Lake House is a vibrant community arts centre in a heritage building setting, administered by a private charitable trust, The Lake House Trust Inc. The buildings are sited on land leased from North Shore City Council, at Barry’s Point Reserve. “Why Lake House?” The ground floor of Lake House was built in the late 1890’s at the northern end of Takapuna Beach, when the area was known as the Lake Roading District of Waitemata County Council. Takapuna Borough Council did not come into existence until 1913. “Was the house ever on Lake Pupuke?” No, it was never situated beside Lake Pupuke. There was a hotel there briefly in the early 1900’s which burned down in 1909. “Why save it?” In the early 1900’s, Lake House was the Sheppard family home. In 1909 Newson Sheppard added the second storey to cater for summer holiday visitors to the area. At one stage there were seventeen (tiny) bedrooms. With the death of Newson Sheppard in the 1919 flu epidemic the house was sold and thereafter was solely an investment property, divided into flats. This meant that there was very little attempt to “modernise” it during the ensuing 80 years – doors, windows, fireplaces, kauri floors etc are almost all original. It has a Category A rating from North Shore City Council as a unique example of a Victorian/Edwardian seaside boarding house. “How was it saved?” The developer of The Sands apartment complex was given a dispensation in the early 1990’s to remove the Category A building in order to provide access to the site and allow for the removal of four other buildings, provided he re-sited and restored the building within the Takapuna ward of North Shore City. When it became obvious that this was not going to happen, a group of concerned local citizens formed The Lake House Trust Inc. in 1996 and approached the Council for land to site the building on. A site on the old Barry’s Point Refuse tip was made available, and the house was cut into seven pieces and trucked to its new site, where it sat on pallets for eighteen months while the new site was prepared. The result of ten years hard work is now there for all to see. “Where did the outside studios come from?” The Barrack building studios are the most recent addition to Lake House. The Trust acquired the building in 2004 when North Shore City Council was clearing the old Ministry of Defence land at Fort Takapuna, south of Narrow Neck beach. It had been a Barrack building for Fort Cautley. “How old is the Barrack building?” It is a building of more recent origin (1930’s). It is built of weatherboard with a corrugated iron roof and it blends in easily with Lake House. “How did you make it happen?” Lake House Trustees heard about the demolition of the Army Barracks at Fort Cautley and approached the demolition company. They agreed that Lake House could have the building as long as they took responsibility for removing it. While obtaining Council consents to place it on Barry's Point Reserve, the barracks were stored at a house removal firm for a year before it could be sited for renovations. “Who helped to fund it?” The Principal donor was Haydn & Rollett Construction who recently celebrated their 60th anniversary of operation and have been instrumental in the renovations of the Barracks and helping Lake House realise this monumental project. The major donors were ASB Charitable Trust, North Shore City Council and the Community Facilities Funding. Other contributors were the Chisholm Whitney Family Charitable Trust, Sky City Foundation, Becroft Foundation, Pub Charity, Trillian Trust and Community First Foundation. So many other companies provided wonderful discounts and donations. See the display board in the Barrack  Building. “How can I get involved?” Become a member of Lake House. We rely on our volunteers to help with the garden upkeep, mail outs, gallery hanging, marketing, catering and more. Lake House is like a large family home and all of us its Whanau. Become a member today (PDF membership form) · Monthly newsletters · Discounts on art classes · Discounts on room hire · Discounts from various art shops · Know that you will be contributing to the well being of this great historic place.   Trustees Adrienne Welch - Chairman Fiona Downes - Vice Chairman Ruth Ell - Secretary/Treasurer Judy McCready Genevieve Becroft Cathy Wildermoth Jill Capon Lynette Jolicoeur Sunny Riordan Muriel Garrett Lake House Staff Kim Boyd - Manager/Accounts Tracy Sampson - Education/Customer Service/Website Saskia Charteris - Venue Co-ordinator/Customer Service Office hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm Gallery: Monday - Friday 10am-4pm, Saturday & Sunday 10am - 3pm. 37 Fred Thomas Drive, Barry’s Point Reserve, Takapuna PO Box 33-1037, Takapuna 0740 Phone: (09) 486 4877 Fax: (09) 486 4874 Email: manager@lakehousearts.org.nz