Grants approved for two heritage buildings

A heritage grant from the Christchurch City Council will be used to help turn one of the few surviving colonial cob farmhouses in Christchurch into a living museum.

Tiptree Cottage in Savills Rd, Halswell.

The Council today agreed to give a heritage grant of up to $117,480 to the Tiptree Cottage Trust, which owns historic Tiptree Cottage, in Savills Rd, Harewood.

Built in the 1860s as the home of pioneer farmer William Savill and his family, the cottage is classed as a Category 1 building by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT).

The Savills immigrated to Canterbury in 1851 and spent most of their first decade in the province in Riccarton where William established a brewery and malthouse. In 1861 the family bought 61 acres of land in Harewood and built Tiptree Cottage.

Their farm was one of the first in Canterbury to use irrigation, with the Savills diverting water from the Waimakariri River using a system of channels and furrows.

William Savill died in 1868 but his family continued to live at Tiptree Cottage and farm the property until the 1920s, when it was leased by the neighbouring farmer, Spencer Whyte.

The Whytes bought the property in 1939 but did not live in the homestead. Unemployed labourers lived there for a period, after which it was abandoned and used only to store hay and shear sheep.

The former Post Office in High St.

In the 1960s the farm was bought by George Gregg who, along with his builder son, Bruce, restored the cottage and began opening it to the public. The Gregg family subdivided the cottage from the farm and in 2010 set up the Tiptree Cottage Trust to maintain and administer it.

The cottage was moderately damaged in the earthquakes and needs about $237,000 worth of work done on it before the trust can realise its plan to re-open it to the public as a living museum.

Former High St Post Office building

The Council has also approved a heritage grant of up to $55,931 for the conservation and maintenance of the former Post Office building on the corner of High and Tuam streets. 

The building dates back to 1932 and was designed by Government architect John Mair in a stripped classical style. It houses both the C1 Espresso café and Alice in Videoland.