Woodside - Castlamore

'Lord Concrete' (F W Petre) was the designer here and concrete is still the lord in this impressive residence, which is approaching it's third half century in a town famous for freezing and rotting timber houses.

Not far from Otago University, 'Castlamore' was built on a hillside near the botanic gardens in 1876 for judge Henry Chapman. Petre's church designs were ornate, finickity, and absolute to the detail, as well as being firmly grounded in European architectural traditions. With this 'castle', he went to town, doing something entirely different, applying the new construction material of concrete, to designs like casselations which would traditionally have been made of stone. The windows on his domestic buildings are also interesting in that they are not small, as they would have been in a genuine castle.

The concrete is unadorned, exposed and unashamedly plain concrete. Ground breaking in 1876. Like most other grand homes in this precinct, it has been divided into flats, the complex being called 'Lovelock House'.

The other castle-style and concrete building designed by Petre, Cargills Castle, has not weathered the years nearly as well, but is still a landmark in Dunedin.

(Woodside Manor - The Poplars is an earlier, brick farmhouse, in a rural setting near Outram)

Image Credit: Google Maps

NZPlaces would appreciate an image of Woodside - Castlamore