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Gay Tan’s House
Gay Tan’s house is of special historic importance. It is the last intact Chinese residence in the Macraes area and is one of only a few surviving Chinese buildings throughout Otago. This is despite the fact that Chinese miners made up a substantial proportion of the population during the late nineteenth century. As such it represents an important aspect of goldfields history that is otherwise represented by fragmented archeological sites rather than intact structures.
It is also an extremely rare example of Chinese affluence in the goldfields, as most Chinese were poor and lived in small huts. A house of this size, style and permanence was uncommon amongst European miners, let alone the Chinese. Gay Tan was a man well outside the Chinese norm in Otago, being both relatively wealthy and having married a European wife.
The house marks the site of the Gifford Road Chinese camp, which was situated on the other side of Gifford Road. Such Chinese settlements were a common feature of goldmining settlements, generally located a short distance away from the main European settlement. Similar location patterns can still be identified at Lawrence and Arrowtown. (Extract from Heritage NZ website – Historic Places Register – List Number 7550).
The house was built by Louis Gay Tan (Looi Yi Tsaan) a prominent merchant and interpreter who arrived in NZ in 1867. Between 1870 and 1873 Gay Tan resided at Macraes Flat where he acted as an interpreter and formed a partnership with Ah Hung in the Sin Loon Shing store at Macraes. In 1873 Gay Tan moved on to Naseby were he ran a store and boarding house for Europeans and Chinese and where he married Emma Finch (a European). The couple left Naseby in 1875 and moved to Macraes. There is no exact date recorded for the construction of the house however it is thought to have been built during the period 1876 and 1882 and it definitely predates 1898 when it appears on a plan for mining rights. There is a 1901 photograph of Gay Tan standing in front of the house.
Architecturally the house displays the typical colonial Georgian style of a square floor plan, central front door with a window placed symmetrically on either side and a hipped roof. The house is constructed of mud brick with a corrugated iron roof. The mud brick walls have been plastered with ornamental quoms modelled on the front corners. An ornamental plaster frieze is around the front door.
Gay Tans House is possibly the only surviving intact Chinese goldfields house in Otago and that along with the level of appointments (most Chinese goldfields structures were extremely basic) make it very significant.
The house is a Registered Category 2 Historic Place and has been protected in perpetuity via a heritage covenant between Oceana Gold (NZ) Ltd and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Toanga.
Oceana Gold NZ) Ltd has funded several phases of restoration work on Gay Tans House. In 2005 repairs and stabilisation of the mud brick walls were completed along with drainage improvements and rebuilding of the rear lean-to. In 2010 an external wall of the cottage collapsed requiring substandard bricks to be removed and replaced. Further drainage works were completed at this time, an external render plaster was applied to the exterior, gutters replaced and the decorative frieze above the door reinstated. Work commenced in 2016 to upgrade the interior of the house. The work completed to date has included repairing and levelling of the sub-floor, installation of new timber floor boards and plastering of interior walls. Work still to be completed includes repairing the ceilings and installing skirting’s and architraves. As the house is surrounding by many mature trees, assessments of the safety of these trees were completed at each phase and on an ongoing basis and any threats to the buildings trimmed or removed.