'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.
I found this stately old house in North Canterbury in 1986 resplendent with its decorative barge boards, slate roof (from Wales?) and red bricks. Looking at it twenty-five years later I wonder how it coped with the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Brick buildings suffered terribly; indeed a near contemporary of Ohoka, the Deans's family home at Homebush, was almost completely destroyed.
In some ways, Ohoka appears a bit brooding and grim, a bit Dickensian, but a happy family - dynasty - would have put the lie to that. I know nothing of the family, the architect or the builders.
© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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