Ivey Hall

Ivey Hall is the original teaching, administration and residential building on the Lincoln campus. The foundation date, 1878, can be seen above the main entrance, and the well worn step beneath attests to the hall's constant use over the years since then. The building is named after the first director of the School of Agriculture, William Edward Ivey (1838-1892).

Ivey was born in Australia but educated at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. The building opened with the first intake of students in July 1880. The style is Jacobean with characteristics of Flemish design and it was designed by Frederick Strouts, a founding member of the Canterbury Association of Architects. Saved from demolition as an earthquake risk in the 1970s, largely through the energy of Ruth, Lady Burns, wife of Sir Malcolm Burns, the building underwent a complete internal renewal, and external strengthening and cleaning, starting in 1986. The $4.5 million project was completed over the span of two years and the library took up residence in the third term 1988. There have been additions and further refurbishments since that date.

Some memories of Ivey Hall include:

• From a Lyttelton Times reporter in 1879: “Immediately after emerging from the railway premises, the structure is well in view, its Elizabethan character of design and its prevailing warm tone, rendering it a pleasing feature of the landscape.” 

• Ruth Burns in 1977: “It was in 1938 that I saw Ivey Hall for the first time. For almost an hour we negotiated the deeply rutted shingle road running southeast from Christchurch. Our ancient car of mercurial temperament joggled and occasionally skidded as the miles unrolled, and at particularly severe bumps my anxious, over-shoulder glances would catch sight of a jolted wicker basket as it settled to rest again on the back seat ... After opening the gates, and securing them again against the entry of stray sheep or cattle, we followed the drive's shadowed and serpentine way. Suddenly the trees ended and Lincoln College could be seen-there in the open stood an elegant two-storey building, its soft pink-red brick glowing in mid-morning sunshine ... The front of the College faced north, and at that moment the intricacies of its design were sharply etched by the bright light. Pale limestone decorated doorways, windows and gables, setting off the red of the walls and the grey of the crested slate roof. Slender chimneys reached for the sky, while over the ornate main entrance a bell tower held a cupola that was topped by a weather vane. So this was an agricultural college in New Zealand-I was reminded of a gracious English manor!”

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