IN AND AROUND EARLY CHRISTCHURCH XI “MAIRANGI,” WOODEND

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32703, 4 September 1971, Page 13

IN AND AROUND EARLY CHRISTCHURCH XI “MAIRANGI,” WOODEND

(By

J. A. HENDRY. F.N.Z.I.A.)

The nine acres of land which comprise the “Mai rangi” estate in Parsonage Road, Woodend, is part of the 50acre Rural Section 3678 which was first granted in 1885 by the Crown to Samuel Hodgkinson, surgeon, of Mount Deans and later of Dunedin.

Within a very short time Hodgkinson began selling off portions of the total property and in November 1861, a Mr Thomas Percival Wooding bought this portion; he in turn sold it in 1874 to the Rev. John Raven and the Church Property Trustees "for a parsonage house and glebe.”

I am not sure of the actual tenure here, but Raven’s interest devolved on his sons J. E. R. Raven and T. E. Raven who finally sold out to the Church Property Trustees for £5. just before the house and land were sold to Arthur Robert Fear in 1913. It remained in the Fear family or with their trustees until 1938 when Walter Stanley Wright acquired the property, the present owner being his widow, Mrs A. M. B. Wright.

Perhaps the most significant- purchase was that of Raven and the Church Property Trustees. Raven, incidentally, owned other land in Woodend where he had built “quite a mansion" which was burnt down on Christmas Eve, 1853. It would therefore seem that “Mairangi” was the original parsonage, a surmise supported by the fact that Parsonage Road stops at the gate: if this is so, then the house could date from 1875, in the deed recording the sale there is great stress

laid on the future provision of a parsonage. Approached from the south this large two-storey house dominated by its steeply pitched gabled roof, and sturdy chimneys, seems a little grim in its dull red colouring, but as soon as the drive swings round to the north the whole atmosphere changes to one of friendliness and hospitality, with shady lawns, pleasing shrubberies and scented creepers. The sketch is of that view which shows plenty of character. The veranda on the left is some eight feet deep and nearly the full length of the drawing-room from which open two pairs of French doors 6ft wide:

next is a projection which houses cloakroom, etc., with behind it the entrance hall and the steep and simply designed stairs. Sheltering the front door comes a shallow veranda with, above the seat, the windows of the dining room and then the windows of yet another living-room. The two gables facing us have a tailored trim, the hooded window opening into a largish coved-ceilinged bedroom. The small window lights the upper hall, and the entry tb another bedroom on the right

Beyond the left of the main front lies a pleasant recessed court overlooking a formal rose garden with box hedges. "Mairangi” comes as a complete surprise to those seeing it for the first time, because it is completely hidden from the Main North Road and not until one reaches the end of Parsonage Road can it even be glimpsed. Perhaps it is due to this isolation that the house has been so well preserved. [The pen-and-wash drawing is by A. J. Mair.]