Evolution of heritage homes to be explored at He Waka Tuia
The exploration of heritage as a living, ongoing part of our community is set to be unravelled in a conversation that will bring together interior, architectural, and real estate insiders at He Waka Tuia.
Lunchtime panel Good Bones: Old Homes, New Lives would be held at the Invercargill gallery on Thursday, and would bring together interior designer Sarah Jordan, real estate agent Hannah Mason, and architect Roger Beattie in a conversation facilitated by Invercargill identity Sarah McCarthy.
He Waka Tuia Senior Curator: Exhibitions Gemma McDonald said the event would help audiences translate the themes explored within the exhibitions currently on display at He Waka Tuia – Victoria and If These Walls Could Talk –into a lived, contemporary experience.
“The stories held within older homes don’t sit in the past, but continue to evolve through how we choose to reimagine and live within them today. New life being breathed into character homes is one of the most tangible ways we see people honouring what came before, while actively shaping the next chapter of those spaces,” she said.
“What we’re exploring at He Waka Tuia is exactly what’s happening across our community. Heritage isn’t static. People aren’t just preserving older homes, but reinterpreting them in ways that keep their stories alive for years to come.”
Originally from Dunedin, interior designer Jordan said while she worked on a range of properties, she had a particular passion for restoring and renovating character and heritage homes.
“I’m obsessed with the idea of blending history, workmanship, and well-thought-out spaces to create beautiful, family-friendly homes,” she said.
“I've always been fascinated by how people used to live and how furniture and belongings would be treasured, cared for, and passed on generationally. Craftsmanship and longevity of design has always interested me, plus the fact that good design and style can span centuries and still be valid and very beautiful. I think my enjoyment in working in heritage and character spaces stems directly from this – aiming to create spaces that are suitable for modern living but also showcase their wonderful history.
“I really hope that people leave feeling excited that they own a piece of New Zealand’s past,” she said.
Born and bred in Invercargill, Ray White real estate agent Hannah Mason said she had grown up in a 1910s villa and had a deep affinity with character homes.
“I love property and character homes, and I greatly admire both Roger and Sarah’s work, so I thought this event was too good of an opportunity to miss. It’s so interesting to reflect on how much property has changed over the years,” she said.
She was looking forward to sharing insights from a real estate perspective – including the important things to look for when considering buying an older property, and understanding what buyers were looking for as a vendor keen to sell or add value to their homes, she said.
“Quality renovations and maintenance that keep a home in line with its era are very special. A lot of new builds are really similar in terms of details such as lighting and colour palettes, while character homes have so much beauty and so many intricate details,” she said.
“Seeing a character property with furnishings and renovations that align with its era is pretty amazing to see. I’ve renovated a couple of character homes, and there is a real balance in embracing how people live today – ensuring your floor plans work, with open plan kitchens and living spaces, and enhancing a good indoor-outdoor flow – while keeping character intact.”
McDonald said that Victoria, by artists Adrienne Martyn and Nela Fletcher, took its name for a building, a queen, and an idea. Developed inside the former Queen Victoria Hospital in Invercargill, the exhibition approached heritage as something lived, rather than preserved.
Victoria featured photographic works by Martyn that reflected on interiors left behind, suggesting that absence could be active, and how architecture absorbed the rhythms, pressures, and emotions of daily life.
Meanwhile, Fletcher’s moving image works introduced the body as a way of testing the building’s limits. Her artwork The Smell Brings It Back drew on interviews with Southland women who gave birth at the Dee St Maternity Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s, translated into subtitled fragments that moved alongside gestures of strain, release and care.
Together, works by the two artists proposed heritage as something held in the body, as much as it is held in bricks and mortar.
Running alongside Victoria, the exhibition If These Walls Could Talk brought together art and objects connected to Invercargill’s heritage buildings.
If These Walls Could Talk also explored how buildings – across civic spaces, homes, schools, and places of community connection – accumulated meaning over time, McDonald said.
“Heritage buildings are more than physical structures – they are vessels of collective memory, and they hold the multifaceted and layered stories of an entire community across generations,” she said.
“If These Walls Could Talk invites visitors to see that those stories don’t end when a building’s original purpose does. Every time we pass by, remember, reinterpret, or even simply notice these spaces, we’re adding to their narrative. They remain an enduring, living part of our shared identity that shape everyday life here in Waihōpai Invercargill.”
Victoria and If These Walls Could Talk would be exhibited at He Waka Tuia until 3 May.
