Half a missing bookcase comes home

A bookcase from Larnach Castle found in a second-hand store in Christchurch. Photo supplied.
A bookcase from Larnach Castle found in a second-hand store in Christchurch. Photo supplied.
The owners of Larnach Castle are hoping the discovery of half a bookcase in Christchurch may lead them to the other half of what is a piece of the castle's original furniture.

Margaret Barker has also called on people who think they may have any of that furniture, which was sold off in the early 20th century, to get in touch as the owners try to regain the Dunedin castle's original fittings.

The bookcase was discovered by chance in a second-hand shop in New Brighton by historian and researcher of 19th century furniture William Cottrell early last year.

By coincidence, Mr Cottrell had been invited to the castle by Margaret and Norcombe Barker not long before to review the furniture that was in the building.

He said when he returned to Christchurch he visited the New Brighton shop, owned by a ''buy-anything-he-could type dealer''.

He saw the bookcase and thought it resonated with something he had seen recently, but did not connect it with the castle.

He bid online for the bookcase and bought it for about $900.

He got it back to his Christchurch home and ''you know how your brain works subconsciously, I thought 'I've seen all the features on this thing at Larnach Castle'.''

Now he and Mrs Barker were keen to find the other half so it could be put back together and returned to its original home.

Mr Cottrell said that in the 1950s, antique furniture became ''extremely cheap to acquire''.

Nobody was interested in ''stodgy Victorian furniture'' so it was not unusual for it to be cut up and and modernised, decorations removed, and handles replaced with ''modern Bakelite''.

''Opportunists'' took larger pieces, split them up and sold them as two, and in some cases, they were split up because larger items did not fit into smaller houses.

''If a home handyman could run a saw through a thing, he would. A fraction of what was originally made has survived.''

Mr Cottrell said it was possible to recognise furniture from the castle, as there were aspects that were ''like a DNA match''.

William Larnach, ''consistent with his enormous ego'', required only the best handmade furniture, which was designed for specific rooms, including a sideboard in the dining room that conformed to the shape of a bay window.

It was made from native timbers including rimu, kauri and rewarewa, was ''very distinctive'' and of outstanding quality.

Some items were built so they would fit against the walls of the castle, which had large skirting boards with a specific profile. The back of furniture, including the bookcase, was made to fit the shape of the skirting boards.

''Anything designed to sit against the wall should have that profile cut out of it.''

William Larnach also had a will listing everything in the castle, and furniture had an inventory number stamped on the back.

Mrs Barker said the furniture had been sold early in the 20th century by William Larnach's elder son, Donald.

A certain amount had come back and ''there should be more out there''.

Mrs Barker said repopulating the castle with as much original furniture as possible was always her plan.

She will have owned the castle for 50 years next March, and ''it's just interesting after all this time another piece pops up''.

Mrs Barker said she was keen to hear from people who might have furniture from the castle, of which some should still be in Dunedin, as it was sold here.

''We're always interested.''

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz

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