Otahuna is the former homestead of the lawyer, runholder, stock breeder, politician, horticulturist, philatelist and philanthropist Sir

Heaton Rhodes Sir Robert Heaton Rhodes (27 February 1861 – 30 July 1956), usually known as Sir Heaton Rhodes, was a New Zealand politician and lawyer. Life Rhodes was born in Purau on Banks Peninsula, the son of sheep farmer and politician Robert Heaton ...

(1861–1956). The grand country house is located near

Tai Tapu Tai Tapu, previously known as Taitapu, is a small town adjacent to the Halswell River and nestled in the Port Hills, located 6 km east of the town of Lincoln, New Zealand, Lincoln and 18 km south west of Christchurch in the Canterbury ...

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest cit ...

, New Zealand. The building, designed by Christchurch architect

Frederick Strouts Frederick Strouts (1834 – 18 December 1919) was a notable New Zealand architect. He was born in Hothfield, Kent, England in 1834. He arrived in Lyttelton in 1859 and lived in Christchurch. Notable buildings include Ivey Hall at Lincoln Univ ...

, was finished in 1895 and is registered with

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

(formerly the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) as a Category I heritage structure. When Strouts received the commission, he had just made Robert Ballantyne his junior partner and Cecil Wood had joined him for his articles. Strouts had previously received a number of commissions from the Rhodes family. Strouts and Ballantyne designed the entrance lodge for Otahuna in 1897. Strouts, born in 1834, had fully retired by 1905 and subsequent commissions by the Rhodes family went to Wood. At Otahuna, Wood designed a cottage in 1914 and a woolshed in 1927. After Rhodes' wife had died, Wood designed St Paul's Church—a small stone church in Tai Tapu—as a memorial to Lady Rhodes in 1929 (registered as Category I). In 1931, Wood designed the Tai Tapu library for Rhodes (registered as Category I). Beginning in 2007, the house was converted into luxury accommodation. ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

'' has included it on its list of the 101 best hotels worldwide. After receiving damage in the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, the newly restored building opened again in August 2011.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 43, 39, 35.31, S, 172, 35, 1.9, E, region:NZ_type:landmark_dim:50, display=title Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand 2011 Christchurch earthquake Hotels in Christchurch Houses completed in 1895 Houses in New Zealand Hotels established in 2007 2007 establishments in New Zealand 1890s architecture in New Zealand