Couple's church restoration gets historic places nod
Photo:
Supplied/ Michael Simpson & Anna Miles
A Waitaki couple's six-year passion project to restore a landmark building has paid off, with the former Kakanui Church granted a top-tier heritage listing.
The 155-year old Gothic-style building in Otago was one of two surviving Presbyterian timber churches in New Zealand designed by prominent Scottish architect Robert Arthur Lawson.
Heritage New Zealand this month recognised it as a Category 1 historic place with "special or outstanding historical or cultural significance."
Michael Simpson said it had descended into "pretty bad shape" by the time he and his wife Anna Miles bought it in 2019.
"The parish church had battled for a few years because they had too many buildings and not enough money to do it up ... there was just a lot of deferred maintenance and like a lot of old buildings, it was hard to keep up with," he said.
"We thought, well, we can give it a crack. As sad as it looks ... I like doing up old wooden buildings. It didn't look too scary to me. It scared off a lot of other people. It probably should have really."
A Christmas carols event held in the Kakanui Church last year.
Photo:
Supplied/ Michael Simpson & Anna Miles
Simpson said they had worked to restore it "with no time frame", starting with repairing rotten wood in the sub-floor, and restoring the windows.
They gave the inside a fresh coat of paint, and more recently the couple turned their focus to the exterior, where they were stripping, refitting and painting the weatherboards.
"We're loving how it's starting to look," Simpson said.
Photo:
Supplied/ Michael Simpson & Anna Miles
The couple were also renovating two outbuildings - the Workers' Hut and Sunday School.
Simpson said locals had taken a keen interest in the project.
"The community was so happy that we were trying to save it. It's been amazing. We never sort of expected that," he said.
"We have the doors open when we're down there and anyone that wants to come in and have a look ... can do that. It's just been really nice to share it."
A fresh coat of paint on one side of the Kakanui Church, during the restoration.
Photo:
Supplied/ Michael Simpson & Anna Miles
Once the building was weather-tight and stable, Simpson said they had hosted a wedding, market days and gigs in the church.
They hoped to keep using it as a community hub.
"It's just such a thrill having life in the building and seeing people enjoy it," Simpson said.
Heritage New Zealand heritage assessment advisor Alison Breese described the church as having "outstanding aesthetic, architectural and historic significance."
"It's been a pleasure seeing the love and hard mahi the owners have put into it," she said.
Simpson said the restoration wasn't yet complete, but he and Miles were thrilled to have the building formally acknowledged and protected.
"All we wanted to do, with our airy fairy plans, was restore the building as well as [possibly] to give it a life after us. This justifies that feeling, and just adds another sort of string to the bow, recognising it's worth saving," he said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter
curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Clean up of Wellington beach toxic dump site cost nearly $1 million
Te Raekaihau Point in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Nick James Cleaning up an old toxic dump site on a Wellington beach has cost nearly a million dollars. In late 2021, a member of the public told local authorities they could see asbestos on a bank at Te Raekaihau Point, which sits between Lyall Bay and Princess Bay, an area popular for walkers, runners and cyclists. The council did investigations of the site in July 2022 and August 2023 which found evidence of asbestos, oil, heavy metals, zinc, arsenic and lead. They said it appeared the area was used for sand extraction in the 1930s, with it being back filled with waste likely in the 1950s or 60s. Earlier this year RNZ reported that the council would excavate, wrap and move to the material to the southern landfill, due to the area being at risk of erosion and storm surges that could have led to it leaking. Over three weeks in May that work was done, which also included the relocation of native lizards called Mokomoko and digging up 2,200 tonnes of waste. Wellington City Council has confirmed to RNZ that the work costed nearly $1 million with half of it being paid for by the government through the $30 million Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund announced in October. A council marine and coastal project manager Joel De Boer told RNZ he was aware that there may be more sites like this around the city. "A lot of them will already be covered, some of them may already be capped over and it may not be until you know a point in time when they become exposed that action will be taken." De Boer said it was not a not cheap job to clean these dumpsites up so the council's job was about reacting to them when it could. He said that from his conversations with the Ministry of Environment there were many sites like this across New Zealand. A site validation report which would determine the final levels of any contaminants was being finished and would be peer reviewed over the next few weeks. The council expected it to show the area was safe. Throughout the Wellington region there are more than 100 closed landfill sites, many of which lay under popular parks and reserves. When RNZ first reported on the South Coast site in January environment scientist Dr Jeff Seadon said it was not surprising. "What we've got is something in the order of hundreds if not thousands of these sites around New Zealand. A lot of these sites are known by councils, but there are also a lot that are still unfound or undetected." Seadon said during the 19th and 20th centuries, waste was often dumped because it was convenient and created some extra land. He said with larger storm surges and sea level rise, these dumps were being swept out and exposed.


NZ Herald
9 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Women's indignation protest and river walk focus of Heritage weekend in Gisborne
Gisborne historian Jean Johnson will speak at the Centre for Heritage on Sunday about how Nora Walker was denied her place on the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board in 1915 because of her gender. Heritage is to the fore this weekend with another free Taruheru River-focused walking tour on Saturday morning and a talk about Nora Walker and the 1915 Women's Indignation Protest on Sunday afternoon. The free guided tour, led by Heritage Tairāwhiti member Coralie Campbell-Whitehead, is the second in a series running

RNZ News
15 hours ago
- RNZ News
Two Muriwai kororā rescued from nesting box buried by mud slip
One of the kororā which was rescued after its nesting box was completely buried by a mud slip. Photo: Muriwai Environmental Trust Two kororā whose nesting box was buried by a mud slip at Auckland's Muriwai have been rescued, cared for and relocated to a safer site. In a social media post, the Muriwai Environmental Trust said its penguin team discovered the nesting box which had been completely buried by mud over the weekend. Only a small beak was visible, but thanks to quick action both little blue penguins were found alive, it said. The kororā were gently cleaned and relocated to a safer site. Photo: Muriwai Environmental Trust The pair were checked and gently cleaned before being located to a safer site with new housing so they could continue their breeding season, it said. The trust said the volunteers were trained to handle situations such as this but anyone who came across a penguin in distress should contact the Muriwai rangers or call 0800 DOC HOT, rather than trying to intervene directly. It was the penguin's breeding season and people in the Muriwai area should keep their dogs north of the Surf Tower, it said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.