Reprieve for pioneer home

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34107, 20 March 1976, Page 17

Reprieve for pioneer home

(By

TERRY McGOVERNE)

One of Akaroa’s oldest homes, built 1 10 years ago, is taking on a new lease of life which may ensure its existence for at least another century. The house, on the fringe of the largest walnut grove above the town, is said to have been the second built in Akaroa. It was the property of the first schoolteacher, a: Frenchman, who summoned the children to class by ringing a cowbell. Designed in distinctive! Gallic cottage lines, the house was constructed of, clay dug from the surrounding hills. The walls are 18in! thick and are in as good re-' pair as the day thev were built. So is the gaivanised-iron roof which, according to thei contractor restoring the'

house, Mr J. White, of Little River, was put on by a plumber whose workshop was in Cathedral Square. j BOUGHT BY DOCTOR The house is now the pro-' petty of Dr Jean McLean, a medical practitioner, ofl Hokitika, who plans to use, it for holidays, and may I eventually retire there. The name of the first j owner is unknown, but sub-: sequent owners have included Gordon Le Lievre and Bill Barrett. The Le Lievre family planted the large i grove of walnut trees, which forms a magnificent backI drop to the house. They also planted three handsome chestnut trees, which are ■ still thriving and look as! though they will yield heav-i ily this year. Dr McLean bought the house and 11 acres with itp about two years ago. The| house was on its last legs 11 after being vacant and l

totally neglected for 40' years. I The restoration work has' ■thoroughly tested the build- | ing skills of Mr White who ‘said he had taken ain im-| mense liking for the house! and work he was doing. When Dr McLean obtained I vacant possession of the ! ) house she found inside it 'two ancient double bedsteads, which have also been' fully restored. They occupy the two tiny but cosy bed-! rooms on the second floor, access to which is by way ; of a narrow wooden stair- i way. NEW FLOORING Part of the restoration work has been the entire replacement of the wooden 'flooring and bearers which had succumbed to the ravages of age and insects. The redecoration of the I house has meant relining the j and ceilings without 1 1

removing the original tongue; and groove timber. ! The living-room on the ground floor was where the I first owner held his school for a handful of children, I who would trudge up the j winding steep road to the little house, which has a veranda running almost ! right around it. Job seeker An armed man has taken a Federal Labour Department i official hostage on the j seventy-third floor of the World Trade Centre in New i York and demanded 100.000 jobs “for young blacks and oppressed people” in New York City. After a two-hour siege, the man was arrested by 50 policemen wearing bullet-proof vests. The man was identified as a Mr Grosj endi. He said he was a member of “Vanguard.” an organisation unheard of until now.—New York.