Windsor Park Station Stables

900 Weston-Ngapara Road, ŌAMARU

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Solid, grand, and attractive, the Ōamaru Stone Stables at the Windsor Park Station were built for leading North Otago agriculturalist and pastoralist Edward Menlove (1831-1903), probably in 1874 to a design by David Ross. The Stables have been assessed as having historic and aesthetic significance. Many of the landscape features now visible in North Otago were said to originate from the mythical Ārai-te-uru waka. Tradition recalls that the waka capsized off Moeraki whereupon the crew managed to swim ashore, leaving the cargo to be taken ashore by the waves. The crew members fled inland and were transformed into the mountains and hills which make up the interior. The main landscape feature in the area is the Waiareka Creek, known by Māori for the resources that could be gathered along its length. Following alienation of the land, the first European owners were the Filleul brothers, who eventually sold to Edward Menlove and Thomas Calcutt. Before the end of the 1860s Menlove would become the sole owner of the land. From the 1870s onwards, Edward Menlove set about remaking the landscape in the form of a traditional English country estate. This included the construction of the stone stables, which were probably built in 1874 to designs by David Ross. The stable building has been described by Geoffrey Thornton as, ‘gabled, with lean-tos having a series of ten loose boxes and access through stable doors on the outer wall. These doors have attractively shaped heads with a corbel-like feature.’ Photographs contemporary with the Stables’ construction show the building as constructed of Oamaru stone, with a corrugated iron roof. The same photographs indicate that the roof had additional louvred venting structures. In 1902, Windsor Park was taken for closer settlement in two separate portions. In May 1902, 3,821 acres were subdivided into 38 farms, and then the remaining estate was subdivided into ten farms and sold. In 1908, it was further subdivided – the homestead, house and garden blocks sold separately. The house block of 104 acres was sold to J.A.S Wait for £3,000 while the 360 acres homestead block was passed in. In 1909, the land containing the Stables and the other main farm buildings was acquired by Stanley Reid, a ‘sheepfarmer’ and in the 1950s was transferred to Ian Kingan. Aerial photographs from the 1950s onwards suggest that the louvred venting structures of the roof had been removed by this point. As of 2023, the land remains in the ownership of the Kingan family.

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

2438

Date Entered

4th April 1983

Date of Effect

4th April 1983

City/District Council

Waitaki District

Region

Otago Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes part of the land described as Lot 3 DP 16335 (RT OT9A/368), Otago Land District and the building known as Windsor Park Station Stables, thereon. Refer to the extent map tabled at the Heritage List/ Rārangi Kōrero Committee meeting on 6th April 2023.

Legal description

Lot 3 DP 16335 (OT9A/368), Otago Land District

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