Woodstock relic saved

The future of Woodstock’s historic pioneer cottage looks rosy after owner Jim Stevenson won a five-year battle over the house and land tenure.
The 140-year-old Back Creek Road cottage, in near original condition, is believed to be the oldest occupied house on the West Coast. It was occupied by the Irwin family from the 1890s until 2005, when spinster Betty Irwin died and left the house and contents to the Hokitika SPCA.
Mr Stevenson bought it two years later with a view to restoring the home to its former glory. However, with the $80,000 acquisition also came the looming possibility that it could at any time be moved out of the way by the Westland District Council.
About two-thirds of the cottage was found to be sitting on road reserve — although it is believed the house was there before the road — and up until recently the council had not been prepared to grant anything more than a year-by-year licence to occupy.
The lease meant no work could be done largely to the front of the house, and Mr Stevenson’s tenure of occupancy was up for decision every 12 months. The council had considered the option of shifting it back on to freehold land to free up the Back Creek Road if it needed widening in the future.
However, Mr Stevenson said the house would not have survived the move.
The solution came a fortnight ago, when the council accepted an application to stop the paper road reserve running through the house in exchange for an adjacent section of land.
The landmark decision means he will pay market value for the unstopped road, and then own the historic building outright.
Council operations manager Rob Daniel said the land adjustment had “solved a problem that has existed for a very long time”.
It was a good outcome for both parties, he said.
“I think it the oldest occupied house in Westland so it certainly has some historical significance and now the house can be on its own title.”
The 19th century miner’s cottage once had a general store attached to it and goods were punted up to it from Kaniere, before the Kaniere Bridge was built.
When the property came up for tender in 2005 a campaign was started to protect its future.
The Back Creek Historic Cottage committee was formed and looked at the possibilities of securing the future title of the property and preserving the cottage as a weekend rental for a “pioneer experience”.
It was believed to be one of the few unmodified pioneer cottages in New Zealand, the only ‘mod-con’ being a simple electricity connection when the power lines reached Woodstock around the 1950s. In 2005, it still had a meat safe, coal range and no bathroom.
Mr Stevenson said when he moved in there had been one cold tap in the whole house.
He has since re-roofed it and made considerable improvements and is now looking forward to restoring the three-bedroom cottage more.
“It feels great to own it outright and I’m sure old Betty Irwin would have a smile on her face, wherever she is.
“Now I can settle back and enjoy it and carry on doing it up.”