Sidey consequently relinquished his role as a shopkeeper and became a cattle farmer, and set about clearing the forested slopes of his Corstorphine. For the first eight years he, his wife Johanna and their first young children lived at Corstorphine in a small cottage. In 1863 John started construction of his grand two-storey Corstorphine House in plain yet elegant Roman High Renaissance style. Built from limestone, the house featured large rooms, wide passages and iron lace decorated verandahs to accommodate the growing Sidey family.
In 1910 Sidey, then aged 87, supervised the building of the south-west wing of the house, including drawing and billards rooms, above which were three bedrooms and a bathroom.
The House was complemented by some seven acres of landscaped grounds, along with a long curving driveway that was flanked by flower gardens and orchard, and that ended with a large lawn in front of the House. The gardens also boasted a conservatory, a tomato house, a rose garden, two grape houses, and a pergola and summer house. There was an asphalt tennis court, men’s quarters, stables plus harness room. The house eventually accommodated seven family members plus a cook, two housemaids, a chauffeur, a gardener and a cowman.
The House remained within the Sidey family up until 1956, when it was then purchased by the Presbyterian Church as a home for intellectually handicapped women. In 1994 the house, conservatory, stables, gazebo and gateway, now registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, was sold to the Kirkland family who owned it for just three short years prior to Irina and Nico Francken purchasing it in December 1997. Irina and Nico then took on the challenge of lovingly restoring Cortsorphine House and creating, as it is today, one of New Zealand’s finest small private hotels.
For more information download: Full_History_of_Corstorphine_House (PDF)
A grand family home
