Chalmers’ Cottage (Former), believed to have been built in the late 1870s for Wānaka businessman, farmer and butcher Archibald Chalmers, is a rare surviving example of a colonial cottage in a townscape dominated by large opulent residences. It has a picturesque quality, a high degree of authenticity with respect to construction methods and form, and the potential to reveal further evidence about construction methods and materials through buildings archaeology.
Archibald Chalmers lived in the Cardrona/Wānaka area in the 1870s. Around 1879, with business partner John Kerin, he established a butchery and slaughteryard. An 1880 survey of the town of Pembroke on the shores of Lake Wānaka shows a structure on section 15, the adjoining section to the current property (likely to be an error) which is labelled ‘Chalmer’s House’, with Chalmers slaughteryard and other buildings nearby. A newspaper article from December 1879 noted that Kerin and Chalmers had erected a slaughteryard on Crown land prior to a license being granted.
Town sections in Pembroke were offered for sale in November 1881 – including sections 1 to 16 Block XXX. Section 16 was ‘burdened’ with a valuation of £60 – indicating a building on site. This is the section on which the cottage stands. The cottage, then, looks likely to be associated with Chalmer’s occupation. In September 1880, Kerin and Chalmers offered for sale their ‘EXTENSIVE BUTCHERING BUSINESS’ including ‘Butchers’ Shop and Residence, Slaughter Yards, & c., all substantially built.’ Chalmers was intending to visit the ‘Old Country’.
Tragically, Chalmers committed suicide 8 April 1886. On his deathbed he wrote a will leaving his property to his partner John Ironside. John Ironside carried on the Chalmer’s butchering business and the cottage remained in the Ironside or Matheson (Ironside’s daughter married a Matheson) families until 1946.
Pembroke was renamed Wānaka in 1940. Although tourism had begun early (the first hotel opened in 1867), for many years Wānaka was a quiet summer holiday place. However, in the closing years of the twentieth century the town grew. The influx of people and the associated building boom have changed the town’s landscape, with large residences replacing the early houses and cottages. Chalmers’ Cottage (Former) is now surrounded by substantial residences and may be the only residence of its type in the town that represents the lives of the town’s first European settlers.
There is little information available about the early history of the cottage. Early photographs show the cottage as built in the vernacular style of the 1870s-1880s. It is a single storey colonial cottage with symmetrical façade with a central front door flanked by multi-pane double hung sash windows and a lean-to at the rear.
The current owners purchased the cottage in 1994 and returned it to its original form. In 2017, Chalmers’ Cottage remains a holiday home.
Archibald Chalmers lived in the Cardrona/Wānaka area in the 1870s. Around 1879, with business partner John Kerin, he established a butchery and slaughteryard. An 1880 survey of the town of Pembroke on the shores of Lake Wānaka shows a structure on section 15, the adjoining section to the current property (likely to be an error) which is labelled ‘Chalmer’s House’, with Chalmers slaughteryard and other buildings nearby. A newspaper article from December 1879 noted that Kerin and Chalmers had erected a slaughteryard on Crown land prior to a license being granted.
Town sections in Pembroke were offered for sale in November 1881 – including sections 1 to 16 Block XXX. Section 16 was ‘burdened’ with a valuation of £60 – indicating a building on site. This is the section on which the cottage stands. The cottage, then, looks likely to be associated with Chalmer’s occupation. In September 1880, Kerin and Chalmers offered for sale their ‘EXTENSIVE BUTCHERING BUSINESS’ including ‘Butchers’ Shop and Residence, Slaughter Yards, & c., all substantially built.’ Chalmers was intending to visit the ‘Old Country’.
Tragically, Chalmers committed suicide 8 April 1886. On his deathbed he wrote a will leaving his property to his partner John Ironside. John Ironside carried on the Chalmer’s butchering business and the cottage remained in the Ironside or Matheson (Ironside’s daughter married a Matheson) families until 1946.
Pembroke was renamed Wānaka in 1940. Although tourism had begun early (the first hotel opened in 1867), for many years Wānaka was a quiet summer holiday place. However, in the closing years of the twentieth century the town grew. The influx of people and the associated building boom have changed the town’s landscape, with large residences replacing the early houses and cottages. Chalmers’ Cottage (Former) is now surrounded by substantial residences and may be the only residence of its type in the town that represents the lives of the town’s first European settlers.
There is little information available about the early history of the cottage. Early photographs show the cottage as built in the vernacular style of the 1870s-1880s. It is a single storey colonial cottage with symmetrical façade with a central front door flanked by multi-pane double hung sash windows and a lean-to at the rear.
The current owners purchased the cottage in 1994 and returned it to its original form. In 2017, Chalmers’ Cottage remains a holiday home.
