Earnscleugh Castle owners want to plaster exterior, council notifies application

New owners of a grand Central Otago castle want to plaster the exterior of their landmark historic homestead but plans for the distinctive red brick look to be obliterated have been publicly notified because its appearance is seen as part of its importance.

The Central Otago District Council has notified an application from tourism entrepreneur Ryan Sanders and the former Samson Corporation projects director Marco Creemers who for many years has worked for Auckland property investor Sir Michael Friedlander’s business.

Sanders and Creemers left Auckland for their castle and want to plaster it as part of a major renovation to protect the building, make it weathertight, seismically strengthen it and ensure it lasts for another century.

But a heritage report on the castle built around 1920 says it being brick and essentially “unfinished” is part of its uniqueness.

“The fact that the place is unfinished adds to its interest and indeed to its uniqueness since there are no other places on this scale and in this style in New Zealand like it,” according to a 1997 assessment for what was then the Historic Places Trust.

Any alteration to a heritage building is discretionary so needs to be dealt with under those rules.

Creemers says it’s that report which may have persuaded the council to notify the proposal.

Plans for how Earnscleugh Castle could look after it has been plastered. Photo / supplied

The site has a homestead, quarters, stables and farm buildings and is scheduled as a Category 1 Historic Place by Heritage NZ Pouhere Taonga.

Sanders and Creemers say plastering was always planned when the castle was built a century ago.

“The external rendering was anticipated in Edmund Anscombe’s original design and is illustrated within the architectural plans prepared by the award-winning RTA Studio Architects,” their application says.

The plaster will be a creamy/pink hue - a dramatic change from red brick.

Anscombe was one of the foremost and most influential architectural exponents of the Jacobethan style in New Zealand.

Sanders and Creemers say just fixing the existing red brickwork and its pointing won’t be enough.

“While pointing the existing brickwork would address the exposed bedding mortar between the bricks, it would not address the other issues. The bricks themselves are clearly not intended to be exposed, as they do not have a fair-faced finish on the exterior, leading to the bricks’ skins failing/being in poor condition where exposed on the exterior to the elements,” the application to the council says.

Marco Creemers (left) and Ryan Sanders at their castle. Photo / Tracie Barrett

“Completing the original design intent and building system by rendering the brickwork and resolving the unfinished and non-weathertight junctions around windows achieves the original design intention and resolves the identified building system / weathertightness issues,” says their assessment of environmental effects prepared by planners Brown & Company.

Heritage New Zealand reviewed the proposal and acknowledged the alterations and seismic strengthening would allow for the adaptive reuse and longevity of the homestead.

Earnscleugh Castle, Central Otago before renovations: plastering proposal notified. Photo / supplied

The plastering does not uphold the heritage values giving earthquake strength via seismic plaster system and the use of a lime-based mortar, Heritage NZ says.

The couple say notifying the application will cause delays to their plans for the castle.

“It has meant we have lost this summer works, as the plaster system also includes the earthquake strengthening system. If we don’t get approval for the plastering, we have to install an alternative internal strengthening system, which is way more intrusive and will require a redesign of everything. We think we have a solid case,” they said on social media, asking for support.

Their application says the homestead is not visible from Earnscleugh Rd and the plastering won’t lead to any increased visibility.

The Otago Daily Times has reported how Haka Tourism Group founder Sanders learnt the homestead was for sale when a staff member sent him the link as a possible site for luxury backpackers’ accommodation.

He had other ideas, sending it to his husband, Creemers, with a note saying, “Stuff it, we’ll live there”.

The couple married in 2018 at Rippon in Wanaka and had been thinking of having a home in Central Otago for a long time.

Now, they want to get their plastering application through the process but that might not be decided on for a few weeks.

* Submissions on the plastering application close at 4pm on Thursday, March 23.