By Roselyn Fauth
The old blue stone Gleniti School and Library. Designed by Maurice de Harven Duval, a French or Belgian architect who worked in South Canterbury between 1877 and 1895. After the new Gleniti School opened in 1975, the old stone building was leased to the South Canterbury Arts Society, who continue to use it today. The building is a Category A heritage item, recognised for its history, architecture, craftsmanship, and cultural significance. The school opened in July 1879 with more than 60 pupils. Mr Walker was the first headmaster. - Photography By Roselyn Fauth
Most country schools of the 1870s were put up in timber. That made sense at the time. Timber was quick, cheap and practical. The trouble is that wooden buildings do not always last. Many of those early classrooms have been lost to fire, weather or redevelopment. Gleniti is different. In January 1879 the Waiiti School committee gathered at the home of T W Fyfe. They asked for their new school to be built in stone. Fyfe was a local quarryman, and it is easy to imagine his influence. That simple decision gave the school a future. Instead of vanishing like so many others, the Gleniti School is still with us almost 150 years later...
The design came from architect Maurice de Harven Duval, who left his mark on many South Canterbury buildings in the late nineteenth century. Contractor R D Sibly carried out the work using locally quarried bluestone and limestone. The school they created was no ordinary little country classroom. It had an irregular footprint, gabled rooflines, decorative quatrefoil motifs tucked into the gable ends and a cross gable at the back. The façade was fitted with large multi pane casement windows, while the sides featured sash windows topped with label moulds. Later, weatherboard extensions and an extra entrance porch were added.
When the doors opened in July 1879 more than 60 pupils were enrolled, with Mr Walker as the first headmaster. From the beginning the school became more than a building. It was a sign that Gleniti, then known as Waiiti, had its own identity and independence from nearby Timaru.
The Gleniti School, even today, is a place of remembrance. In December 1902 Lady Ranfurly, wife of the Governor of New Zealand, unveiled a marble plaque to William Mathews who had drowned while serving in the South African War the year before. On 19 December 1919 the district’s First World War memorial was unveiled at the school. Later, a Second World War tablet was added. The three plaques still sit together in a recessed panel on the façade. They remind us that this place is not only a schoolhouse but also a memorial that holds the memory of community sacrifice.
By the late 1960s the roll had grown too big for the old stone building. In 1975 a new Gleniti School opened nearby and the original site was transferred to Timaru District Council. The South Canterbury Arts Society took on the lease of the old school and library buildings and brought them into a new life. Almost fifty years later the building continues to serve the community, this time as a place for art and creativity.
I think the former Gleniti School tells the story of local determination, of families working together to give their children a better start through education. It holds the memorials of those who went to war and did not return. It represents the work of architect Maurice Duval and the skill of the stonemasons who used local rock to create something strong and beautiful.
It is wonderful that the building survives. If the committee had accepted timber in 1879, the school would may have disappeared like so many others of its time. Because the people of Waiiti chose stone, we still have this remarkable building. Part classroom, part memorial, part community heart. A place built to last.
On July 2029 it will turn 150 years old!
timaru/HHI70-former-Wai-iti-Gleniti-School-Building-C-A.pdf
Old Gleniti School / Seventy-Fifth Jubilee To Be Celebrated By Gleniti School (1954?). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 03/10/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1847 The article says this committee “urged the Education Board to build the school in stone, and through their foresight there was now an admirable stone building.” the first elected committee was B. I. Lane (chairman), T. W. Fyfe, D. Fyfe, A. Graham, G. Thompson, J. Philp, and J. Ogilvie - community leaders, quarrymen, farmers, and parents.