One of the early cottages contributing to Arrowtown’s historic character is on the market.
It’s ‘Granny Dennison’s Cottage’, on the prime, elevated corner of Wiltshire and Hertford Sts, opposite the fire station.
Built using schist stone and timber weatherboards in about 1877, the L-shaped cottage was supplemented in the early 1900s by a small weatherboard office reputed to be a former Buckingham St cobbler’s shop, while a traditional outhouse is also on-site.
The name comes from Ellen ‘Granny’ Dennison who lived there from 1936 to 1964.
The property is being marketed for deadline sale, closing April 15, by Colliers Queenstown brokers Candice Buchanan, Vera Stewart and Rory O’Donnell.
Buchanan says there’s good demand for properties in the residential historic management zone that are close to Buckingham St.
‘‘Many of the Arrowtown properties that have sold are sort of somewhere between 500 and 1000 square metres whereas this is 1501sq m — to get a site that large close to town is very hard.’’
Stewart says the site’s in two triangular-shaped titles but it’d be possible to realign them to create more regular shapes.
She notes the cottage itself is protected as a Heritage New Zealand category 2-listed historic place, though there might be more leeway to alter the 1900s addition.
If someone wanted an enlarged residence, ‘‘the existing cottage could be incorporated into some future development’’.
The property’s rateable value is $3.125 million.
‘‘We’re expecting to see interest above that,’’ Stewart says.