Old churches still shine in new life
The rural retreat where two of Timaru’s most prominent bronze sculptures came to life has been sold.
Dutch-born artist Margriet Windhausen sculpted Timaru Boys’ High School’s Jack Lovelock in 2002 and Caroline Bay’s the Face of Peace in 2009 at the sun-drenched home she and her husband, painter Paul van den Bergh, converted from two 100-year-old disestablished churches that journeyed from Clandeboye and St Andrews to Maungati in 1990.
‘‘My husband and I needed studio space and a church was ideal with it’s high ceilings,’’ Windhausen said.
The couple lived at the Limestone Rd retreat for 25 years, before moving to Lower Hutt in 2014. The succeeding owners, Rachael Polson and Peter Doran, sold the unique property for close to $600,000 this month.
The Clandeboye church, which had its last service in 1989, was the first to arrive in Maungati – followed six months later by the St Andrews church, which provided ‘‘enough room to make a bedroom and bathroom for normal living’’.
‘‘It was quite hard to visualise but we actually made it work,’’ she said.
‘‘We started from scratch because it was just a paddock. We were very lucky to buy a beautiful piece of land off Craigmore Station,’’ Windhausen said.
Polson loved the property’s surrounding view, and being able to ride her horse onto Craigmore Station’s hills to catch a glimpse of Mt Cook on a clear day.
The view inside was also stunning, she said.
‘‘The vaulted ceiling workmanship in the St Andrew’s church is impressive. You don’t see that kind of detail and craft in buildings these days,’’ she said.
‘‘My large artist studio with cosy log burner used to be Margriet’s. I went to art school in Adelaide and you don’t get large studios like that over there."