Revisiting Mount Algidus, a spectacularly isolated New Zealand hill station with English country house interiors, as it comes up for sale
It is an understatement to describe Mount Algidus, a 53,000-acre cattle station on New Zealand's South Island, as isolated. It occupies the high country between two great rivers and the Southern Alps. The last few miles of the two-hour drive from Christchurch require a steady nerve and a 4x4, but even that track comes to an end at the banks of the mighty Wilberforce. To make the crossing to the station, you need to climb into a powerful tractor or perch in its trailer for the lurching journey across the pebble-strewn flats and the icy channels of the river. Upstream on the far bank is a grassy plateau with one of the most breathtaking views in the world, and it is here that the owners of the station, Jane and Jamie Smiley, have built a house. And what a house it is.
Anyone building a house from scratch needs vision and patience, doubly so if the site is remote. To build this house, all materials - from the shingles for the roof, the stone for the floors, the reclaimed oak beams and every pipe and sack of cement - had to be transported across the wide and ever-shifting river, which can be placid one day and a raging torrent the next. A good deal of courage is also required, as well as an exceptional band of designers, engineers, architects and craftsmen.
The Smileys had the required vision, patience and courage, and they also chose their collaborators with care. Jane could picture the house in her mind and Charlie Nott, a New Zealand architect, made it a reality, one that married a conventional aesthetic with modern comfort. Clive Barrington was the builder whose workforce lived on site for weeks at a time, occupying the quarters and cookhouse once used by the men who worked on Mount Algidus when it was a sheep station. Clive's firm is one of the most respected in New Zealand and he is rightly proud of this project, which stretched the skills and ingenuity of even his experienced team. Finally, there was the interior decorator, London-based Colin Orchard, an old friend of the Smileys who had worked on two of their previous houses in Sydney and who had been part of the team at Colefax and Fowler in the Eighties.
Jamie, a charming Scotsman, points out that Mount Algidus is very much a working station supporting 2,000 head of Aberdeen Angus cattle and a flock of 2,000 Romney cross-breed sheep. Much hard work and investment has gone into the farming enterprise since he bought the land 10 years ago. Miles of fencing and new tracks, buildings for the stock and housing for the staff all got underway before the new homestead began to take shape. Interestingly, theirs isn't the first exceptional house to be built here. According to local accounts, in the 1870s the then owners erected a 'splendid cob building with 12 rooms, many with fireplaces'. It burnt down at the beginning of the twentieth century, but apparently, it had 'a deep veranda, a vast drawing room with tall french windows looking out to the river and upstairs there were three rooms for the maids'. The inventory of the possessions the family brought with them from England included a dining table and 12 rosewood chairs, two double beds, a piano, a large hip bath and a washing machine. All the more astonishing when you consider that everything was transported by a team of heavy horses.
Jane and Colin were closely involved with the architectural and structural aspects of the twenty-first-century project, and worked in complete harmony to set the tone of the interior, going together on many buying trips to Europe to source furnishings for the rooms. In addition, Colin made no fewer than 10 trips to New Zealand, sometimes suggesting a Scottish baronial flourish here or a Soanian detail there; tutoring the decorators in the finer points of specialist paint finishes and finding a London-trained curtain maker in Auckland who'd once done work for Colefax and Fowler.
The result is a light-hearted and immensely comfortable take on the English country-house look. All of the principal rooms and bedrooms are on the ground floor, where the generous proportions and high ceilings lend them gravitas. The kitchen and dining room are combined and feel like the core of the house, and this space is flanked on one side by an elegant drawing room and on the other by a more intimate library. Four bedrooms, bathrooms and dressing rooms extend out from these central living spaces and a river-facing loggia with a view of snow-capped mountains is the perfect place for warm-weather dining. Many of these rooms are double height, though there is a first floor above a wing at the back of the house, which houses more bedrooms, bathrooms and offices.
At this elevation in New Zealand, opportunities to use the loggia, swim in the pool and stroll in the box-bordered parterre are limited to a few summer months. At other times, when fog, horizontal rain, bone-chilling wind or the boiling, furious Wilberforce conspire to make staying indoors a more tempting option, the house is a haven. With open log fires in all the principal rooms, including the bedrooms, rich and textured fabrics, vibrant rugs and warm-hued chestnut or French oak floorboards, the interiors are enveloping and welcoming. Jane has collected charming decorative objects such as needlework cushions, porcelain and painted furniture, which, alongside a great number of books and pictures, ensure that the house feels full and enjoyably lived-in. Both Smileys are also interested in buying the work of contemporary artists such as Kate Bergin, whose rather surreal painting of animals hangs above the drinks tray in the dining area.
Although some of the smaller and more fragile objects were brought in by helicopter - and indeed some visitors and, on occasion, the Smileys themselves make the trip this way - the weather doesn't always allow this form of transport. Life at Mount Algidus is ruled by the condition of the river, which makes the creation of this house a truly remarkable achievement by all involved.
Lucas Allen1/11Feminine furniture and decorative details give the drawing room a comfortably elegant feel. The striking antler-design chandelier made by Frank Howell in Sydney is a nod to Jamie's Scottish roots, while the floral upholstery and chestnut flooring add warmth to the room. The table, which is in two halves, comes from Spain and the curtains, chosen by the interior designer Colin Orchard, were created by the London-trained, Auckland-based curtain maker Robert Andrews.
Lucas Allen2/11Both Smileys are interested in buying the work of contemporary artists such as Kate Bergin, whose rather surreal painting of animals hangs above the drinks tray in this dining area.
Lucas Allen3/11A table bought at auction in Melbourne and a rug from Robert Stephensonare the centrepieces of the dining room.
Lucas Allen4/11Clive Barrington was the builder whose workforce lived on site for weeks at a time, occupying the quarters and cookhouse once used by the men who worked on Mount Algidus when it was a sheep station.
Lucas Allen5/11The inventory of the possessions the family brought with them from England included a dining table and 12 rosewood chairs, two double beds, a piano, a large hip bath and a washing machine. All the more astonishing when you consider that everything was transported by a team of heavy horses.
Lucas Allen6/11The blue walls of the main bedroom pick up the upholstery on the Dudgeon sofa and Colefax and Fowler fabric used for the curtains.
Lucas Allen7/11The spare room has curtains in a Manuel Canovas fabric and a quilted, embroidered bed cover from Chelsea Textiles.
Lucas Allen8/11Twin beds are ideal for this guest room. The Colefax & Fowler 'Snow Tree' wallpaper in aqua works perfectly with a view to the garden outside, creating a light and verdant bedroom. All the tones and patterns are harmonious and soft. The armchair has a classic bullion braid trim and the lantern continues the garden theme of the room as its design would be fitting for outdoor use.
Lucas Allen9/11A blind in Colefax and Fowler's 'Snow Tree' is one of many decorative touches in the bathroom.
Lucas Allen11/11
