Oinako House Akaroa

Grand, elegant and impeccable are the adjectives often applied to massive Oinako House, which is an historic house trading as a bed and breakfast. The assets of the rooms and the entire home are what New Zealanders associate with heritage and grandeur, double hung sash windows, high stud, ornate plaster work and polished timber floors. All of these are set to shine at Oinako, which sits back in her elegance, as she sits back from Beach road, not overly stuffed with furnishings, just dressed as elegantly to suit her stylish structure.

Oinako, named for a local creek, which in turn was named for a Ngati Mamoe chief, is in a quiet area but only two minutes walk from Akaroa village. Like much of Akaroa's heritage, the property's history is a fusion of French and English ambition, though the house was constructed in 1896, therefore is a little younger than some of the other historic buildings. The first buildings here, in 1840, were a home and courthouse for Charles Barrington Robinson, Akaroa's first magistrate. These were the days around the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, when the English were in a rush to assert their soverignty, most especially in areas where the French had a presence, like Akaroa. The court moved on and the house was converted, to Wagstaffs hotel, apparently a big rambling wooden affair, which lasted until a massive fire in 1894.

Then second generation French Kiwi Etienne Xavier Le Lievre took over, and had Christchurch architect JC Maddison design Oinako house, which was home to his family until his death in 1943. Although most of the land was then sold off and the house and remaining gardens went through a few hands, it has, since 2003 been operating successfully as a bed and breakfast. The Canterbury Earthquakes did cause some damage but it is now all repaired.

BOOK YOUR STAY AT HISTORIC OINAKO HOUSE AKAROA

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