HISTORIC HOMESTEAD

Evening Star, Issue 22806, 15 November 1937, Page 8

HISTORIC HOMESTEAD

LOmKACH DESTROYED BY FIRE [Per United Press Association.] ASHBURTON, November 15. As the result of fire yesterday afternoon only the walls remain of Longbeach Homestead, where the Duke of Gloucester and many Governors have been the guests of the Grigg family. The building, of 33 rooms, was an imposing two-story brick structure with stone facings, in the style of many old English homes. The bricks used in its erection about 50 years ago were made on the property. No one was in the house when the fire (whose origin is unknown) was discovered at about 3 o’clock by the station hands. Mr and Mrs J. H. Grigg were then on their way to an adjacent beach.

The flames then had a good hold on the second story. Mr Grigg, with his employees, removed most of the contents of the drawing room, including sporting trophies, a grand piano, and paintings. Four Allenton fire brigadesmen arrived from Ashburton 46 minutes later, but the flames, fanned by a strong wind, were then-over almost the whole building. A loss of many thousands of pounds is involved, including furniture over a century old, show trophies won by the Longbeach stud stock, and Mrs Grigg’s jewellery. The homestead and content* were insured in the Alliance Office. It was James Edward Fitz Gerald, first Superintendent of Canterbury and founder of the ‘ Press,’ wh° S ave the name to the property, which was taken up by Mr John Grigg in 1864. An interesting feature of the history of the estate was that the. Right Hon. W. F. Massey, a Prime Minister of New Zealand, worked on Longbeach in his youth. . , The Longbeach Dutch Fncsians, the first of their kind to be introduced to this country, are famed throughout New Zealand. They were obtained in Holland by Mr J. C. N. Grigg, and were landed at Lyttelton in 1884. The station, which has earned the name of the “ model farm of the world,” was famed for the extensiveness of its grain-growing industry the subdivision. Stud sheep and racing stock are also kept on the property.