Rue Grehan, Akaroa - French historical cottage

 

I am a member of the Libeau French family. They are one of the families that originally settled Akaroa, hoping it would be be part of France. As we all know they were in for a shock when they arrived in 1840 (10 years before the main English settlers) to see the British flag flying from Green Point instead of the Tricoleur. 

For such a long time Akaroa managed to hold on to what made it special, it's Frenchness, but in recent years due to unsympathetic persons in league with a wilfully ignorant media that specialness has been scraped away and much genuine heritage information lost. Part of my life's mission, if you like, is to try to preserve some of the knowledge disappearing with folks my age and older. How to do this? Get it online. This is the first in a three-part series on settler cottages associated with my Libeau family and the current situation in Akaroa.

When I came back to NZ from France I did consider moving to Akaroa but properties are very expensive there, there is almost no serviced land to build a new home nearby and the one subdivision on the scraped top of the hills above Duvauchelles had amazing views with incredible winds sweeping across the harbour and no flat land for gardening. And then there’s the ‘hill’; a major impediment if you need anything that tiny Akaroa cannot supply, especially a fully equipped hospital. So, no. It’s too isolated for many older folks who may at some point lose their licenses.

One of our historic Libeau cottages came up for sale at the end of last year. I was determined to have a look though I didn’t have the money to buy it. 

This former workers’ cottage built by Joseph Libeau Snr is steeped in our history and it looks lovely from the outside. The garden is charming but as I wandered around with a practised eye I noticed that the paintwork in most areas was poor quality and literally seemed to be painted over the defects. There were cracks and pieces of trim missing, with no attempt to fix things up for the open homes. Lights not working, some furnishings were threadbare. I have included a link to a short real estate video on this property and am unsure how long it will remain online.

 The owners had made a pleasing effort with the garden layout and maintenance. It was suitably cottagey.

I noticed some crockery embedded in concrete beside the garden. I was informed that they were the remains of plates unearthed when improvements were made to the heating of the house. A nice touch, I thought, that a bit of our history is visible every day in the garden.

The kitchen seemed typically old French style prevalent even today, hard to work in with almost no cupboards. It did seem to be in a reasonable state though I don’t know if
it has enough power points and lights. Lots of interesting clutter. Generally the presentation was patchy at best, rather too jumbly though mostly clean but they may have been better to have staged the lounge area instead of the old ‘tatty stuff’ that degraded it all.

If I had had the money I would have liked to have bought it as a holiday home and improved the interior but not at the prices expected. This property has been sold every few years, owners don’t stay. One of the previous owners was nosing around the day I was ‘nosing’ too. It is not the most ‘upmarket’ of the Libeau cottages still existing. Section 501sqm, house 100sqm,  3 bedrooms and one bathroom. 

Improvements have added a lot of charm and it looks good in the photos but up close there’s clearly better upkeep to be done. I'm pleased the cottage is still being lived in though, to preserve it.

60 Rue Grehan is listed Historic Place category 2 number 7354 as of 12th December 1996.

, 

Lot 1 DP 55440 (RT CB33F/498)     $760 000 was the previous selling price and the current owners wanted significantly more in the $800,000s. The sale price was $810,000 November 2023. It is already valued well over $900,000.

Watch a short video on the cottage still online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iXQ4xmvhnc