The Ohoka Gate Keeper’s Lodge (Former), a small Gothic styled timber building now located opposite 401 Whites Road within the Ohoka Domain, 493 Mill Road, Ōhoka, was first built at 168 Whites Road as a replica replacement gatehouse after the original one there was destroyed by fire in 1891. The lodge served as the control point to access J. S. White’s large Ohoka Estate and was the residence of the gatekeeper/gardener and his family. Subsequently the building has led a somewhat migratory life, having been relocated three times (twice at 127 Jacksons Road), yet still remaining on land historically associated with Ohoka Estate. Ohoka Gate Keeper’s Lodge (Former) has aesthetic, architectural, historical and social significance or value.
The Ohoka Gate Keeper’s Lodge (Former) now sits on open park land towards the south-western end of Ōhoka Domain, opposite 401 Whites Road, Ōhoka. It is surrounded on all sides by a modern picket fence, with trees beyond to its north and west. The building is Gothic in style, more or less cruciform in plan, and with a gabled roof running east to west, intercepted by a gabled roof running north to south. A lower lean-to sits at the south-east corner. The roof is corrugated steel, the timbers are weatherboard. On each elevation the gable ends contain ogee-style curved timber bargeboards and finials surmounted by cast iron orb style decoration. Within each of the four main gables sits a timber diamond shape with a quatrefoil centre. The lean-to has a single sloping bargeboard, decorated in the form of repetitive pointed arches and circular and trefoil indentations. Windows are casement and are surmounted on the north, east and south elevations by stepped timber hood moulds. The building is accessed through a gabled porch on the west elevation.
The original lodge, built in the 1870s or 1880s, was destroyed by fire in August 1891 and its replacement, purported to have been built as a replica of the original, is likely to have been constructed soon after, in the early 1890s. The role of the occupants of the lodge was to manage ‘horse and gig’ and ‘horse and coach’ traffic by opening and closing the gate for the head of the estate and visitors. J. S. White died in 1905 and his widow soon set out to have the Ohoka Estate sub-divided and sold. This happened in stages between 1907 and 1909. One of the last of the lots sold was the main homestead block, which included the lodge, described in 1908 as being ‘comparatively new’. Such a description of the Ohoka Gate Keeper’s Lodge would have been accurate compared to the much older buildings such as the homestead and stables, which had been constructed in the early 1870s. Later, probably in the 1920s or 1930s, the former gate keeper’s lodge was shifted to 127 Jacksons Road in Ōhoka, where it was used as a private residence for many decades. In 1995 it was shifted within the same land parcel of 127 Jacksons Road, where it was reroofed but sat unoccupied. It suffered some damage in the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and, after careful contemplation, in 2017 the owners decided to gift the former lodge to the local community. It was relocated, once again, in April 2018 to the Ōhoka Domain and has since been undergoing repair and restoration.
The Ohoka Gate Keeper’s Lodge (Former) now sits on open park land towards the south-western end of Ōhoka Domain, opposite 401 Whites Road, Ōhoka. It is surrounded on all sides by a modern picket fence, with trees beyond to its north and west. The building is Gothic in style, more or less cruciform in plan, and with a gabled roof running east to west, intercepted by a gabled roof running north to south. A lower lean-to sits at the south-east corner. The roof is corrugated steel, the timbers are weatherboard. On each elevation the gable ends contain ogee-style curved timber bargeboards and finials surmounted by cast iron orb style decoration. Within each of the four main gables sits a timber diamond shape with a quatrefoil centre. The lean-to has a single sloping bargeboard, decorated in the form of repetitive pointed arches and circular and trefoil indentations. Windows are casement and are surmounted on the north, east and south elevations by stepped timber hood moulds. The building is accessed through a gabled porch on the west elevation.
The original lodge, built in the 1870s or 1880s, was destroyed by fire in August 1891 and its replacement, purported to have been built as a replica of the original, is likely to have been constructed soon after, in the early 1890s. The role of the occupants of the lodge was to manage ‘horse and gig’ and ‘horse and coach’ traffic by opening and closing the gate for the head of the estate and visitors. J. S. White died in 1905 and his widow soon set out to have the Ohoka Estate sub-divided and sold. This happened in stages between 1907 and 1909. One of the last of the lots sold was the main homestead block, which included the lodge, described in 1908 as being ‘comparatively new’. Such a description of the Ohoka Gate Keeper’s Lodge would have been accurate compared to the much older buildings such as the homestead and stables, which had been constructed in the early 1870s. Later, probably in the 1920s or 1930s, the former gate keeper’s lodge was shifted to 127 Jacksons Road in Ōhoka, where it was used as a private residence for many decades. In 1995 it was shifted within the same land parcel of 127 Jacksons Road, where it was reroofed but sat unoccupied. It suffered some damage in the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and, after careful contemplation, in 2017 the owners decided to gift the former lodge to the local community. It was relocated, once again, in April 2018 to the Ōhoka Domain and has since been undergoing repair and restoration.
