Why is this place significant?

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Langley Dale is a homestead built in stages over a period of some years. The oldest section, dating from 1857 or earlier, has two cob-walled rooms with local stone slab flooring. The remainder of this early section is in timber, and includes the original dining room and kitchen with bedrooms upstairs under a simple gable roof. A second gable, over the kitchen, was added at an early stage. The next major addition, about 1870 was of four large rooms on the east side of the house. The front door faces south and has a pedimented portico. It opens into a passageway created between the old and newer sections. The original four-panel doors, porcelain door handles and wall coverings are still in place. About 1880 a timber verandah with an ornate cast iron balustrade was erected on the east façade and the upstairs windows were converted to French doors opening on to the verandah. In 1905 a large wing which included a rear dining room, a ground floor hallway and staircase with bedrooms and bathroom upstairs, was added to the north. Downstairs the floors are dark polished timber and a dado of richly embossed coagulum runs along each wall. Elegant pressed steel ceilings are fitted in the dining room, hallway and above the stair landings. The rooms have large double hung sash windows and large bays protrude on the north and east facades. A final addition along the north side of the house shortly after 1905 comprised an office and other small rooms. By connecting the dairy and store this created a courtyard at the back of the house. The exterior of the building is clad in lapped weatherboards on the older sections and rusticated weatherboards elsewhere. Roofs of varying pitch and height are gable ended and clad with corrugated iron. The final form of the house reflects its piecemeal construction. The 1905 wing overshadows the older sections of the house and in particular dominates the garden façade. Although its form hasn't changed in over eighty years Langley Dale's various additions can be clearly seen.

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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.