McLeans Mansion, 387 Manchester Street, Circa 1900. Source: Private Collection. Image: Christchurch City Libraries Photo collection 22, IMG02343

An elderly man, dressed in a plum coloured suit and bow tie, stands gazing at his nearly completed home. It is September 1900, and this is no ordinary home, it is reputed to be the largest wooden residence in Australasia. This 23,000 square foot, fifty three room Jacobean inspired mansion stands on five acres bordering Manchester and Colombo Streets.

The building has been designed by Christchurch born architect Robert West England, who has trained in England. He and his brother Eddie, trading in partnership, have an impressive portfolio of commerical buildings, grand homes (including Riccarton Bush) and churches they designed in Christchurch in the early 1900s. Rennie and Pearce Builders were given the contract to build the house, assisted by Taylor & Walker Plumbers and the skills of an ornamental Plasterer.

The ground floor consists of the central entrance and verandah, and twin rooms, one a Dining Room the other the Drawing Room, that mirror each other,  each with a ‘Nook’ and  joined by a central Lobby and Outer Hall. There is an Inner Hall around the central staircase, with a Library and Smoking Room on one side, a Breakfast Room and Office on the other.  Servant areas extend down to the back of the south facing wing, consisting of Servants Hall, Butlers Pantry, Store, Lavatory, three WCs, Glass and China Room, Pantry, Store Room, Kitchen, Scullery, Servants Room, and separate Wood and Boots Rooms. In the north facing wing there is a Bedroom, Dressing Room, Bath Room and separate WC – close enough to the busiest part of the house to be used by the housekeeper, Mrs Philips.

Wealthy run-holder and philanthropist, Allan McLean

On the first floor a suite of rooms that reflect each other sit behind the front balcony, separated by a small lobby and passage. The rooms consist of a large Bedroom, large Dressing Room, Bath Room and Toilet on each side. A large double staircase sits in the centre of this floor, with mirror rooms on each side consisting of two large bedrooms and seven smaller bedrooms (four of which are for servants), two shared bathrooms and WCs each side, which extend down both wings of the building.

The front of the house it crowned by two cast iron topped Tower Rooms, each of which is accessed from its own stair case and passageway off the first floor.

A woman’s touch is necessary to complete the interior furnishings, and as there is no lady of the house, the trustworthy housekeeper, Mrs Philips has been charged with travelling to England to personally select the best fabrics and furnishings, as nothing suitable has been found locally.

Allan McLean, for that is the owner’s name, has called this grand new home “Holly Lea” after the McLean clan’s signature plant. Over the years the building will become more commonly known as ‘McLean’s Mansion’.

He reflects on his 78 years which has changed dramatically since his simple childhood.  The son of a fisherman and farmer, the first eighteen years of his life were spent in a small stone croft on the Isle of Coll in Scotland.  He realises now that his father’s death in 1836 from a fishing accident was the turning point for his family. His widowed mother had worked hard to keep the farm and family together, but her decision to leave in search of a better life for her family in Australia had proved to be insightful. After working hard on the land, Allan and his brothers had been able to establish themselves as successful merchants and gold buyers, prospering from the Australian gold fields.

Workers are dwarfed by the towering timber framework of Holly Lea during its construction in 1900.

However, they had not been a family to rest on their good fortune,  they had continued to look for opportunities elsewhere. With cattle sales on the increase in Canterbury, they had been drawn by the potential of the area. By early 1853 the entire family had emigrated again, this time a mercifully shorter journey. The brothers took up farming on a large scale. They had spent twenty years and large amounts of money taking the  land from ‘a state of nature’ and turning it into ‘one of the finest properties in the South Island’.
^{Source: Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXII, Issue 24, 21 October 1898, Page 2}

McLean built a large, twenty roomed homestead, called ‘The Valley’ on his 48,000 acre station ‘Waikakahi’, located to the south of Waimate.  It had been surrounded with five acres of orchards, 30 acres of specimen trees, expansive lawns and an ornamental lake. The grounds required nine groundsmen and gardeners to maintain their condition.  This unmarried bachelor was happy to see his days out there as a bachelor living in grand style.

In 1898,  the New Zealand Government had come knocking. No longer content to see large stations in the hands of one family, they were advancing plans to subdivide Waikakahi and lease smaller holdings to new settlers. Their offer was persuasive, and by late 1898 McLean was making his way to Christchurch with one of the largest Government land settlements, around £365,000, “a quarter of a million of the purchase money in debentures, and some £70,000 in cash.”
^{Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 75, 30 March 1899, Page 2}

McLean's Mansion was such a novelty that postcards were produced featuring the house and grounds. These two hand coloured cards show different interpretations of the buildings' colour schemes in opposing seasons. Top: Muir & Moodie, Dunedin. Bottom: G & G Series No.146.

Whilst there is still work to be done on Holly Lea, it is now ready for occupancy, and Mrs Emily Phillips was to be installed as housekeeper, taking control of the huge 23,000 foot residence. As he stands admiring this magnificent monument to the years of hard work and good fortune, Allan McLean is no doubt aware the building will outlast him and plans must be furthered for its future once he is gone.

McLean is acutely aware of his own humble beginnings, and knows how hard life could be for his mother who became a struggling widow trying to provide for her family.  He has a generous nature, never shying away from providing hospitality to those whose lives had turned out less fortunate than his.

When his life draws to a close on 12th November 1907, only seven years after the completion of Holly Lea, his estate valued at over £500,000 is generously distributed amongst his immediate family of nieces and nephews, as well as to friends, staff and charity.

An annuity of £3000 was to be provided for his long-standing housekeeper, Mrs Emily Phillips.  She was also to have the use, occupation and enjoyment of Holly Lea for her life time so long as she remained a widow. Women servants in his employ are left money for each year they had been in his employ.  After individual endowments had been made to family and friends, the remainder of his estate is set aside for “the maintenance of the McLean Institute for Gentlewomen”.

^{Otago Witness 18 Dec 1907}

“The mansion became the endowment of a home for indigent gentlewomen and their young children. The will makes special provision for the selection of women whose education and upbringing make them congenial companions in an institution intended solely for gentlewomen” wrote the Hawera & Normanby Star on 16 November 1907.

Image: McLean Institute Christchurch FGR 6704. Source: Auckland City Libraries. Class No: 995.71 C55 (11)

In 1913, Mrs Philips surrenders her tenancy of Holly Lea. As a result of her former employer’s generousity, she too is able to retire in style, building her own impressive but much smaller, two story turreted home on six acres in the Hunter Hills of Waimate, which she has called ‘Te Kiteroa’ – wide ocean view.  She is now a lady of means, able to afford her own gardener and chauffer, and also build the two detached cottages necessary to accommodate them.

So the question becomes what to do with this large building? Suggestions are made by a prominent businessman that Holly Lea be secured for a Vice-Regal residence, becoming Christchurch’s Government House.

The Evening Post writes “…it is maintained that “Holly Lea” is a much finer property than either of the Government Houses at Wellington or Auckland”. “it was remarked that it was reproach that the Governor, on visiting Christchurch, should have to accept private hospitality”.

It was considered “suitable in every respect, with large grounds. The furniture was complete in every detail, and the house was ready for immediate occupation. The conservatory was unique, and ripe bananas and pineapples were growing in it at the present moment.”
^{Evening Post 12 February 1913}

These ideas were never to eventuate and Holly Lea’s future takes a less glamorous path but one that Allan McLean would probably be no less proud of; as a dental nurses’ hostel, a Salvation Army rest home, and for a time leased to the St Vincent de Paul Society.

The contents of the Winter Garden and Conservatory were purchased by the Domain Board for the city. The curator of the gardens, Mr J Young and his staff undertook the job of uplifing and transporting the plants, which included palm trees of various sizes, orchids and subtropicals, by trap along Colombo Street to the Domain on 30 July 1913, much to the interest of those who witnessed it.

The 76 x 36 foot conservatory, which had grown pineapples and bananas at Holly Lea, was also transported to a new home in the Domain gardens.
^{Press, 31 July 1913}

In 2005, a private training establishment called ‘The Academy’ opens at Holly Lea, teaching entry level vocational training. Holy Lea remains its location to this day. Allan McLean would certainly be pleased to know his majestic kauri home still remains in use and maintains much of her outward grandeur, even though all around her has changed.

View Lost Christchurch in a larger map

For more info:

• Slideshow of Holly Lea architectural drawings
• The McLean Institute
• NZ Historic Places Trust – McLean’s Mansion
• The Architectural History of Christchurch – McLean’s Mansion
• Christchurch City Libraries – Holly Lea: 123 Fendalton Road
• Mrs Emily Philips’ home, Te Kiteroa, near Waimate