Built in 1883, Waituna Homestead is located near the North Canterbury town of Waikari. The homestead is listed as a Category 2 historic place. Waituna in Maori translates as “water of eels”. The original homestead was built of local limestone and consisted of a cottage with ground floor living. From 1883 to 1903, various timber framed and weatherboard clad additions significantly increased the size of the homestead from the original humble cottage and barn.
The Historic Places records show there had once been a fire in the hay loft. During the alterations the stone mason discovered the remains of the hay loft’s charred timber joists embedded into pockets in the stone walls. The joists were located much lower than the current ceiling. The barn was subsequently incorporated into the house, became a formal living room with a high ceiling and was somewhat hidden within the building due to later timber additions surrounding it on two sides. When this work was done, stone walls which had been external were plastered to match the lath & plaster of the new timber framed internal walls.
The HPT Category 2 listing required consultation with HPT to establish which features they were most concerned with protecting. Their main focus was the building exterior and in particular the stone cottage and barn which were the oldest parts of the homestead. A conservatory had been added to the north elevation of the barn as part of the living room conversion after the fire. My initial brief was to install bi-fold doors to the conservatory allowing access to the expansive lawn and garden. We eventually got approval for this but in the end the owners decided not to proceed with this change.
HPT’s other area of focus was the proposed new openings in the barn’s stone walls. They accepted the openings and understood that the removal of the plaster was appropriate.
The existing building had grown from a small cottage and barn to a homestead with 7 bedrooms, 3 living rooms, 4 bathrooms, a kitchen, walk in pantry, laundry and substantial hallway. The number of bathrooms and bedrooms was more than the owners required. Therefore, I proposed the removal of 1 bedroom and 2 bathrooms to make the plan changes the owners required.
The owners wanted to reinstate the entry to the hallway, which had been closed off, with a small bathroom. This was removed and a new timber door with sidelight detailed to match the existing joinery was installed. The concrete slab to the old porch was decked over giving level entry into the hallway. The adjacent larger family bathroom was upgraded.
The kitchen on the ground floor of the original cottage was small, dark and dated. The owners wanted to create a proper farm kitchen and dining space to complement the grandeur of the house. They also wanted the kitchen, which was somewhat cut off from the dining and living spaces, to have a better relationship to their two everyday living rooms.
The decision was made to relocate the kitchen and dining into the timber addition behind the original barn. This location would put the farm kitchen close to the living rooms and entrance hallway. Relocation of the kitchen required the removal of the pantry, another bathroom and a small bedroom to make one large space. The old kitchen space became a cosy family room with its log burner which had replaced the old coal range.
One of the key design concepts was to make the stone walls of the barn visible once more. However, when the plaster was removed to reveal the stone beneath, we discovered that the stone had been adzed to provide a key to the plaster so much of the original masons’ work was lost.
Two openings were required in the barn, one in the south wall to connect to the new farm kitchen and the other in the east wall to connect to a living room which would become a library with the addition of bookcases each side of the chimney.
During the measure-up of the roof space I discovered an opening in the east gable of the barn which would have served as the access to the hay loft. The opening had been hidden by a flat ceiling which was removed to expose both the window and the gable end to the barn.
A new timber window was designed to match the original windows, hide the roof structure and close off this roof space. It was installed with obscure glass and highlighted with an LED light behind it that provided a light glow.
While forming new openings in the stonewall the stone mason had to rebuild portions of the wall to ensure there were sufficient cross stones to support the two external faces of stone. This allowed the stone face to be repaired. As part of the strengthening of the wall a small timber window was removed and filled in with recessed stonework to clearly identify where the window had been. The new openings were lined with timber panelling to match the opening that had previously been made in the north wall of the barn during its conversion. The panelling also allowed new steel support posts to be concealed. Taking existing details and reusing them for new work is a way of paying respect to the building’s history and beauty.
To get more light into the new kitchen, four skylights were added which now flood the space with warm northern sunlight. The new opening in the south wall of the barn was aligned with the existing conservatory to the north wall installed when the barn was converted into a formal living room after the fire. The formal living room and kitchen now borrow light from each other.
Catering on a farm is a big job be it a large group of people for a social function or a shearing gang. The kitchen space required is akin to a small commercial kitchen. The kitchen was set up with several zones for food prep, cooking and dish washing. At one end is a tall pantry with two islands in the centre of the space creating a double galley kitchen, at the other end is an antique dining table with a well-worn timber top. One island has the oven and cook top and the other a sink. The islands have stainless steel drawers with handles recessed into them giving the kitchen a commercial feel which is softened by the white marble tops. Along the external wall is a long stainless-steel bench with fridge and freezer at the pantry end and a log burner at the dining room end. In the middle is a second sink and dishwasher with views to the garden. The log burner has a plastered concrete surround providing thermal mass and heating after the fire has died down over night.
As the cooktop is located away from an external wall, I had to find a solution for the rangehood venting. As the cooktop was to be gas a down draft was not an option so the rangehood would need to be suspended from the high ceiling. There was nothing available off the shelf so I designed a rangehood in conjunction with Ventec. Ventec specialise in bespoke rangehoods that produce very little noise which is ideal for spaces with lots of hard surfaces. As the ceiling was very high the flue became rather long and there was a risk that the rangehood would move when operational, so four stainless steel guy wires were added to brace it. The rangehood is a major design feature but does not dominate as the room is sufficiently large and the rangehood design is slim and elegant.
With the removal of internal walls, pantry joinery and bathroom fittings to form the farm kitchen the TNG floor had to be replaced. During the removal of the floor the original well was discovered. While such discoveries are not uncommon when working on historic buildings, there is real joy in uncovering them and adapting the design to make the most of them. The circular stone lined well was cleaned out and a structural glass floor added over the top to allow the well to be seen and enjoyed. Lighting was added to highlight the stonework, warm light glows out from the well showcasing a unique historical feature.
While a new log burner was installed in the farm kitchen there was a need for heating that would be more consistent day and night. The central heating supplier proposed wall mounted radiators, but I did not want these to ruin the look of the stone wall. I proposed tubular radiator installed in a recess in the timber floor along the length of the south stone wall to the barn. The heat which rises from the radiator warms the stone wall making use of its thermal mass. The radiator installer did not believe this would be sufficient, but I stuck to my guns and my concept of making use of the stone walls’ thermal mass has proved very successful.
The structural engineer for this project was Dave Eaton from Buchanan & Fletcher. Dave is an experienced engineer with a good feel for the structure required when altering a heritage building. We worked closely together to determine the best way to insert the new structure into the existing structure. Dave is one of the few engineers who allowed me to draw all the structural details as he trusted I would do this accurately. Dave supplied hand sketches from which I prepared formal drawings; he would review these and I would make the minor changes he required. Working this way ensured the new structural elements fitted with the existing structure and eliminated the need for modification on site as the engineering and architecture were fully resolved.
Much of the success of this project is due to the selection of a local craftsman builder, Rod Love. Rod has the skill and experience to carry out a complex alteration to a heritage building. Rod cleverly left the existing roof over the new kitchen in place while completing the demolition so the new work below was able to be completed undercover unaffected by weather.
Where possible, profiled timber mouldings were salvaged and new mouldings run to match where necessary. The junctions between old and new timber work, whether it be mouldings or TNG floors, were carried out seamlessly.
Rod was also able to source a stone mason with the necessary knowledge to make sure the new openings in the stone walls to the former barn would not compromise the structural integrity. This work was certainly successful as the stonework was not damaged by either the Canterbury or Kaikoura earthquakes.
