Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

From its source, the Taiari/Taieri River flows almost entirely around Pātearoa (the Rock & Pillar Range) before discharging into Te Tai-o-Āraiteuru (the Otago coastline). Oral history tells us the Taiari and its various waterways was created by the taniwha Makaka who is immortalised as Pukemakamaka / Saddle Hill. Kāi Tahu ki Otago used all areas of the Taiari / Taieri Plain as evidenced by the hundreds of mahika kai sites associated with the numerous waterways, lakes and wetlands in the area, which was one of the most significant food baskets of the Otago region. The lower Taiari was an important occupation site with the Maitapapa kāinga at Henley. An important route, referred to by J. H. Beattie as a ‘Maori track’, passed through the area. Ngāi Tahu kaumātua recorded Taiari specifically as a kāinga mahinga tuna and kāinga nohoanga (settlement). In July 1844, the Otago Purchase, negotiated by Frederick Tuckett, was signed at Kōpūtai / Port Chalmers. This agreement alienated large areas of land around Dunedin into European hands and saw a native reserve (2,300 acres) established on the north bank of the Taiari awa. The Ōwhiro Stream, formerly known as Scroggs Creek, flows across the Taieri Plain into the Taieri River near the Allanton township, west of Mosgiel. The name Ōwhiro was used to denote the eastern part of the Taiari plain. The first Europeans to settle in the Taieri area were William and Margaret Jaffray who settled on Saddle Hill above the Taieri Plain in 1848 straight off the Philip Laing along with fellow shipmate John de la Condamine Carnegie. Other settlers began populating the central Dunedin area with few risking the journey out to the Taieri Plain. The first road from Dunedin was constructed in 1849, and with this farms and houses began to be constructed along this road. As the Taieri Plain was originally wetlands, few settlers took on the daunting task of converting the land to useful agricultural fields in the 1850s. This changed with the arrival of Rev Thomas Burns (1796-1871), on the ship Philip Laing on 15 April 1848. Before arriving in New Zealand, Burns had purchased rural sections on behalf of the Lay Association of Scotland Church Trustees and supporters of the Free Church project, and he chose a large majority from the plain. This purchase of rural sections was completed at the end of 1847 and was not without criticism from those not sure the Taieri Plain was suitable or rich farmland. Upon his first visited the Taieri Plain in 1849 he described it as “a truly magnificent plain”. He continued to make multiple visits out to the Taieri Plain, recording the development of the settlement and progress in the area in his diary. From an early survey map of the Taieri and Waihola Survey District in 1859 Johnstone Farm’s land is in between the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church and various members of the Burns family. Early in 1851 a property on the plain was taken up by Andrew Todd Jnr (1826-1853). Andrew Todd arrived in Dunedin on the ship Phoebe Dunbar in October 1850. The Phoebe Dunbar was the last ship dispatched to Port Chalmers by the New Zealand Shipping Company. According to family history, he travelled to New Zealand to live in a warmer climate to treat his tuberculosis. The land he worked was acquired from Gilbert Burns, the brother of Rev Burns, who was in a drapery business in Dublin with William Todd, Andrew’s uncle, and Alexander Findlater as a financial partner and all three brought sections on the Taieri via the Lay Association of Scotland. He wrote to his uncle a few weeks after arriving: “I have now taken up my abode on the Tiera [sic] Plain eight miles from Dunedin on a section Mr Burns exchanged with me for Mr Findlater’s. The section I have got is a very good one. No timber but I can get timber off the road line running through the bush for a long time, and the reserve timber is not far distant…I have got no house put up yet. I have got timber sawn and expect to have the house up in about a fortnight. I have been living in (what is called a whari) a hut made of sods and thatched with cabbage trees. I find it very comfortable. I find my health improves in the whari.” Andrew Junior was one of the first settlers to arrive on the Taieri Plain. He got to work on his farm and, along with Robert Hastie, was the first to plough on the Taieri. Todd planted potatoes and acquired two bullocks and four heifers, and after a good first return brought some of them into Dunedin for sale, being the first bullock team brought into Dunedin from the South. He was soon joined by his father Andrew Todd Senior (1796-1873), mother Ann Sangster (1799-1870), sister Jane (1835-1860) and brothers, William (1838-1921) and Robert (1844-1901) on board the Simlah in 1851. Brother, Charles (1829-1865), arrived shortly after in 1852, and another brother, James (1831-1915), arrived in 1858 with his pregnant wife and young daughter. The Todd family was originally from Perthshire, Scotland but had farmed in Ireland from 1840. The farm was named Johnstown/Johnstone Farm (the name was first referred to in the newspaper in 1853 as “Johnston” and then “Johnstown” in 1854), the name of which still remains today. This may have been named after the Georgian built Johnstown House, Enfield which is near where Andrew Todd Snr was a tenant farmer near Moygaddy Castle, Kildare, County Meath (County Kildare and Meath border each other). The house that was to be built “in a fortnight” mentioned in Andrew Junior’s 1851 letter was presumably built before his mother and father arrived in September of 1851. Descendants mentioned that a house was under construction when James arrived with his wife on the ship Agra in 1858. “The house was built but the kitchen still had a sod floor. The women were cooking in the kitchen and James was met in Dunedin by his three brothers with a bullock wagon”. This may have been the second iteration of the house on site. Andrew Jnr suffered from tuberculosis and although he reported his health was improving in the New Zealand climate, he became unwell and died in 1853. He was described in his obituary as one of the first settlers on the Plain, and whose assistance and energetic example contributed to much of the prosperity of the area. The land then passed to Andrew Todd Snr in 1854. It has been mentioned in local histories that the house at Johnstone Farm was standing in 1861, when it has been told that Rev Thomas Burns described the current house as a “…well-established farm on the level below the church hill. Andrew Todd had built a large white house, which stands there still. With his former experience of farming in Ireland, Mr Todd had brought this farm into splendid condition and he made agricultural history by harvesting a fine crop of barley in the month of December.” However, Burns had no Visitation Books in 1861 (his books continue until 1857) so this date does not seem correct. In December 1864, tenders were called by architect RA Lawson (1833-1902) for the construction of a residence at East Taieri for Andrew Todd. The date of this tender notice suggests that construction on this residence could have started in 1865. The 1897 valuation records report a dwelling on site, constructed from brick and timber with a slate roof valued at £400 ($95,574). The dwelling was recorded as 31 years old, which would give a construction date of 1866. A barn/stable, cowshed, and dairy were also recorded on site. RA Lawson was one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent architects. He had moved to Dunedin to build First Church in 1862 and then built his practice designing other churches and public buildings but also residential houses in the area. With both the Todd’s and Lawson’s involvement in the Presbyterian Church, the two parties would likely have been known to each other. The 1860s was a time of developing building technology and materials as more became available and as settlers became more established had money to spend on larger homes, as the Todd’s did with Johnstone Farmhouse. Lawson had designed Donald Reid’s Salisbury (List no. 2125) in April of the same year and advertised a tender two years later in 1866 for James Shand, settler, to build his house at his farm Abbotsford, West Taieri (near Allanton). Lawson designed the North Taieri Manse the next year in 1867-1868 and then went onto design the East Taieri Church (List no. 2260) in 1870. The East Taieri settler community were a tight knit group and relied on each other in the early years to establish themselves and their farms in the new colony. They supported new settlers arriving by giving a day’s worth of ploughing – up to 7 to 9 ploughs would be used to turn several acres and get the land ready for use. As the earliest settlers on the Taieri Plain, the Todd family became instrumental in the settlement’s establishment. Andrew Todd Snr was an elder of the East Taieri Presbyterian Church and one of the original committee members who instigated the establishment of the first East Taieri School and Church in 1852. He was also chairman of the East Taieri Roading Committee, the first president of the Taieri A&P Society, Justice of the Peace, member of the Provincial Government and a warden of the Hundred of East Taieri. He was an instigator of all things political, religious, and educational on the Taieri and took an active role in the advancement of the area. The Todd barn hosted the Harvest Home in 1854, which was celebrated by the settlers of East Taieri. The barn was decorated for the Harvest Home with fern, flax, and tutu. “Nearly 100 sat down to a sumptuous dinner at 6 o'clock, after which and the usual adjuncts, the floor was cleared for the dance, music, song, alternating till an early hour in the morning”. The farm also hosted many Annual Ploughing Matches. The whole Todd family were an enterprising group. The children established their own paths, and all did not travel far from Johnstone Farm. James Todd went into the drapery business like his Uncle William in Ireland. He married Ann Cash of Cash Drapery Firm in England and ran a store at East Taieri from April 1861 until December 1862. His farm was named as “Southam” on the Taieri (he sold the farm in 1868) and he died in 1915. Jane Todd married David Oughton, who built a house for them in 1851. He named this ‘Janefield’ (List No 4736) – the house is still standing, and the surrounding area is known as ‘Janefield.’ Jane sadly died of consumption in 1860. Charles married Margaret Shand in 1857 and he died in 1865 at Johnstone Farm after some years as a storekeeper and butcher, which he took over from his brother James. Robert, the youngest son, took over Johnstone Farm when their father died in 1879. William A Todd had a farm called Willow Acres and was known for breeding Leicester sheep. The Johnstone Farmhouse was built in a Georgian style with Australian jarrah used for the outer walls, Baltic pine flooring, handmade nails, and kauri doors. There is a brick fire wall running through the full width of the house, which is an unusual inclusion. A c.1900 photograph of the farmhouse shows it clad in weatherboards, with quoins at the corners, giving the illusion of channel-jointed stonework. This look was introduced in Wellington in the 1860s and became increasingly popular in the 1880s. Timber was a common construction material, which was sourced locally and imported from Australia. Andrew Todd Jnr mentions in 1851 how he had no timber on his section, but he could access timber off the road line running through the bush for a long time, and the reserve timber is “not far distant”. The township now known as Mosgiel was known as Big Bush and was covered in red, white, and black pine and totora. Brick was less common, being more expensive and the inclusion of a brick ‘fire wall’ in the farmhouse is a relatively unusual feature for a building of this age. There were, however, brick works operating nearby in particular by the settler family Callanders between Springbank and Springbank View in East Taieri as well as Salisbury, North Taieri. The house was exceptionally designed with five good sized bedrooms and a sunroom on the upper floor. Downstairs was a drawing room, dining room, and kitchen. A staircase connected the two levels, with the effect heightened by Italianate round arched windows. The nails were handmade and the fireplace in what is now the lounge is in black Italian marble imported by Andrew Todd Snr. Locks on the doors were brought from Scotland and most are still in use. Andrew Todd Snr died in 1879 at Johnstone. Robert inherited the farmhouse and all other property owned and leased by his father in 1879. Like his father, he was heavily involved in the Taieri Agricultural and Pastoral Association, of which he was president for some years, and took an active part in church work and educational matters. Robert was also a volunteer and a member of the Otago Hussars. He married Jane Paton, daughter of John Paton, who arrived in 1863, by the ship Silistria of North Taieri. Robert died in 1901, and the title passed to his son, another Andrew Todd. Andrew Todd continued to farm at Johnstone and was involved in many of the associations. He was a member of the Taieri Agricultural and Pastoral Association and Society including a stint as President, and a member of the East Taieri Farmers Union and the East Taieri Rifle Volunteers. After doctors’ orders to move north, due to his ill health in 1910, the property was leased to George McDonald in May 1909. McDonald Family (1909-1960) George McDonald was born in 1850 in Coull, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and arrived in New Zealand in 1868 on the ship Helenslee. He originally farmed in Inchclutha on the farm ‘Matua Bank’ and married Annie Dutton in 1877. They moved to East Taieri in 1907. George died aged 68 in 1917 and after George’s death the ownership of Johnstone was transferred to his wife Annie in August 1922. Following Annie’s death in 1938, the property was transferred to siblings Mary Rebecca (known as May) McDonald and John Thomas Charles McDonald as tenants in common. John worked as a farm assistant and farmer on Johnstone Farm from at least 1916 until 1958 when he died. At some point during the McDonald’s ownership, roughcast was applied to the exterior of the house and the third chimney at the rear of the house was removed. While the farm continued production, the farmhouse became run down and trees overgrown. John McDonald’s share was transferred to his wife Violet Constance McDonald in 1959 after his death. Rutherford Family (1960-Present) The property was purchased by Stanley Rutherford, nephew of John and May McDonald, in January 1960 and began its transformation. Rutherford and his wife (Marion Heather Rose known as Heather) were also active in the community, holding various roles in the East Taieri Presbyterian Church and school. Rutherford was also a former bomber pilot and RAF Officer during World War II, receiving the DFM during active service in North Africa and Italy. Mrs Rutherford worked as a telephonist intermittently throughout her life. The Rutherford’s undertook the large task of restoring Johnstone Farmhouse with a young family. The family had been living in Northland, New Zealand when they had the opportunity to purchase Johnstone Farm. The state of the farmhouse when Heather first saw the property was dire – no electricity on the first floor, animals were roaming throughout, sheep dip and other toxic chemicals were kept near the house and it was very dilapidated. Under the Rutherford’s ownership, the homestead was restored with fittings and fixtures to the era of the house. The wooden curtain rods and rings in the living room were sourced from Francis Scott Pillan’s home at Inchclutha who had arrived on the John Wickliffe. The original dark stained glass in the stair windows was replaced with clear leadlight around 1965 brightening the space. All bedrooms were relined, with wardrobes built into the rooms, and some original ceilings were replaced. The other rooms and hallway were also renovated, with walls throughout the house relined as the original plaster and kauri had deteriorated beyond repair. In the 1960s, the kitchen was renovated with a new floor, cabinetry and plaster ceiling. The ceiling was lowered approximately 18 inches (45 cms) and covered with a plaster ceiling fixed to the original beams. The Rutherford’s youngest son, was named Todd as a tribute to the original family and history of the house. He was the only child to be born in the house in the twentieth century. Two original windows were replaced, and one large window was added to the north-western elevation which looks out on the backyard and garden. The kitchen floor was re-piled and replaced and laid with linoleum with new cabinetry. The garden was redeveloped with silver birch trees planted along the driveway and a Leylandii hedge along the south-west boundary of the house. During the 1960s, the original Todd barn and diary were demolished, and a new farm shed, and dairy shed erected. Some trees near to the houses were felled as they had grown large against it, with some the timber being later repurposed within the house. The accessway to the farmhouse was shifted circa 1968-1970, when property was taken by the Crown to expand the nearby railway and recontour the Ōwhiro Stream into a straight channel. The original driveway accessed the property from Gladstone Road and crossed the railway line. Following Stanley Rutherford’s death in 1972, the farm was leased until 1992. Mrs Rutherford continued to renovate the house and often opened the home for tours. In 1996, daughter Alison Rutherford, took over farming the property and eventually purchased it in 2002. Over this time, several trees planted by the Todd and McDonald families were recognised on the Dunedin City Council District Plan. Further trees and shelter belts have been planted since, including riparian plantings along the Ōwhiro Stream. The house was renovated between 2003 to 2015, with all the rooms redecorated. A new bathroom was installed in 2003, replacing a bedroom on the first floor. The existing bathroom window was repaired and retained and refitted with safety glass. The floor was covered with particle board and vinyl and colonial skirting and cornices were added to match the existing ones. In 2005, renovations were carried out in the kitchen, dining, and bathroom on the ground floor. In the kitchen and dining areas, the ceiling was insulated and replaced at the same height as the existing. The walls were insulated and relined and all windows were replaced with double glazed units. In 2005, Alison renovated the kitchen and included macrocarpa timber in the joiner that was milled from trees planted by the Todd family. The bathroom on the ground floor was removed, and French doors were installed in the kitchen, where the bathroom was, to form a new tiled entry and T&G lined porch. A wall separating the kitchen and hallway (which provided access to the downstairs bathroom, living room, and bedroom) was removed.

Current Description Johnstone Farmhouse is located at the end of Ashton Street, Mosgiel, 15 km from Dunedin. The predominant appearance of the land is that of a pastoral farming operation that includes significant fencing, shelterbelt planting, and large areas of open space. The area surrounding the property is residential to the east with extensive paddocks dominating the area to the west. The neighbour’s property has recently been rezoned residential. The house, which faces east, is two storeyed with a hipped roof, originally of slate and now corrugated iron. It was a large house at the time with 10 rooms. The front façade is symmetrical with a pillared entrance which has a square bay above. The exterior was roughcast sometime before 1940. It is timber framed other than one central brick firewall running through the house. The house is constructed of three main timber materials – Australian Jarrah, Baltic Pine and kauri. The framing and exterior bearing wall timber and front porch posts is Jarrah. The interior of the walls has a lath and plaster lining with the floors of Baltic Pine and the doors and wall panelling and some of the ceilings are kauri. The floors are hand sawn planks. The foundations of the house are a series of local basalt rock interspersed with bluestone rock. Two large double hung windows, one on either side of the front bay (containing the porch), look out from the dining and drawing rooms on the ground floor. On the first floor two smaller, double hung windows, one of either side of the bay containing a small sitting sunroom above the porch are centred above the two larger windows below. To the left of the house, facing towards the East Taieri Church, a bay window extends from the front drawing room. The porch is an open raised seam porch with a flat roof and a series of arches between the posts. An arch is also found above the main hallway and frames the entrance to the bay window in the drawing room. In addition, three narrow Italianate style round arch windows are found above the landing on the stairway. The interior has original elements such as wood panelling of the entrance foyer, wooden dados, original fireplaces and a pressed metal ceiling in the front drawing room. The main living areas are on the ground floor and the bedrooms are on the first floor. The two floors are connected by a stairway leading off from the ground floor main entrance hallway. Many of the ornate fixtures and fittings found on the porch posts and in the panelling below the main entrance windows and on the door are repeated throughout the house. There are four narrow double-hung windows surrounding the main door with a single ‘light’ window above the door. The eaves are wooden and consist of a plain soffit supported on ornately curved brackets, with T&G joinery between them. The eaves only extend around the front and onto one side of the house as others have been removed. Bullnose dado separates the wall panelling from the wall lining. The two types of wall panels are also found in the two main ceiling types found within the bedrooms. The ceilings in the drawing and dining rooms differ from the bedrooms and from each other. The drawing room has a pressed steel ceiling with a plaster ceiling above the bay window area. The dining room has a plaster ceiling. The moulding surrounding the ceilings is wither simple or a decorative variation on standard ogee moulding. In addition, all of the architraves and skirting boards have a standard decorative pattern which is seen throughout the house. The kauri staircase is simple in design. The house is surrounded by several significant trees, 100 years or older such as macrocarpa, Bluegum, Ash, English Walnut, Chestnut, Copper Beech, native Red Beech, Scarlet Oak and Bon Chretien Pear. Six of these are listed on the Dunedin City Council A1.3 Schedule of Trees. Many of these trees were planted by the various owners of the property, including a walnut tree that Jane Todd planted. Some of the trees that have been felled over the years have been used in some way within renovations in the house or for furniture within the house. Comparative Analysis This comparative analysis is drawing on the remaining listed residential homesteads designed by architect Robert A Lawson and other Taieri settler residences built in the early 1860s. Very few 1860s houses have survived on the Taieri Plain making Johnstone Farmhouse a rare structure in the area, especially one designed by a pre-eminent Victorian architect. RA Lawson Designed Homesteads Lawson designed 134 residences in his career, four of these were designed on the Taieri in the 1860s with only three of these residences remaining on the Taieri – Salisbury (List No 2125, Category 2 historic place), the North Taieri Manse (not listed) and Johnstone Farmhouse. Brooklands Homestead, Goodwood, North Otago (List No. 5238 Category 2 historic place) built 1867 is another remaining Lawson homestead in Otago. Lawson arrived in Dunedin in 1862, where his sketch plans had won the competition for the design of Dunedin’s First Church (built 1867-73). Lawson went on to become one of the most important architects in New Zealand and did more to shape the architectural face of Victorian Dunedin than any other architect. First Church is regarded as his masterpiece and one of the finest nineteenth century churches in New Zealand. He was also responsible for the design of the Trinity Church (now Fortune Theatre), Dunedin (1869-70), the East Taieri Presbyterian Church (1870), and Knox Church, Dunedin (1874). He designed Park's School (1864) and the ANZ Bank (originally Union Bank, 1874). While Lawson specialised in ecclesiastical and commercial buildings, he designed 134 residential buildings throughout his career with 67 of these built in the 1860s. His connections with the business community brought Lawson several commissions for large residences. The most famous of these is Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula, built for William Larnach. His other connections with the Presbyterian Church would have led to relationships with many of the Taieri settlers who were staunch Presbyterians and were instrumental in getting the East Taieri Church built. The Manse is not listed and the other two are significant examples of Lawson’s residential work. However, Johnstone Farmhouse retains its original 1864 design and has some aesthetic qualities, particularly the Italianate arched bay windows, which are a feature of RA Lawson’s architecture. Salisbury has had a significant 1873 addition to the 1864 house. Salisbury (List No. 2125, Category 2 Historic Place) Salisbury is a substantial two-storey brick residence built as the home for prominent settler, farmer and politician Donald Reid (1833-1919) between 1863 and 1873 at North Taieri, Taieri Plains. Like Andrew Todd Snr, Donald Reid was influential on the Taieri (North Taieri in this case) and was one of the early settlers who established a successful farm enterprise. The house was designed in two stages by RA Lawson, the first the same year as Johnstone Farmhouse, in April 1864 and the second in 1873. The house has architectural and historical significance, as an example of Lawson’s early residences and as one of the Taieri Plains most substantial estate homesteads. The development of farmhouses from small wattle and daub cottages to smaller houses, to substantial homesteads mirrored that of the Todd’s settlement experience. Both houses had influential early Scottish owners who played an important role in the development of agricultural practices and had business enterprises that remain today. Johnstone Farmhouse has a higher rarity value as the only 2 storey wooden residence still surviving on the Taieri Plain. Brooklands Homestead (List No 5238 Category 2 Historic Place) Designed in 1867 by RA Lawson, Brooklands estate is a landmark building at Goodwood, North Otago. It was built for Lawson’s brother-in-law James Paterson Hepburn. Like Johnstone Farmhouse, Brooklands Homestead has architectural significance as an example of Lawson’s residential designs (built within a few years of Johnstone Farmhouse) and historical significance for its association with the early European farming settlement in Otago. In 1857, George Hepburn (1803-1883) bought Brooklands for his sons James and George. Hepburn brought his wife and family of eight from Fifeshire to Dunedin in 1850, becoming a prominent businessman, churchman and politician. The house designed by Lawson was one-and-a-half storeys, with five small bedrooms on the first floor, and two living rooms with a lean-to kitchen, scullery and bathroom on the ground floor. Later, like Johnstone Farmhouse, the house was roughcast. The roof was also originally slate but later replaced with corrugated iron, as was Johnstone Farmhouse. However, unlike the larger, wooden Georgian style Johnstone farmhouse, Brooklands Homestead was built of locally quarried limestone and was built in a Scottish baronial style. Taieri Plains 1850-60s Residences Other similar aged residences have high significance due to their connection with early settler families on the Taieri Plain. Johnstone’s Farmhouse has an outstanding level of historical significance with its significant ties to the Todd family, the first family who began farming on the Taieri Plain. Other properties such as Janefield (List 4736 – Category 1) and Invermay (List 2350 – Category 1) are outstanding in their historical significance with connections to European settlers and Johnstone Farmhouse also clearly shows early and continuous occupation and connection to the land. Dunrobin, (List No 5242 – Category 2) is a contemporary of Johnstone Farmhouse and the only other Georgian style house on the Taieri Plains.   Janefield (List No 4736 Category 1) Janefield is considered to be the oldest house on the Taieri Plain still standing and lived in. David Oughton built it in the 1850s for his first wife, Jane Todd, after which it is named. It is an example of the typical simple wooden cottage of the moderately well-to-do pioneer family. This was presumably built by the owner, rather than designed by an architect and never eventuated into a more substantial two storey dwelling like Johnstone Farmhouse. Johnstone Farmhouse’s original owners have a longer and continuous occupation and connection to the land than Janefield.   Invermay (List No 2350 Category 1) John Gow arrived in New Zealand from Dunkeld, Perthshire, with his brother, James and sister and wife in 1852, a year after the arrival of the Todd’s. John Gow built first a sod cottage (where the Reverend Burns visited them in 1852), then a mud brick cottage and finally this substantial home, following a similar path to the Todd family and other successful Taieri settlers. The Land Registry records show that John Gow was in residence early enough to have built his house in 1862. However, it is likely that this building was constructed in the 1870s and no exact date has been determined. Although not as early as Johnstone Farmhouse, it is one of the larger homes on the Taieri and is in a setting of significantly listed trees and plantings although surrounding modern buildings have altered the historic setting. Unlike the wooden Johnstone Farmhouse, it is a technologically significant concrete Victorian house with some modifications and additions over the years.   Dunrobin (List No 5242 Category 2) The only other Georgian house on the Taieri is Dunrobin. This house was built as a home for Alexander McKay and his family sometime in early 1860s on land they were farming. The McKay’s were first recorded as living at the property by Rev. Thomas Burns in 1851 and they named it Dunrobin after Dunrobin Castle in Sutherlandshire near McKay’s birthplace. Built in Neo-Georgian style, the two-storey, square plan comprises of nine rooms with a double-hipped roof and is built of Baltic pine and kauri similar to Johnstone Farmhouse. It has rebated weatherboarding on the front facade, with decorative quoins on the front and dentils under the side bay window eaves. Four and 12 pane sash windows perforate the building. The south elevation features three two-paned double hung sash windows on the first floor, a central door flanked by two-paned double hung sash windows. In the 1970s a semi-circular porch with decorative brackets and pillars was installed over the central front door. The house has been largely relined, and the kitchen has been extensively remodelled with the inclusion of a concrete aggregate floor. Many heritage elements have been preserved such as windows, board and batten ceilings, fireplace surrounds, and the coal range.

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Disclaimer Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero 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. Archaeological sites are protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, regardless of whether they are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero or not. Archaeological sites include ‘places associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New Zealand’. This List entry report should not be read as a statement on whether or not the archaeological provisions of the Act apply to the property (s) concerned. Please contact your local Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga office for archaeological advice. A fully referenced New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero review report is available on request from the Southern Area Office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.