Cargill's Castle Trust

Cargill's Castle is one of the most significant historic structures in Dunedin and the only castle ruin in New Zealand. It has outstanding aesthetic significance and epitomises the romantic ruin: a spectacular cliff-top location, crumbling grandeur, set amid the remains of its garden. It also has special significance as an
early surviving concrete structure of Italianate design, expressing the wealth and power of Dunedin's 19th century elite. Its subsequent history reflects changing fortunes and use. It remains a prominent landmark in the city.

Built for Edward Bowes Cargill, the seventh son of Captain William Cargill, one of the founders of the Dunedin settlement in the 1840s, Cargill’s home completed in 1877 was originally known as The Cliffs.
Its architect F W (Frank) Petre, at times referred to as Lord Concrete, was an early pioneer of the use of poured concrete for buildings of which there are several fine surviving examples in Dunedin and the lower South Island.
After Cargill’s death in 1903, the house passed to his daughter, who married Frank Petre, then through many other owners. The building had a variety of uses, including as a restaurant and cabaret in the mid-20th century. But by the 1990s, it was in poor condition. A permit was issued for its demolition. This led a group of concerned heritage champions to form, in 1997, the Cargill’s Castle Trust and raise the money to buy the property and save it for posterity.
After 25 years, the trust is close to its dream of saving the ruins and enabling public access to a significant part of Dunedin's built and cultural heritage.

There is no intention of restoring it as a liveable property, rather to stabilise and maintain it as a ruin and make it safe for public enjoyment.

The trust has developed a staged plan to open the ruins to the public:

Stage 1: stabilisation of the ruins to make it safe for future works.
Stage 2: internal strengthening and steel walkway framing to enable
people to walk through the building and up to a secure viewing platform.
Stage 3: appropriate landscaping and property works for public access, including fencing, pathways and heritage landscaping informed by the original castle gardens.
Stage 4: public access and amenities. Plans and consents are in place for Stage 1 and the trust is now actively fundraising the $300,000 for this work.

Stage 1 will fix steel bands around the tops of the walls (the roof has long-since gone) to strengthen them and prevent further deterioration.
Stage 1 is critical to saving the ruins, now at significant risk of collapse.
Stabilisation is urgent to reinforce the integrity of the structure and allow for strengthening work in Stage 2, which will then protect the building and enable it to be opened to the public.
It’s a big job ahead but it’s under way.

Cargill’s Castle is significant historically, architecturally and culturally, not just for Dunedin, but also New Zealand and internationally. It is important we save it. The dramatic coastline setting coupled with the grandeur of the castle ruins provides its own allure and power to fascinate.
Public access to the ruin will enable locals and visitors to Dunedin to visit a significant part of the city’s cultural heritage, and an opportunity to experience our rich built heritage, settler history and landscape for decades to come.

The castle remains closed to the public until the project is completed.