew for their dedication in bringing this grand old lady back to life. It was a truly special tour and we feel honoured that you shared it with us.