A Dunedin family tells Kim Dungey about life in a converted Victorian church.
When the owners of this former Dunedin church moved in, the experience was hardly heavenly.
The congregation had held its last service only hours before and the building was still a fully functioning church, complete with altar and pews. Ruth Manning and Leigh Overton say there was no plumbing, no kitchen and no insulation.
"We had plenty of places to sit but nothing else."
For several months the women used a barbecue, a patio heater and a portaloo, bathed their toddler at a friend’s house and wondered if they could escape the cold by pitching a tent within the nave.
Designed by Robert Arthur Lawson, of First Church and Larnach Castle fame, the Mornington Presbyterian Church opened in 1881 and was so well-attended that transepts were soon added, enabling more than 400 people to be seated inside. It remained a place of worship for more than a century but closed when the Presbyterian Community Centre opened in nearby Maryhill Tce.
For the first year they leased the church back to the congregation, giving them time to get plans, resource consent and Historic Places Trust approval for changes to the category-2 listed building.
At one end of the building, the former sick bay and infants’ "crying room" became guest bedrooms. In the transepts, they created smaller spaces — a family room, formal dining room and master bedroom — that can be opened up or closed off as the mood takes them.
There are also two new mezzanines, one providing additional living space and the other bedrooms for children Kahu (10) and Tui (6).
The footprint is more than 400sq m and the nave is 5.5m high, a mixed blessing as changing a light bulb means balancing a ladder on the dining table, but the acoustics are great and the walls ideal for displaying artwork. It has also hosted many gatherings, including an afternoon tea for former parishioners. Children ride their scooters on the kauri floor and a 5m-high bouncy castle set up inside was a hit at Tui’s 5th birthday party.
The open layout means they can see everything that is going on, they say.
"It’s not like we use the whole space all the time, but when we do, it’s great."
If the careful alterations maintained the church’s scale and grandeur, the addition of four woodburners and large amounts of insulation made it warmer.
Tarpaulins hung in the centre of the building to prevent everything being caked in dust.
"We kept moving from end to end depending on what was being done where," Ms Manning says.
"Kahu would come home from school and we’d say, ‘Here’s your new bedroom, love’ and it would be a little curtained-off area."
As the women sanded wood, painted walls and developed the garden, experts pieced together the carpet which had been in strips down the aisles. Its rich hue is part of a red and gold colour scheme: even the nave ceiling is painted gold, reflecting the light that streams in through the lancet and rose windows.The appearance of what seemed to be a white figure floating in another window high up near the eaves caused bewilderment.
"We’ve always called it the ‘frock’,’’ Ms Manning explains, looking at a photo taken of the exterior.
"It’s not a reflection and there’s no way someone could be on that side ... But we’ve never felt any bad vibes."
The three and a-half year project also saw much of the roof replaced. Ms Overton recalls choosing Welsh slates at salvage yards in Christchurch, then "crawling" back to Dunedin at 60kmh "with about 10 ton on the back of a trailer and inside the car."
A baptismal font, which now holds an ice bucket, came from a church that had been demolished in Waikouaiti. Italian floor tiles for the kitchen and guest bathroom were bought from a Dunedin man who had stored them in his garage for 25 years. The long dining table once sat in the Dunedin City Council boardroom and the bell came from a Greek Orthodox church in Seatoun.
The open belfry rises to a height of almost 16m, but after putting Kahu to bed one night, the women worked out a system to pulley up the remounted bell, attach it to the original bell tower fittings and thread the bell rope down through a series of holes in the roof.
"It took us three hours and [by then] it was going on dark," Ms Overton says.
"But you’ve got to have that sort of nous here because if we had to get somebody else to do everything we’ve had done, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it."
"Originally we had a budget but it just blew out completely," Ms Manning adds.
"Then you’ve got to get it finished, so what else can you do?"
Though not looking for another renovation, she is not blind to the potential of other buildings. She once went to a concert at Knox Church and couldn’t help thinking the nave would make a "fabulous lounge".
Ms Overton also has a long interest in "projects", particularly those that are a little different: "This year I’m playing tennis," she says, laughing.
"It’s supposed to divert my attention."