- Sue Cardiff transformed a former Freemasons' hall in Waitara into a colourful two-bedroom home.
- The renovation involved earthquake-strengthening, flood-proofing, and creative interior design using original materials.
- The property, listed for $499,000-plus, is suited for imaginative buyers seeking a unique living space.
Sue Cardiff’s renovations are anything but ordinary, but her latest project in Waitara might be her most imaginative yet.
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The Taranaki “jack of all trades” has just finished transforming a former Freemasons' hall into a colourful two-bedroom home, and has listed it for sale for $499,000-plus.
Cardiff told OneRoof that the project came along at just the right time. She was finding life in her own home way too ordinary when she saw the listing for 20 Domett Street.
The hall was built in 1913 for the Sir Donald McLean Lodge. Photo / Supplied
Owner Sue Cardiff and her family have strengthened the property and given it a new lease of life. Photo / Supplied
"I had previously owned a Seventh-day Adventist church near New Plymouth for 20 years. I renovated it and turned it into accommodation,” she said.
"Then I moved from there to a three-bedroom house with a picket fence in Ōkato, and that didn't work.
“I saw the listing for the Freemasons’ hall in Waitara in 2018. I was never going to live in Waitara, but there we are.”
Cardiff, who paid $150,000 for the property, knew she was taking on a huge project, which included earthquake-strengthening and flood-proofing work. "We had to do a fair amount of demolishing because there were banks of seating inside,” she said.
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The hall was built in 1913 for the Sir Donald McLean Lodge, and was owned by the Freemasons until 2018.
Cardiff and her partner had planned to create a private museum, as they had done at their church. However, changing circumstances put the couple on a different path. “It's been quite a journey,” Cardiff said, adding that her octogenarian father - a seasoned renovator - even stepped in to help at one point.
The work recommended by TSE Commercial Construction and Engineering involved creating two mezzanine floors at either end of the main hall. “Many of my internal walls had to be relined with bracing ply. I also had to put in strap bracing within the ceiling of the big hall.”
The decor reflects Cardiff's love of the extraordinary. Photo / Supplied
Cardiff created a striking mural for the outside of the hall. Photo / Supplied
While the structural work followed regulations, the interior design was anything but conventional. Cardiff let her imagination run riot. Where possible, she used original materials, or in the case of the conservatory floor, a collection of mismatched tiles she had for her mosaic work. The conservatory was also flood-proofed to meet council requirements.
“In the big hall, the blue ceiling and dark blue moulding reflect the original colours. All I've done is get up there and clean it.” Where possible, she reused the retro carpet.
The architect recommended Cardiff paint a mural outside, and she took the design from a canvas she had painted previously that featured shells, ferns, pukeko, kowhai and Mount Taranaki.
The property has been pitched to buyers with imagination. Photo / Supplied
“The conservatory, which has multi-tiled floors, was a challenge I set myself to use up all my old tiles and not cut a tile. Some tiles were left over from mosaics, some were repurposed or picked up along the way. It ended up like a giant jigsaw puzzle.”
Another example of Cardiff’s resourceful approach is the letterbox. She took the original metal Freemasons’ lettering from the roof and had a friend weld the letters to a letterbox stand.
Cardiff bought cork tiles for the kitchen floor because they would be warm, but painted them because they looked too boring otherwise. She used decoupage on some of the doors, and patchwork quilts added to the eclectic style.
“I wouldn't know that I'm known in art circles. I'm just a hobbyist. I try lots of things. I've done mosaics and patchwork. I'm a bit like a jack-of-all-trades. I dabble.”
The home does have home comforts and mod cons as well, including a fireplace, heat pumps and underfloor heating.
Cardiff said she expected the buyer would be someone like her, who didn’t like bland white interiors. “Somebody with a bit of imagination,” she said.
Harcourts listing agent Mandi Jane Povey said the property would suit a range of buyers, from those looking for a work-from-home situation, highlighting it could be used as a health or healing centre, an artists' retreat, a yoga business or a collaboration space. “Or just enjoying the simple life. The options are endless, and mind-blowing.”
Povey loves the fact that the hall had been renovated by a woman. “It comes from the whole patriarchal system where it was all about men and not about women. We’re not Fred and Wilma Flintstone any longer. We live in a world today where men and women are considered equal.”
- 20 Domett Street, Waitara, New Plymouth, is seeking buyer enquiry over $499,000
