Click photo to enlarge
The Arrowtown Masonic Lodge, on Wiltshire St. Photo by
James Beech.
The Arrowtown Masonic Lodge will be officially reopened,
with a restoration project six years in the making finally
completed.
The project included restoring an 112-year-old stencilled
frieze uncovered in January last year.
The lodge dates back to 1878 and the building in Berkshire St
was completed and officially designated as "Lodge Arrow
Kilwinning No 86" on January 23, 1888.
The lodge room was plastered and a dado railing installed in
1898.
It is believed the wall paintings also date back to this
time.
However, they were covered up and forgotten when the room was
lined with Pinex sheets and repainted in the 1940s or '50s.
Architect and historic buildings specialist Jackie Gillies
has been leading the restoration project.
She discovered the stencilled frieze beneath the painted
Pinex walls.
The dado-level frieze repeats square-and-compass motifs
between single stars, in dark reddish-brown paint, with gold
highlights.
At cornice level, hand-painted swags of drapery were found,
with additional Masonic motifs meeting at each corner of the
room in large painted tassels.
A large gold-painted square-and-compass insignia was
uncovered on the chimney breast on the south wall and a
silver moon and stars were found on the east wall.
A black and white tessellated pavement, painted on to a floor
canvas with symbolic objects painted on it, was uncovered in
the centre of the room.
"The paintings were considerably damaged in places by the
crude cutting-in of timber battens along the top and bottom
of the wall, and the historic lime wash base coat had
suffered from its long enclosure," Ms Gillies said.
Historically faithful replastering and retouching began,
using the only intact wall in the room as a guide.
Wall painting restorer and conservator Eimear O'Connell, from
Ireland, spent four weeks repainting the motifs, symbols and
decorations.
The $220,564 restoration was funded by the Heritage Lotteries
Fund, Central Lakes Trust, Community Trust of Southland and
the Arrowtown Heritage Trust.
It also involved structural repairs, completed by builder
Martyn Smith, including strengthening the roof and upgrading
the heating and lighting.
Mason Blair Rodger said the dramatic paintings were very
rare.
It is not known if others exist in New Zealand, but the
Arrowtown designs are the only ones in the South Island.
He said the project began in 2003 and it took over six years
to get resource consent, funding and complete the restoration
work.
He said the 20 Arrowtown masons were delighted it had finally
been completed.
A DVD has been produced by Digital Dog Ltd to record the
restoration project and it will include the history of the
lodge and Arrowtown.
The lodge will be rededicated at a ceremony on Saturday and
about 100 masons are expected to attend.
An opening for the public would also be held at the weekend,
he said.
