- Victoria Ginn is selling the “Blue Matriarch” after renovating it from a derelict state.
- Ginn transformed the building with vibrant colours, rewiring, replumbing, and adding a pool.
- The historic property, priced at $750,000-plus, offers potential for tourism or multi-family use.
Acclaimed photographer Victoria Ginn is selling South Taranaki’s iconic "Blue Matriarch" after saving it from the scrapheap.
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Ginn spotted a listing for the old Commercial Hotel while she was living in Fiji.
The 19th-century building, once the bustling heart of Normanby, had been sitting empty for at least six years and was sold off by the bank after the previous owners hit financial hardship.
Ginn bought the property sight unseen. “I thought, ‘It’s calling me and calling me to help it’.”
Owner Victoria Ginn brought the property back to life. Photo / Supplied
The interior decor is maximalist in style and reflects Ginn’s artistic sensibilities. Photo / Supplied
She didn’t set foot in the pub for another two years (it took her that long to sell her house in Fiji and move back to New Zealand), and when she did, it was the middle of the night. Nothing was open, and there was no power, so she pulled up a mattress and slept in the pitch dark.
“It was a very spooky place,” she said.
Over the last five years, she’s put her creative skills to the test and brought colour to the drab building. “I’m a creative person and I like to bring colour and light and happiness into places, so I’ve done that.”
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She spent Covid painting up a storm. The exterior is now two shades of bright blue, while the interiors have benefitted from splashes of burgundy, gold, green, purple and yellow.
“It was a nice space to be in,” she told OneRoof.
Ginn said she had been inspired by the maximalist décor style popular in the US, and that she embraced bold colours, patterns, and textures in the wall coverings, cushions, throws, rugs and furniture.
Canvases adorn the walls of the upstairs flat, while materials imported from overseas have been hung downstairs. “It has the effect of walking into an art space,” she said, adding that she had chosen the colours carefully to make sure they didn’t clash.
The pub was in a bad shape when Ginn spotted it online. She turned it around and has made it a home for her art. Photo / Supplied
“It’s a marriage of different colours that actually work well together rather than conflict. It balances the light and shade of the building.”
Ginn also re-wired, re-plumbed, re-piled and re-roofed the property and opened up some of the pokier rooms to create more space. Outside, she added a magnesium and saltwater pool and built a 3m high wall around it to create a resort vibe.
On display in many of the rooms are her late mother’s artworks and her own photography.
Seven years in, Ginn said she was now ready to sell and move on to another project.
While the nine-bedroom building had been her own private residence, in reality, it could sleep multiple families. There are two full-sized kitchens plus a kitchenette, three bathrooms and numerous bedrooms.
Ginn said there was plenty of scope to open it up to the public and even run a tourism business from it.
The Wellington-born photographer said Normanby had been a breath of fresh air.
“It’s really, really easy to live there. If it weren’t for my age and commitments, I probably wouldn’t even consider selling it.”
The historic building has an asking price of $750,000-plus, which Ginn believes is a bargain given its replacement value is $2.3m.
“She’s quite a special building. She stands alone, she looks to the mountain, and she stands strong across the wind.”
- 22 Mawhitiwhiti Road, in Normanby, South Taranaki, is inviting enquiries over $750,000
