Albury’s derelict stone pub goes on market

We’ve all seen movies and read books about people doing up old stone houses in France and Italy, but what if you could actually do that here in New Zealand?

Turns out you can – a derelict stone building in a meadow has just been listed for sale in 22 Butterworth Lane, Albury. Even the address conjures up a romantic country idyll in the making.

It’s certainly a Grand Designs NZ episode waiting to be made – listing agents Georgie Murray and Hamish Lane of Bayleys Timaru make that suggestion themselves.

The 240 square-metre building, which has a historic places category 2 heritage listing, dates back to 1873 when it started life as the Opawa Hotel. It was built from local limestone quarried from the Te Ngawa Gorge, and originally had 13 bedrooms.

In subsequent years, the pub had a few name changes, including The Westmere, The Albury Tavern and The Pig ‘n’ Whistle.

But the building has been derelict for the past 21 years. Murray says the current owner bought it 10 years ago and had grand plans for a ‘‘dream home renovation’’, but is now living overseas, and the plans have not eventuated.

She says before the listing went live on Thursday, it was impossible to know how much interest the building would generate.

‘‘We already have one person wanting to register for the auction, and another driving down from Nelson to have a look.’’

The building has been gutted over the years – there are no wall linings, just the original stone walls with some interior framing.

You can see the original blackened fireplace; there’s an old piano desperate for a tune, an old wire bed base, a bathtub and even a bed with linen upstairs.

The building comes with 8.0431 hectares (more or less) of flat land. And Murray says it is virtually next to what will soon be another trunk route on the immensely popular Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail.

The property will be auctioned on December 16.