LARNACH CASTLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22286, 12 June 1934, Page 10

LARNACH CASTLE

AN HISTORIC PROPERTY * NO BID AT AUCTION A COSTLY STRUCTURE For the second time in a history extending over more than 60 years the mag* nificent structure known throughout Otago as Larnach Castle, which commands an unrivalled view of Dunedin and the Otago harbour from its prominent site on the Peninsula, went under the hammer, in a city auction room yesterday and suffered the ignominy of no bid. It was offered by Messrs Park, Reynolds, and Co., on account of J. Jackson Purdie, and although fully 100 people had assembled to witness the sale, it became apparent a few minutes after the auctioneer commenced that it was more idle curiosity concerning the new owner of the estate, if any, than actual financial interest in the property, . , Larnach Castle was built in 1871 by Mr W. J. M. Larnach, four years after his arrival in Dunedin to assume control of the Bank of Otago, and it is reliably stated that the cost of the building and grounds, together with interior decoration and furnishings, was in the vicinity ot £100,600. For 27 years it was Mr Larnach’s home and in that time, the greater part of which its owner was a prominent member of the Grey and Stout-Vogel Ministries, it was a noted centre of hospitality visited and admired by the majority of the personages, colonial and overseas, who came to Dunedin. Conceived on a ruggedly generous and enduring scale, its massive walls, ceilings, and doors have furnished food as much for surprise as for admiration iff these modern days of small dwellings and sparing building. Its owner took an exposed site on the Peninsula to erect his almost feudal retreat, but by the time the final touches had been given to its interior a large park had grown up outside and the grounds were transformed \rith gardens and lawns and shrubberies which survive to this day. Its heavy oak flooring and panelling and its huge doors were specially imported from Great Britain and for upwards of 15 years, a well-known master carver named Godfrey worked on the decoration of the interior. Externally and internally it is unique in architecture and structure, and the enduring character of the work that was put into it was demonstrated when for over a decade it lay empty and virtually neglected. When finally reoccupied the refurbishing required was purely superficial. On the death of Mr Larnach in 1898 the castle was acquired from his estate by the Government, and shortly afterwards it was converted into a mental rest home, administered by the Seacliff Mental Hospital. Unfortunately, at. that time a great proportion of the distinctive carving and valuable furnishings were sold, and much of it has never been returned to perhaps the only mansion in the province that could do it justice. After a few years the Government closed up the institution that • had been established there, and for many years the building lay idle. In 1927 it was offered for sale by auction, but when it came under the hammer on August 18 no bid was made for it. In the'same month Mr J. Jackson Purdie treated privately with the Government for it, and secured the property, for £3600. At tremendous cost the new owner set about the task of restoring the castle to its former magnificence, spending large sums of money in buying back a s much of the dispersed furnishings and carvings ns he could trace. After more than half a' century it was found that the property was badly over-planted with trees, so Mr Purdie remedied this defect, besides replanting the gardens and resetting the lawns. The expenditure of a sum running into five figures resulted in the restoration of the property to its original glory, and, in some respects, its improvement. Since then it has been one of the show places of Dunedin, visited by thousands. - . .