McLean's Mansion. Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
McLean's Mansion - one of the country's largest wooden buildings, a 53 room, 2200 sq m Jacobean behemoth - is back on the market.
The elaborate homestead served as a home for one of Canterbury's richest men, Allan McLean, and later, for his housekeeper, a hostel for dental nurses, a resthome and a vocational training school. It was then condemned for post-earthquake demolition and later saved from the wreckers ball, and was the site of an ambitious restoration project, latterly backed by former rich lister, art patron and convicted sex offender James Wallace.
In a statement, Wallace, who was released from prison in December 2023 but continued to deny his offending, said he was pleased to advise that after nearly a decade of dedicated work, the Mansion has been saved.
Wallace said the building was structurally sound and "approximately ninety-percent restored," with its future secured "provided that the restoration is completed and the building occupied".
However, he said the trust had established there was "no viable prospect of securing the institutional backing and sustained public investment" needed to complete the project, leaving no option but to list the property for sale.
The trust was seeking a purchaser who "appreciates the heritage value of the building" and was prepared to carry forward and fund the remaining work. It said proposals "aligned with the spirit and original purpose of the project" would be strongly preferred.
Wallace did not respond to further queries, including what would happen to art work donated to the trust for display at the mansion.
The imposing three story home was built for wealthy Scottish colonist, high country pastoralist Allan McLean. Designed by the England Brothers architects, who were also responsible for Riccarton House, the Kaiapoi Woolen Mills and Knox Church, it was constructed out of kauri in a Jacobean style with Victorian features, and completed in 1900.
McLean's will established a trust to provide a home for "women of education and refinement in reduced or straitened circumstances".
Following his death in 1907, his housekeeper resided in the house until 1913, when it became a home for beneficiaries operated by the McLean Institute, a charitable organisation founded by McLean.
It was sold to the government in 1955, becoming a hostel for dental nurse trainees until 1977, when it was leased to the Salvation Army, and later the St Vincent de Paul Society. It remained empty until 1987 when it was purchased by the Murray family who ran a vocational training institution, the Christchurch Academy.
In 2013, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority determined the building was dangerous and notice was given to the owners that it needed to be demolished or strengthened.
In September 2015, the Murray's applied for an emergency authority to demolish the building, which was thwarted by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga's refused to sign an archaeological authority; the resulting Environment Court case in found for Heritage New Zealand and the building was saved.
The McLean's Mansion Charitable Trust was formed in 2016 in order to purchase and restore the building, but struggled to raise the funds and to reach an agreement with the vendors. The Christchurch City Council approved a $1.9 million heritage grant, subject to conditions, including a full conservation covenant being placed on McLean's Mansion and its grounds.
The council would extend the grant three times, in 2018, 2020 and 2021 to encompass delays in the Trust finalising the purchase, issues obtaining the covenant and the complexity of the restoration.
Staff assured councillors in 2020 that the project would be completed within eighteen months.
Christchurch City Council head of planning and consents Mark Stevenson said the full Central City Landmark Heritage Grant of $1,934,000 had been paid to the trust for work completed to the fabric of the building. The work was primarily structural repairs and upgrades, new roofing and weatherproofing, and security measures to protect the building.
While heritage grants normally have to be claimed within 18 months of approval, the scale of the substantial works meant the council approved extensions requested by the trust beyond the normal timeframes, he said.
Although there was no guarantee the restoration project and public access envisioned by the trust would now eventuate, the work funded by the grant is completed, and there was no requirement to seek repayment.
Wallace, who became involved in 2016, paid off the $2.6 million loan the trust had obtained and underwrote the $10 million project, which envisioned the building function as an arts centre, with an artist-in-residence, exhibition and performance spaces, a cafe and works from Wallace's art collection on display.
James Wallace, one of New Zealand's best-known art collectors, businessmen, and philanthropists, arrives at court in 2019. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Wallace became chair of the trust in 2022.
He went on trial in 2019 for indecently assaulting three young men and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He was found guilty in 2021 but maintained name suppression until it was lifted by the Court of Appeal in 2023.
The trust joined Wallace in the bid for name suppression, arguing Wallace was "the very face and the funding behind the entire venture", allowing his name and connection to the trust to become public would make it "unpalatable" to potential donors and investors.
Wallace was sentenced to two years and three months in jail in May 2021, and was released on parole in December 2023.
Another former trust board member, Mustafa Yikar, was sentenced to one year's home detention in May 2021 for his role in a plot to bribe one of Wallace's victims.
McLean's Mansion was listed as a Category One Heritage building in 1984, and scheduled in the original Christchurch district plan from the mid 1990s.
It's 2022 rateable value was $4,860,000.
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