STUFF
Geraldine's 119-year-old vicarage resurrected and open for business
Kylie Klein-Nixon16:56, Nov 28 2019
Inside 119 years of Canterbury history...
This vintage vicarage in Geraldine has been given a new lease on life...
When Michael Barker started refurbishing Geraldine's 119-year-old vicarage, he sent word to Grand Designs NZ.
It seemed like the perfect fit for them: a heritage building down on its luck, rescued from the scrap heap by the head of a family that has been a cornerstone of Geraldine society for generations.
Barker, of cordial and condiment makers Barker's of Geraldine fame, planned to turn this piece of Canterbury history back into something, well, grand.
MARINA MATTHEWS
The vicarage as it looks today, ready for the next 119 years.
"I never heard back from them! But I thought it would have been beautiful for that show, because it was such a perfect story."
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Perfect's about right: There's been a Barker farming the land around Geraldine for five generations. In the 60s, Barker's innovator and inventor father decided to try his hand at fruit wines and that was the start of the Barker's brand.
Michael Barker, the head of the Barker's of Geraldine family, undertook the renovation with the town he loves in mind.
​Fast forward 50 years and, under Michael Barker's watchful eye, the company decides to open a flash food store and eatery in the heart of Geraldine's historic area, a lure for tourists and locals alike to the town centre.
There's just one problem: the eatery is next door to the once-lovely, now rather sad, rundown looking vicarage.
"I thought, I'd put Barker's in this beautiful site, what am I going to do with this old dunger of a building?" Michael explains.
The answer: renovate and restore the pre-1900 vicarage to its former glory and turn it into luxury accommodation - after getting permission from the church, of course.
"I had to do a presentation from the pulpit one Sunday at church and then I had to go outside while the open parish meeting voted on whether I'd be allowed to proceed with my plans."
All the parishioners showed up for the vote, and the answer? A resounding yes.
MARINA MATTHEWS
The entrance way to the vicarage is a romantic charmer.
"The vicarage was very rundown and badly in need of some expensive TLC. We replaced 25 per cent of the weatherboard on three sides and we replaced the roof.
"On the south side the weatherboards had all rotted and they were beautifully clad in 20 year old asbestos, so we had to remove all that."
He describes the work as major "open heart surgery", with everything from the walls to the stained glass windows being refurbished.
MARINA MATTHEWS
The lead light and rimu paneled entrance way is typical of grand homes from the period.
Barker's team discovered there had been some insulation in the attic, as much as stacks of 1900s newspapers with sawdust on top counts as insulation.
"By the time we'd wheel-barrowed out tonnes and tonnes of lathe and plaster we were left with the bare bones, which were essentially good."
The result of all that hard work is a stunning blend of period grace and modern pizzazz, from the delicate lead lights and rimu paneled entrance way, to the lush bathrooms and ultra modern monkey and fruit wallpaper.
MARINA MATTHEWS
Barker says visitors love the wild wallpaper.
"The wallpaper is just mind blowing, isn't it? People love the wallpaper, they love the fact it's so out there. People used to used really loud wallpapers back then [when the vicarage was built] too, so it works. We just went for it."
Because the home was built before 1900, Barker had to have archeological survey done on the land and an archeologist had to be present during much of the work.
"That added a little drama to the business. If we'd found something it would have stopped everything and there would have been a whole lot of faffing around."
MARINA MATTHEWS
Another shared sitting room in the gallery upstairs, overlooking the Barker's Food Store and Eatery.
They didn't find anything, but it gave him a deeper appreciation of the building's history.
Once work was complete, deciding what to do with the building took a little while.
"We thought 'let's take a long term view'. Geraldine's a beautiful town, it's on the main tourist highway. There's no demand for premium accommodation right now... so let's create it. It appealed to my sense of challenge and look, no one else was going to do up this building."
MARINA MATTHEWS
The bedrooms have been updated, with a quirky twist.
Turning the building into a B&B business was about Barker's "love of Geraldine and giving back to the town".
"I suppose if it doesn't pan out we could live in it, but that would be a waste. People do love staying in a bit of history like that, but it would be a shame to monopolise it. We built it to share."