Thinking Big in Napier

No one is dreaming of Scottish lochs and glens in Napier’s Balquhidder House these days. Though its picturesque gables and second-storey arched windows were designed in 1861 for Captain MacGregor of the 65th Regiment, who named it after the Scottish village that was his ancestral home, its current occupants are firmly rooted in the New Zealand here and now.

 

 

“I think Captain MacGregor would be thinking, ‘My God, what are they doing now!’” says artist Leanne Culy. “But I think we might be keeping the captain entertained.”

 

The Culy family – Leanne, her husband Brian and their daughters Jacobina, 18, and Billie, 15 – moved in four years ago after living in Northland “in a low-slung, flat-roofed modernist house with a stunning view of the Kerikeri inlet”. Before Northland they had homes in the Wairarapa and Wellington.

 

Balquhidder House, listed as a category II property by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, is a vast dwelling that comprises six living areas, including a built-in conservatory, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen and a scullery with vertically opening shutters and a bar-style bench with high stools.

 

“We call it the Balquhidder bar,” says Brian. “I opened up the dark scullery room by reorganising the shutters and added that slab of kauri for the bar. It’s an amazing place to sit in the afternoon sun or to have an evening drink.”

 

It was the homestead’s “great bones and space” that wowed the Culy family when they first encountered it on a reconnaissance trip to Hawke’s Bay. “We were drawn to it for what it is – a lovely building. We thought fantastic, let’s move here,” says Brian.

 

Though Brian points out that they have inherited “some late 80s renovations that are completely wrong, like recessed lights and an out of character bay window”, the couple has made no structural changes. Instead they picked up their paintbrushes and brought a new energy to the lofty rooms with neutral colours on the walls and their collection of retro and modernist furniture and art. Blackboard paint and the girls’ graffiti now covers the “dotty Nana-type wallpaper in the kitchen”.

 

“We are very conscious of the environment so we like recycling or home-made furnishings,” says Leanne. “Most of our things have come from second-hand shops or we’ve found them along the way and they’ve followed us around.”

 

The Culys say they unpacked their suitcases and settled into Balquhidder House with no master plan of how their busy lives would unfold. The wider vision was clear enough though: to pursue their passion for nature, sustainability and iconic aspects of New Zealand through their art.

 

“Before leaving Kerikeri we went on a painting tour to Tuscany with artist Dick Frizzell. Somehow it broke down all the rules for us and freed up our creative spirits,” says Brian.

 

The space and privacy at Balquhidder House have allowed the couple’s respective businesses to flourish. Each has commandeered a separate work space. In a vast living room in the centre of the house, Leanne runs her business called Home Base Collections – a range of fabric designs and art homewares. She also paints intricate, colourful stories on recycled oars that sell for $5500 each. Two recent shows at Havelock North’s Black Barn Gallery were sell-outs.

 

“They are a vehicle for my environmental grievances,” says Leanne, “so I often focus on nostalgic images of New Zealand the way it was before development, as my form of protest. I also add Maori images and manipulate them, as a symbol of togetherness.”

 

Former film director Brian, who operates from what was once the dining room, is on a roll with his art photography. He has recently released limited edition life-sized rag paper prints of Leanne’s oars.

Though three phones are often ringing simultaneously and the lunchtime sandwiches can go uneaten till mid-afternoon, Leanne says there is never any slamming of doors. “But it isn’t a controlled environment, it all just happens. We’re lucky to be completely joined at the hip in terms of creativity and it’s often terribly scary because we make the same comment at the same time.”

 

The only real point of contention between the Culys is what to do with the grounds around the northern and eastern wings of the house. “I love the wilderness look and letting things go,” says Leanne.

 

“And I’d like to see the garden a little more reined in. I enjoy the tennis court looking tidy,” counters Brian.

 

But they’re agreed on the cluster of raised garden boxes bursting with organic vegetables that Brian has built beyond the kitchen. The family is committed to eating organic food and a favourite Saturday morning ritual is shopping at the local farmers’ market.

 

“We love preparing a meal and eating together and we’ll often have friends over at the weekends,” says Leanne. “The crazy thing is we have all this space and we often end up in the kitchen, the smallest, least appealing room in the whole house.”