The three Holly Leas: which should now hold the name?

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 15

The three Holly Leas: which should now hold the name?

By

JOHN WILSON

Some confusion surrounds the use of the name “Holly Lea - ’ in Christchurch. Two different buildings in the city which are still standing have borne the title at different times in their histories. Thev, in turn, inherited it from an original Holly Lea, demol.shed in the 19505, the history of .which has only just been •brought back to light. The two buildings still standing which are confused today when people talk about Holly Lea are the McLean Institute's home on Fendal:on Road and the McLean Mansion on Manchester Street.

Street property in favour of expansion. But to this day many people still refer, to.the Fendalton Road property as Quamby and to the Manchester Street property as Holly Lea. Before these two present rivals for the name were built,, the original Holly Lea was constructed on Colombo Street by Thomas Free, perhaps as early as 1868 and certainly by 187.3. Free came to Canterbury in 1855, and by 1858 had taken up two acres of land on Colombo Street. A yeoman who became a car-

Until the mid-1950s there doubt about the Matter — Holly Lea was the mansion on Manchester street. The home on Fendal:on Road, which has been ised by the institute for most >f this century, was known is Quamby. The institute ook the name Holly Lea vith it to Fendalton Road then it sold the Manchester

penter, and later storekeeper and landowner, he lived for many years on land on the .north bank of the Ashley River. In 1873. John McLean, a brother of Allan McLean, founder of the McLean Institute, bought the two sections of land running through from Colombo to Manchester Streets, from a ' person to whom Free's interest in the land had passed. He paid 1:300 for the section fronting on to Manchester Street (where Allan later built his mansion.) and 11000 for the section fronting on to Colombo Street — as sure an

indication as one could want that there was a house facing Colombo Street.

This piece of historical detection, which established that the house was definitely built before 1873 was the work of Mr A. C. Loach, the field officer of the Canterbury Regional Committee of the' New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Mr Loach also discovered a very early, probably the first'printed, reference io the name ■'Holly Lea. - ’ It appeared in 1875 when the death of Mary, a sister of John and Allan, was recorded in “The Press'’ as having occurred at Holly Lea. It is all but certain that the McLeans gave this name to the house Thomas Free had built because the holly is the badge of the clan McLean and the McLeans were nothing if not proud of their Scottish origins.

for his ageing mother. Mary. This mistaken account goes on to say that round this house. Allan McLean planted a beautiful garden of trees, shrubs, and flowers and that it was here his mother enjoyed the last years of her life.

In the official history of the McLean Institute, published 13 years ago. it is claimed that Allan McLean, after buying an area of land on Colombo Street, built a pleasant but small colonial type cottage on the property

But Mary McLean, the mother, not the sister, of Allan and John, had in fact died at the family's Waimakariri Station, on the Ashfield run, on July 11. 1871. aged 85. The land records show that John McLean (and not his brother Allan) bought the Colombo Street property two years after his mother's death and after the brothers had sold the Ashficld run. in 1873. The story of the cottage built in Colombo Street for an ageing mother is just another of the great many myths which occur in Canterbury histories.

it when his South Canterbury estate. Waikakahi, was sold to the Government of the day for subdivision, to McLean's enormous regret. Allan lived in the first Holly Lea while his new mansion was being built on the Manchester Street side of the property, moving out when the mansion was completed. In the years following, the first Holly Lea. having surrendered the name to its far grander neighbour, served as a gardener's residence. It is at this point that the nowdemolished original Holly Lea enters living memory. In 1913 a Scotsman, John L. Aitken, arrived in New Zealand. After working for a year at the Bayliss Nurseries to get used to the seasons being back-to-front, he was employed by the McLean Institute to look after all the gardens administered by it. He was to work for' the Institute for nearly 30 years. One of Aitken's daughters, Mrs C. McClung of Rangiora. remembers growing up in the house in the. years her

This first Holly Lea remained in the hands of the McLean family after the death there of Mary McLean, the sister. Eventually Allan McLean himself moved into

father was the gardener, for the McLean Institute. It was through Mrs McClung making contact with a member of the Canterbury Women's Committee of ■ Associate Members of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Mrs Morag Lawrence; that the photo of the first Holly Lea used with this article was secured, along with information about this part of the. building's history. The house, was eventually' demolished soon after the property was sold by the institute to the Government in 1956. From the time it was first built until 1956,' McLean's mansion itself bore the name Holly Lea. The history of this second Holly Lea is reasonably well-known because the building's, future use has been a matter for debate in Christchurch for some years. After Allan McLean's 'death in 1907. it was occupied by his housekeeper. Emily Phillips, until 1913 when she gave up her life interest in the house to move back to Waimate.

The McLean Institute was founded under the terms of Allan McLean's will which

set his fortune aside to provide for all destitute women and their children. Holly Lea, the mansion he built. five years or so before his death in 1907. was reserved for the use of gentlewomen and their children under the age of 10. ' "

After the departure of Mrs Phillips for Waimate, the McLean Institute used this second Holly Lea to house beneficiaries of Allan McLean's will. By the mid--19505, however, the mounting costs of maintaining the. mansion were straining the institute's finances. At the beginning of 1955 it was bought by the. Government and began a new life as a hostehfor the dental nurses’ school.

Before it had been able to use the mansion to house beneficiaries of McLeans will, the institute had acted to fulfil McLean's wishes by buying- other properties. One of these purchases, in 1909. was of a property on Fendalton Road knows'as Quambv, owned by a Mr T. G. Russell. The two-storeyed wooden house on the property had nine bedrooms: the institute promptly added, in 1909-1910. a brick wing in which there were 12 more bedrooms. As Quamby, this house with its additions remained one of the McLean Institute's main homes, after the institute had gained possession of the McLean mansion itself. When it sold the mansion on Manchester Street, the institute quickly built new blocks at Quamby to accommodate all the beneficiaries in its care. At the same time the. old wooden house was enlarged and altered (some would say disfigured) to allow it to serve the larger number of residents. Much of the furniture from the second Holly Lea was transferred to Quamby. along with the residents, and today graces the lounge and dining room. (Some of this furniture had been bought by Mrs Phillips in Europe where Allan McLean sent her shopping while his mansion was being built.)

The name Holly Lea also nade the journey'from Manhester Street to. Fendalton toad, supplanting Quamby. ’oday, “Holly Lea” not Quamby” appears on the ;atepost of the Fendalton toad property. Problems tave arisen about the name mly because in common isage “Holly Lea” remained duck to the Manchester Street mansion. The institute insists that he name “Holly Lea’’ be.ongs properly on Fendalton Road. It- seems fair that the name which began its association with the McLean family in the 1870 s. when John McLean bought the first modest house on Colombo Street, should “belong" in some wav to the institute

which bears the family name. To. revert to the name “McLean Mansion” for the grand old house on Manches-

ter Street will avoid-future confusion and be-in-.accord with what the .people of Christchurch called thediouse when it was first built.