Central Hawke's Bay mansion 'labour of love' wins architecture award

Mt Vernon Station Homestead in all its glory. Photo / Kevin Bills Photography

Mt Vernon Station Homestead, a 139-year-old Waipukurau mansion, has been declared the winner in the heritage category of the Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Gisborne and Hawke's Bay Awards.

Built in 1882, the house at Mt Vernon is a category 1 historic place. The homestead was painstakingly restored to its former glory, winning Napier architect Ann Galloway a prize in the process.

The restoration of the heritage-listed Mount Vernon Station house was one of seven projects honoured at the awards in Napier on Friday night.

The homestead went on the market in 2017 for the first time since it was built in 1882, and had been in the same family for six generations.

At the awards, convenor Evan Mayo, of practice Architecture Bureau, described Mount Vernon Station's restoration as "a labour of love".

A bathroom in the the homestead, showing the high level of restoration work. Photo / Kevin Bills Photography

"Great care has been taken to ensure that the modernised service spaces don't just complement the original building, but enhance the character of the house, and ensure that its story, from construction in 1882 through the Napier earthquake in 1931 and decline through the latter part of last century, is told for another 140 years."

Celebrating the best new architecture in the Gisborne and Hawke's Bay regions, the awards covered five categories - heritage, housing, interior architecture, public architecture and small project architecture.

A bathroom in the the homestead, showing the high level of restoration work. Photo / Kevin Bills Photography

Other award winners included Glen-Barra, a large country house built for clients who are lovers of food, sport and entertaining; and Black Barn J & D House, a semi-rural home constrained by mature vegetation and its topography.

Black Barn J & D House near Havelock North is made up of a series of four boxes that allow the house to be opened and closed as desired. Photo / Hazel Redmond

Both homes were designed by Havelock North firm Clarkson Architects, and both won an award in the housing category.

Glen-Barra near Havelock North is expressed as a collection of single-storey wings and pavilions. Photo / Hazel Redmond

The Local Architecture Awards 2021 is a peer-reviewed programme run by Te Kāhui
Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects, in association with Resene and APL.

The awards run between April 28 and May 26.