Red sticker keeps public out
Hundreds of people turned up to tour one of the world’s largest timber homes on the weekend, only to find the gates closed.
Organisers were forced to make a last-minute decision on Friday to cancel the open days at the 118-year-old, 53-room McLean’s Mansion, in central Christchurch, when it was discovered the building was structurally unsafe and still subject to a Section 45 notice (red sticker).
The notice, issued by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority in 2013, restricts all access to the building except for emergency purposes or to assess the damage and to fix it.
The McLean’s Mansion Charitable Trust, which took over ownership of the building last year, was not aware the notice was still in place until Land Information New Zealand (Linz) contacted the trust on Thursday.
Trust chairman Chris Kissling said the phone call from Linz blindsided him.
‘‘I suppose as the chairman of the trust I should have been more diligent in asking questions.’’
Linz Christchurch land and property general manager Jeremy Barr said Linz and its engineers visited the building on Friday and it was clear that further earthquake strengthening was needed and safety inside the building during an earthquake could not be guaranteed.
‘‘Based on the advice from our engineer we couldn’t grant permission for public access at the weekend.
‘‘Until that work has been carried out, or the risks are being managed by alternative means, we cannot lift the notice.’’
Barr said he understood people were disappointed, but Linz had to put safety first.
Kissling said the trust put a trestle table at the mansion’s entrance on the weekend just in case people had not heard the event had been cancelled. About 350 people turned up expecting to tour the building and, despite not being able to look through, people still made donations toward the building’s restoration totalling about $1000.
‘‘Please convey my apologies to the general public. We are equally disappointed.’’
The committee organising the event put a tremendous amount of work into planning the open days and were ‘‘gutted and devastated’’ it had to be cancelled, Kissling said.
He said he was not sure how long it would take for the notice to be lifted, but said if it could be lifted this week there was a chance the open days could still be held before scheduled work was to begin later this month. Otherwise the open days would be delayed until October.
Kissling said the trust would be meeting this week to find out what work had to be done before the notice could be lifted.
The trust aims to turn the building into a leading gallery of New Zealand art with spaces for musical performances and educational, cultural and social events, plus a sculpture garden and restaurant.
The entire project was expected to cost $11.6 million.