It’s the end of an era for one of Queenstown’s oldest properties, brought back to life by local couple Sheena Haywood and Stephen Brent.
In February, 2007, a dilapidated, derelict and dire-looking Laurel Bank House was painstakingly moved in three sections from its former site, on the corner of Stanley Street and Frankton Road, to its new home, on a two-hectare section at Max’s Way — before Shotover Country existed.
A ‘‘ginormous’’ DIY project unlike almost anything ever seen before in the Whakatipu followed to restore the now 140-year-old home, one of Queenstown’s first commercial accommodation properties, to her former glory.
It was, in a way, meant to be.
Haywood and Brent already owned the Max’s Way section and came to town one Friday morning for breakfast, over which they discussed what they wanted to put on the site, and made a list.
A town planner stopped by, looked at the list, and mentioned the ‘‘house up the hill’’, Haywood says.
While it wasn’t for sale at the time, it did need to be moved to make way for a planned 105-room accommodation complex for workers on the section by Perron Laurel Ltd — that’s now where the Ramada is.
The initial plan had been to retain part of the house and move it elsewhere, but demo the rest.
Haywood immediately went to visit heritage architect Jackie Gillies, who pulled out a ‘‘massive portfolio’’ and started talking her through Laurel Bank, and before she knew it she was gingerly tip-toeing through the decrepit building, the interior of which was covered in graffiti, with missing floorboards and more than its fair share of fire damage, thanks to squatters over the years.
‘‘I just got the vibe from her and [thought] she’d be perfect,’’ Haywood says.
‘‘I had no idea of what was coming up — zip, zero, nada — except that I’m practical, I can wield a paintbrush and am not bad on the hammer.’’
The double-bay villa, which boasts a total of 21 rooms, including an expansive hallway, library, six bedrooms, dining room, lounge rooms, kitchen, en suites and an extra bathroom, has since been meticulously restored by the couple, with help from former owner Harold Overton’s son, Robert, who provided details of what used to be where.
An old black and white photo of Laurel Bank, taken when she was owned by Harold, was pored over by builders and architects to reinstate the exterior to as close as possible to its original state, while antique stores up and down New Zealand were scoured by the couple for internal elements, harking back to yesteryear.
Opening her up as a bed and breakfast in 2015, ‘‘just the one B’’ has been on offer since 2017, Haywood laughs.
And having dutifully restored Laurel Bank to her former glory and ‘‘meticulously gone over every detail of her’’, Haywood and Brent have made the tough decision to put Laurel Bank on the market.
Brent wants to contribute more to junior golf in the Whakatipu, while Haywood, NZSki’s adaptive snowsports programme lead, will again immerse herself in the Canadian system during the northern hemisphere winter to gain knowledge she can bring back.
‘‘It just doesn’t really make sense for us to have beautiful, large Laurel Bank,’’ she says.
‘‘As much as we love her, and she is part of my beating heart, in order to move to the next chapter [we have to] share the love with somebody else … to look after her.
‘‘It took a bit of soul-searching to get there, but I’m conscious as you get older there are only so many time slots and energy slots that you’ve got, so which bits do you want to do the most?
‘‘We just thought it was time.’’
Laurel Bank’s being marketed for sale by tender by NZ Sotheby’s International Realty, closing November 29.
