PIONEER HOUSE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30576, 20 October 1964, Page 24

PIONEER HOUSE

Opening At Akaroa

December 5 has been set as the date for the opening of the Langlois-Eteveneaux house and museum at Akaroa. The Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Seath) has been asked to perform the ceremony.

The house was built about 1842 by Aimable Langlois, storekeeper for the NantoBordelaise Company, which settled Akaroa in 1840. Later It was sold to Jean Pierre Eteveneaux. It has been renovated and furnished in period style. At the rear of the property is a new concrete block museum, in which are installed showcases made in the Canterbury Museum workshops. These will be used to display material of historic interest from the Maori and European settlement of Banks Peninsula.

The project, which cost about £lO,OOO. was financed by contributions from the three peninsula counties of Akaroa. Wairewa and Mount Herbert, public donations, and help from the National Historic Places Trust which has made the restoration of the house its major South Island effort.

Furniture and furnishings for the house have been obtained from several sources, and displays for the museum will comprise articles lent or given by Peninsula people, and selections from the Canterbury Museum collections, which include the extensive collection amassed by the late Mr Louis Vangioni, of Akaroa, and left by him to the museum.