OLD CITY LANDMARK

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 267, 7 August 1929, Page 10

OLD CITY LANDMARK

A GREAT WELLINGTON ESTATE GENESIS OF HIGHLAND PARK “THE GRANGE” IN HANDS OF HOUSEBREAKERS One after another, familiar landmarks of Wellington are being swept away by the tide of progress. In recent years many old buildings have disunder the housebreaker’s hammer, and tire latest to suffer this indignity is the historic and stately old mansion on the Wadestown Road known as “The Grange.” Built moye than 60 years ago for the late Hon. William Barnard Rhodes, this manyroomed old house survived the gradual process of subdivision of the great estate which formerly surrounded it, but its end was definitely fixed when the grounds in which it had stood so long were cut up and sold recently. The tide of modern home construction has flowed close up to its walls. The story of “The Grange” goes back to the very earliest days of Wellington. A Pioneer Settler. More than 122 years ago—on May 8, 1807—William Barnard Rhodes was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, the birthplace of John Wesley. He entered the service of the Honourable East India Company at an early age and remained at sea till 26 years of age, when he settled in Australia and stocked his land with sheep and cattle. Then, leaving a manager in charge of his property, young Rhodes took charge of a whaling expedition, of which he was chief owner, and he came to New Zealand in 1839, arriving here before the first of the New Zealand Company’s settlers. His whaling venture was successful and he visited sever"! parts of New Zealand. About two years were spent in this way, and large investments were made by him in land in both islands, Including in and about Timaru and on Banks Peninsula. He stocked his lands and established stations, and finally he was joined in his ventures by his brothers, Robert Heaton and George. William Barnard Rhodes made his home in Wellington in 1839, and soon became a most successful merchant, and the owner of large town properties. Ever ready to advance the interests of the place, he took a very active part in public affairs. He was a member ot the Wellington Provincial Council,, and was afterwards elected to represent the city in the first Parliament. In 18<0, Mr. Rhodes was appointed to the Upper House, of which he remained a member till his death, on February 11, 1878. On August 3. 1862, he married Miss Sarah Anne Moorhouse, daughter of Mr. William Moorhouse, of Yorkshire, and Sister of the late Mr. William Sefton Moorhouse, of Christchurch. A Landmark Passes. At the beginning of the “sixties” of last century, Mr. W. B. Rhodes had built for himself, the great house so wellknown as “The Grange.” Designed on generous lines, the mansion reproduced in timber many of the features of an English mansion. Built on the crest ot a knoll which was levelled to give spacious grounds, the house commanded a magnificent view of the whole of the harbour and the city, and until the trees grew up about it, “The Grange was the most prominent landmark in the northern part of Wellington. ’ In those days, and for many years afterwards, the only highway to the house was the Wadestown Road, a narrow and winding thoroughfare, which is still in process of being widened. “The Grange,” as can be seen to-day in the process of demolition, was a substantially built house of some twenty or more rooms, with a great cellar or basement. The framework was of “six-by-three” joists, and beams of rimu, and kauri figured very largely in the construction. Much of the interior- was plastered on. laths and in several rooms the ceilings were vaulted. The work of demolition has revealed one serious defect that would have caused perturbation to the past owners and to insurance companies, had it been known. M hen one of the chimneys was stripped a large hole was found in it, the surrounding bricks being blackened by smoke, which hart crept up inside the lining. It is a marvel that the house was never set on fire. A Great Estate. For many years “The Grange” was surrounded by a great estate whose broad acres extended from the Pakuao stream marking the northern boundary ot the Town Belt, to the Kaiwarra (Kaiwharawhara) stream; and embraced the hills and valleys of Highland Park down to the Hutt Road. Mr. Rhodes used the estate mainly as a grazing run. and for many years he leased the .Lown licit above Wadestown and Grant Roads nearly to the Botanical Gardens for the same purpose. His head shepherd in those days was one “Micky Marr, who was a terror to the small boys given to roaming t he hills. The Birth of a Suburb. After her husband's death, MrsRhodes continued to live at “The Grange” until she died on January 2, 1914. Some years earlier she bought the late Dr. Johnston’s estate at Goldie’s Brae. The tramway was then extended to the foot of Watt Street, and finally carried through the cuttings up to Wadestown. Meanwhile, after long delays due to differences- and litigation with the Onslow Borough Council, the process of subdividing the estate was being carried on, and it has now been finalised by the cutting up of the four acres of the “homestead block” surrounding “The Grange.” During the last twenty years the whole estate has been roaded, and what was formerly farm land is now one of the finest suburbs of Wellington, with its hundreds of beautiful homes. After the death of Mrs. Rhodes “The Grange” was purchased by Sir Harold Beauchamp, who resided there for some years, and finally sold the property last year. For a short period in 1914 the house was leased and occupied by Lady Glasgow, mother of Viscount Kelburn, who was then in command of 11.M.5. I’yramus. Many of the streets traversing the old estate perpetuate the memory of its first owners and their family. Rhodes Terrace is now known as Barnard Street after the second Christian name of the Hon. W. B. Rhodes. It is not "o'nerallv known that Sar Street, between Barnard Street and the Hutt Road, takes its name from the initials of the late Mrs. Rhodes. Traversing Highland Park are streets named after her brother William (now Oban) Street, and Sefton and Moorhouse Streets. Anne Street, too. bears one of Mrs. Rhodes’s Christian names. Among those living in Tli'dilnnd Park and Wadestown are several who remember the district ns it was long before the Rhodes Estate began to assume the appearance of n suburb, and who view the passing of “The Grange” and its many memories with genuine regret.