Aucklander bought one of Nelson’s oldest homes with no idea it was part of family history

Sitting atop Church Hill, just a short walk from the Cathedral, Church Hill House is unlike any other home in Nelson.

The foundations of the home were built in 1843, just a year after Nelson was founded in Te Tai-o-Aorere, when the European settlement was little more than an Anglican Church, some barracks, and a couple of cottages. The scene, including the house, was captured by Charles Heaphy, around that time.

Today, the nine-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 530m² home, sits on a tree-clad 1470m² section adjacent to Pikimai Park. It belongs to entrepreneur Ross MacRae and his wife Lynn, formerly of Waiheke, who bought it in 2015 while “en route to the West Coast”.

“It was just a stunning property, that was rundown, and that appealed to all our tastes,” says MacRae, who describes restoring old homes to their former glory as a lifelong hobby.

What MacRae didn’t realise when they bought Church Hill was that he had a personal connection to the home and its long history.

In the early 1840s, a sailor named Daniel Moore jumped ship in what was soon to become Nelson. There he bought two acres of land near the Wakefield Barracks, and built the first iteration of the house in 1843. Daniel’s descendant Mary Moore, would go on to marry John MacRae. Ross MacRae is their descendant.

In 1878, the home was bought by Bishop Suter. He had the home remodelled in grand Victorian style – the room above the front door is thought to have been his private chapel. On his death, the property was left to the Anglican Church.

“[When we found the property] We were looking at the ideal restorer’s dream,” says MacRae. “It had been fully renovated in the 1990s – rebuilt in fact – by some very wealthy people who had the dream of turning it under a high class guesthouse, which they did.”

They ran it as the Cathedral Inn, but had become tired and a little rundown by the time the MacRaes came along. “The challenge was to turn it into something else, to give it a new life.”

They divided the sprawling home into three fully self-contained two- and four-bedroom apartments – MacRae describes it as “homely times three”. They live in one, while renting out the others.

“It was a creative challenge, a cultural and artistic challenge,” says MacRae. “It needed a lot more love and a lot more vision, and we gave it that. We’ve turned it on to something completely different.”

MacRae, who describes himself as an intellectual, says beautifying and restoring old homes has been a lifelong hobby. The colours of the home, however, are all a testament to Lynn’s creative talent, he says, describing her as a maker of “beautiful art, when she feels like it”.

“She’s also a decor designer, and a colourist. And she’s a very hard worker. So she works with me on restoration and renovation and refurbishing.”

Now the MacRaes are selling Church Hill House to focus on their West Coast land.

Buying the property will be a “unique proposition”, as it is a leasehold, subject to approval of The Nelson Diocesan Trust Board, with the current lease to be next renewed in 2035. It is leased in perpetuity, however.

“It’s very unique. You own the house and all the improvements, every stick, every stone,” MacRae explains. “The beauty of this [lease] is that it’s perpetual, it cannot be cancelled. So you may not own the underlying ground, but you own the entire right to develop the property, as well as all the fixed assets.”

Despite the home’s long history, it is not listed by Heritage New Zealand, nor does it appear in the Nelson district plan. That’s due to extensive alterations to the property in the ‘90s rendering it ineligible.

Pending resource and building consents, and consultation with the diocesan trust, a new owner could be free to remove the home and develop the section. However, the home also has consent to be re-configured as a fourteen-bedroom guesthouse.

The house is extensively decorated with the couple’s collection of art and tribal pieces, as well as period appropriate furniture, and MacRae says he could be open to selling some of these items with the property.

Nelson has had several large, historic homes come on the market over the years, including Kirkpatrick House on Mount St, Wainui House on the corner of Nile and Domett Sts, and historic Fellworth House, a two-story Victorian, Italianate-style home built in 1876 with native rimu, totara, matai and kauri timbers.

Perhaps the most famous historic home in Nelson to come on the market in recent years is Warwick House, which might be one of the largest historic houses in the country at 810m².

Church Hill House is for sale by auction, on September 19, at 288 Trafalgar St, unless sold prior. The listing is with Liz Woodall for Bayleys.