Shand House, Craighead Diocesan School
Building Details
Name of Building: | Shand House, Craighead Diocesan School |
Location: | 1/3 Wrights Avenue, Timaru |
Date Plaque Unveiled: | TBA |
Current Owners: | |
Contact Details: |
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Plaque Sponsor: | TBA |
Plaque Text
TBA
Related Links
- Heritage NZ Inventory - Link: https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/2051/Craighead%20School%20House
- District Council Heritage - Link:
Brief Historical Information:
Henry Sealy (1838-1925) built this house in c.1875. Sealy had emigrated to New Zealand with his brother Edward in 1859 and the two men subsequently worked in partnership as surveyors. Henry married Emma Askin at St Mary’s Anglican Church in Timaru in 1873 and the couple had three children.
A family history based on HJ Sealy’s diaries and letters dating from 1858-1878 is held in the South Canterbury Museum. Henry Le Cren purchased the property, which he named ‘Craighead’, in 1881 and held it until his death in 1895. When it was offered for sale in June 1896 the property ranged over 40 acres and included a gardener’s lodge. The so-called ‘Township of Craighead’ was subdivided in December 1910, Mayor Wright was then said to be in residence.
This large parcel between Wai-Iti Road in the south and Douglas Street in the north, included Chalmers Street, Craighead Street, Kitchener Square and Wrights Avenue/Sealy Street. Craighead Girls’ School opened in ‘Craighead’ by the Misses Shand (Anna, Eleanor, Fanny and Elizabeth) in May 1911. The sisters were the daughters of Professor John Shand of Otago University. Following the sisters’ retirement, the school became an Anglican church school in 1926 and an integrated state school in 1982.
The former Sealy house is now known as Shand House.
Restoration and Current Owner Story
TBA
