Thorndon Open Day: Literature, Music & Art

Combined Open Days at the Randell Cottage, the Lilburn Residency and the Rita Angus Residency. The homes of New Zealand artists, composers, and authors.

All three residences will be open to the public for the afternoon of Saturday 2 November. Visitors will be able to walk through each one as they are very close. There will be birthday cake on offer to celebrate what would have been Douglas Lilburn’s 104th birthday. A simple map will be available to show the route.

The Randell Cottage (14 St Mary’s Street), a Category II historic place built in 1867, will be open for visits with readings by a writer during the afternoon.

The Lilburn Residence (22 Ascot Street, Category I), where the composer Douglas Lilburn lived and worked, will be open for visitors to explore, with music in the cottage and the garden.

The garden at the Rita Angus Cottage (Category I historic place) will be open to visitors, who are encouraged to stay and sketch the abundant array of flowers and plant life that surround the 1877 cottage where New Zealand artist Rita Angus lived between 1955 and 1970, providing her with much inspiration and subject matter.

Thorndon Trustees and volunteer gardeners will be on hand, with drawing material and reproductions of some of Rita’s representations of her Thorndon garden.

No booking required.