Albury’s derelict stone pub could be a perfect project

Man of social rank

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

The image below, titled A Man of the Sandwich Islands, with his Helmet, was made by John Webber, expedition artist with Captain Cook on his third voyage to the Pacific over 1776-79.

Cook’s expedition, aboard HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, are believed to be the first Europeans to reach Hawaii. They named the islands after the Earl of Sandwich, and found they could communicate with the Hawaiians thanks to their understanding of Polynesian languages from the South Pacific.

The ancestors of the Hawaiian people had sailed north several hundred years earlier to discover and settle on these islands that were above the equator.

Webber sought to depict the people that were encountered on the voyage, often completing portraits of men and women from each area visited. This image depicts a Hawaiian man of social rank, wearing a feathered helmet that may have reminded his European acquaintances of classical Greece or Rome.

The image is from the 1784 publication An Atlas to Plates of Cook’s Voyages, which featured engravings of Webber’s work and is on display at the South Canterbury Museum. 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 thought it could either take off or have little or no interest. But . . . we already have one person wanting to register for the auction, and another driving down from Nelson

Cook sailed from Hawaii to explore the northwest coast of North America, but returned to escape the northern winter. He was met by extravagant hospitality that may have depleted the resources of Hawaiian communities.

Setting sail, but forced to return because of storm damage following their departure, relations between the Hawaiians and the expedition’s crew turned sour. There was an increasing escalation of events, leading to the final affray where Cook and several of his men were killed along with an unknown number of Hawaiians.

Sydney Thompson (1877-1973), was born in Oxford, New Zealand. In 1895 he studied at Canterbury College School of Art and also took lessons from Petrus van der Velden (1837-1913) at his studio in Christchurch.

In 1900, like many of his contemporaries, Thompson left New Zealand for London to study at the Heatherley School of Fine Art, then, to Paris, to study at the Academie Julian.

During his time in France, Thompson lived in Concarneau, on the west coast, for two years. Thompson fell in love with Concarneau and spent the rest of his life living between there and New Zealand.

Return of the Fishermen clearly shows the influences of French Impressionists such as Claude Monet (1840-1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), and Berthe Morisot (1841–1895).

Impressionism sought to capture the momentary and transient effects of light by working quickly en plein air (in the open air) with an awareness of colour and the shifting patterns of light. This resulted in artists using more expressive brushwork and brighter colours that challenged traditional painting.

In Return of the Fishermen, 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.

And the setting is magical. 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.

Thompson depicts more than a fleeting moment in Concarneau – he reveals to the viewer the fishermen’s efforts and the social interactions of the villagers.

This seaside scene in the warm afternoon light is symbolic of the balanced cycles of life and the idyllic close bonds between people and the natural world.

Thompson sought to capture the essence of Concarneau, a place with ‘‘air [. . .] that belongs to the natural agents of the sky, landscape and the sea that is indefinable – something that is spiritual’’, he explained.

Return of the Fishermen is on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery foyer as part of our permanent collection exhibition until the end of February called ‘‘Sydney Thompson and Friends’’.