Add Category
Posted
It's been 62 years since the once-proud vice-regal residence of Marble Hill was destroyed by fire, but hammers are tapping in the Adelaide Hills as dedicated builders bring it back from the ashes.
Walls for the former 26-room gothic revival mansion built in 1879 are being painstakingly repaired by stonemasons, and its spectacular tower has been resurrected with a new roof and lintels.
The ruins were previously in the care of the National Trust from 1972, and later the Friends of Marble Hill, who offered public visits to a site that once reflected the pride and ambition of a city born of free settlers.
But other than minor repairs and the restoration of the tower, nobody had been willing, or able, to front the money required for a full restoration.
Enter locals Edwin and Patricia Michell who bought the site in 2009 with plans to restore it and move in.
Scaffolding now covers the private residence and little quirks that prompted the curiosity of tourists, such as a pet cemetery in the courtyard, are off limits to visitors taking advantage of occasional open days at the former summer residence for SA governors.
"These were three dogs that were owned by Malcolm Barclay-Harvey, who was governor from 1939 to 1944," property manager Greg Cramond said.
He said a bulldozer operator discovered the tombstones for Maggie, Squeakie and Wow in the garden while cleaning up after the fire.
The National Trust later installed them in the courtyard outside a part of the building that had become a site museum.
"We believe one of them died after getting squashed in a swinging door within the building at some stage," Mr Cramond said.
"We're not sure which one it was, but to coin a bad pun, if it was Squeakie or even Wow, it would have been an ironic end.
"Perhaps they were getting a bit older and slower."
The tombstones have been removed and put into storage to keep them safe during the restoration being undertaken by Andrew Green Constructions.
"We've got a container load of interesting pieces we've saved," Mr Green said.
"When we dug a new septic tank over the embankment we found lots of old stuff because the bulldozers pushed a lot of stuff over the bank."
One of the first jobs on the site included commissioning an engineer's report on the ruins to see if any underpinning was required.
The foundations were deemed "solid as a rock" and the rebuild was designed to code that would safeguard the building against bushfire, earthquake and cyclonic winds.
"There's a huge steel frame that Andrew had designed and made down at Magill ... pinned into the stone in what they call a chemical anchor," Mr Cramond said.
"This whole thing is held together with this, sort of, metal cage. It's rock solid and frankly, if we ever have an earthquake I'm coming here."
The original built in 1879 to 1880 utilised 30 stonemasons. The fact the ruins have stood strong for 62 years without a roof tells the story of its quality.
"It's all about bringing the stone to the steel so you're not relying on the stone to be the structural element," Mr Green said of its restoration.
The company utilised three stonemasons to deconstruct a lot of the cracked stone walls until they were happy with their integrity and then built them back up again.
Some pieces were damaged or missing, largely due to locals salvaging stone for their own properties during the 17 years after the fire when nothing happened on a site expected to be demolished.
They had to be replaced with stone from Gosford in New South Wales due to a lack of suitable local stone.
Other materials and staff were sourced locally wherever possible, including bricks from Littlehampton Clay Bricks and Pavers, which designed a brick to match those found at Marble Hill, all of which were recycled into the site.
"We've had to rebuild three chimneys so far. The last two chimneys, just from the ceiling to the top of them, required 5,500 bricks, and that's enough to build a house," Mr Cramond said.
The group also uncovered "beautifully engineered, brick-lined water tanks" for which there were no plans, with "massive archways" and a capacity for more than 300,000 litres.
"Ed the owner knew the top of one of them was there and asked: 'How big is it?'" Mr Cramond said.
"So we stuck a pump in there thinking it was only half full with water and would pump out in a few hours. Three days later, we're still pumping."
A windmill once pumped that water up from the tanks to another igloo tank atop the hill from where the water would gravitate back down.
"It was rather ingenious, but unfortunately it wasn't accessible for firewater in 1955. They didn't have a fire system as we know it."
Marble Hill burnt down during the Black Sunday bushfires in January 1955.
Governor-in-residence at the time Sir Robert George, his family and servants, had to flee outside and shelter beneath wet blankets.
They could not escape in cars because they had been damaged by molten lead pouring from the mansion's roof. Specks of molten lead are still visible on the mansion's stone work.
Mr Cramond said his mother was nine months' pregnant when the fire gutted the building and watched the mansion burn into the night.
"She said the tower just burnt like a roman candle," he said.
Mr Green said they had only just finished removing some of the charred lintels from inside the building and described the restoration as a dream job.
"I've always had a bit of love for the old fashioned stuff ... one of them was a good restoration of the Archbishop's house in North Adelaide," he said.
"I was brought up down the valley in Montacute and remember riding past on my bike to footy training and thinking, 'I wonder if that place will ever get done up'.
"Then I got a job in the building game as an apprentice carpenter and was always thinking it would be good to get hold of that and fix it up — and so many years later it happens."
The restoration's lock-up stage is expected to be achieved by early 2019. The site's original stables, which were historically turned into a car garage, have already been restored with their original façade and the interior renovated into a function centre.
It boasts perhaps one of the most spectacular locations for a wedding near Adelaide, but its extraordinary view is surpassed by the 360-degree panorama atop the main building's tower.
The wider property will be opened a minimum of seven days a year — including during next month's October long weekend.
The mansion itself is being restored as a private residence and tours inside the house are likely to be limited and a thing of the past.
Topics: history, architecture, architectural, human-interest, adelaide-5000, basket-range-5138, sa