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James Wallace is selling Christchurch’s McLean’s Mansion after failing to fund its restoration.
Wallace was convicted in 2021 for indecent assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The mansion, a Category 1 heritage building, needs a buyer to complete its restoration.
Convicted sex offender and disgraced arts patron James Wallace is putting a 125-year-old Christchurch mansion up for sale after being unable to fund the building’s restoration.
Wallace called the sale of McLean’s Mansion a “rare” opportunity for the right buyer who will need their own funds to complete therestoration.
Wallace said McLean’s Mansion Charitable Trust could not realise its “original vision without broad-based institutional backing and sustained public investment”.
The historic McLean's mansion is believed to be the second largest wooden building in New Zealand.
“We have now established that there is no viable prospect of our securing that funding.”
He said the trust could not allow the mansion – which has a CV of $4.68 million – to remain unoccupied, unfurnished and vulnerable to deterioration, so the decision was made to put the massive home on the market.
He said the trust was trying to find a buyer who appreciated the “heritage value of the building and is prepared to carry forward and fund the work which has to be done”.
“The sale process will be conducted with care, and proposals aligned with the spirit and original purpose of the project will be strongly preferred.”
The sprawling house, built in 1900 for wealthy Scottish immigrant Allan McLean, was devastated in the Canterbury earthquakes.
The trust board was formed to buy it and safeguard it when the building was threatened with demolition.
The mansion is reputed to be the largest wooden residence in New Zealand and the second-largest wooden building in the country, behind the Old Government Buildings on Lambton Quay in Wellington.
Listed as a Category 1 heritage building by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT), the mansion was occupied by classrooms before the earthquakes.
James Wallace appeared in the Auckland District Court for trial in March 2019 before he had his knighthood stripped from him. Photo / Jason Oxenham
After it was built, the mansion was used as a private home for only 13 years. McLean was one of the major runholders and was one of the wealthiest men in Canterbury in his day.
The mansion is one of New Zealand’s largest homes at 2100sq m and boasts 53 rooms. It is considered internationally significant as one of the world’s largest surviving Victorian timber houses.
Former trust chairman Chris Kissling told the Press he was not pleased with Wallace selling the historic site, saying Wallace assured the trust he had enough money to finish the project when the arts patron first took his position on the board.
“He assured us and he gave us his word,” Kissling said.
“Obviously he has changed his mind and he wants his money back out. I am not well pleased with him.”
