Topic: St Helens Station Homestead
Topic type:
St Helen's Station Homestead
Chatterton Road, HANMER SPRINGS
Register Number (Historic Places Trust Register)
3061
Registration Type
Historic Place - Category I
Region
Canterbury Region
Date Registered
5-Sep-1985
City/District Council
Hurunui District Council
Legal Description
Pt Rural Sec 38213 Rural Sec 39282 Blk II Lyndon SD
Other Names
St Helens Station Homestead
Brief History
This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. The following text is the original citation considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration.
Homestead, St Helen's Station, Hanmer Springs
Built in 1917, this fine homestead was unoccupied for much of the 30 year period prior to its purchase in 1979 and subsequent restoration. Its chequered past reflects the fluctuating fortunes experienced by succeeding owners of historic St Helen's Station, established in 1858 on the eastern Hanmer plain.
F J Savill, a wealthy business man with diverse interests, purchased St Helen's and replaced the existing timber dwelling on this site. The Christchurch architects Collins and Harman designed a large comfortable house, freely adapting the low spreading forms associated with the Californian bungalow style. Savill's lifestyle is suggested by the formal planning with kitchen and service rooms discreetly accommodated behind the main areas of the house and the low ceilinged upper rooms for servants' or children's bedrooms approached by an unobtrusive narrow stairway. The construction with 31 centimetre walls from carefully bolstered blocks of cream Hurunui limestone provides a necessary insulation against Hanmer's extreme temperatures.
The homestead which was once the hub of a largely self-contained station community with up to 60 employees is now accompanied by just 50 acres of land. With its mature surrounding gardens now reshaped and groomed, St Helen's homestead is an important reminder of this high country station's interesting past.
Current Use
Residential buildings and associated places - House
Former Use
Residential buildings and associated places - House
Construction Dates
Original Construction: 1917
Information on this page is correct to the best of the Historic Places Trust's knowledge. If you have any additional information you would like to share with the Trust, please contact the Registrar. You may wish to contact the Trust to view our paper records.
