A visit to Ravenscar House Museum

01 Oct 2025

Rolleston Central Probus Club recently visited the Ravenscar House Museum.

The Museum is one of New Zealand’s most significant private art collections displayed in a stylish contemporary house.

The collection was donated by Jim and Susan Wakefield who began acquiring paintings and decorative arts while living in Auckland in the late 1980s.

The Wakefield’s lived in Scarborough in a spectacular home on Whitewash Head where they amassed their collection of paintings, sculptures, glassware, antiques and designer furniture. They intended to gift their house and contents to the people of Christchurch, but the house was damaged beyond repair in the February 2011 earthquake. So, they built Ravenscar (named after an English village where Susan ’s family holidayed) and gifted it to the city to house these treasured artworks.

One example of their exquisite collection is the matching bedroom furniture commissioned by Jim and Susan from British master craftsman David Linley, Queen Elizabeth II’s nephew. The various pieces incorporate patterns of inlaid timbers such as oak, ash, walnut, cherry, and sycamore.

It was a very informative visit and one that left everyone a little in envy of how one can amass such a fortune! A delicious lunch followed at Dux Dine, Riccarton.