The Story of Stanley's
Stanley’s Hotel, date unknown. Photographer unknown, from file copy print 88.00853, Hocken Collections - Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.
Stay somewhere with a story.
Built from local schist in 1882, Stanley’s Hotel has been welcoming travellers to Macraes for more than 140 years.
[Macraes Flat, Shag Valley, View of Township, John Crawford, January 1883, Collection of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, 1919/134/253.]
A Welcome Stopping Place
Stanley’s became renowned for the quality of its food and hospitality, providing a welcome stopping place for generations of travellers through this historic Otago gold-mining settlement.
In 1957, writer James McNeish captured something of the character of a stay at Stanley’s. His account describes the open fire, the great 14-foot kauri dining table, the marble-tiled hall and finally retiring to what he called a “seductive featherbed.”
Remarkably, part of the Stanley’s he described can still be experienced today. The marble-tiled floor remains, as does the historic schist hotel itself.
[Main Street, Macraes Flat, John Crawford, January 1883, Collection of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, 1919/134/255.]
Beyond the Main Hotel
The story also extends beyond the main hotel. Surviving buildings associated with Stanley’s include the Billiards Room, schist wagon shed, stables, laundry and schist pigsty.
Together these buildings help tell the story of how a nineteenth-century country hotel operated when travellers arrived by horse, coach and wagon.
Macraes Flat, Shag Valley, View of Township, John Crawford, January 1883, Collection of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, 1919/134/253
The stonemason and the 72 hogsheads
When Thomas Stanley decided to build the schist hotel, he engaged Hyde stonemason John “Budge” Budge.
The story recorded about the construction tells of Budge’s considerable skill as a stonemason, and his equally considerable fondness for beer.
Construction reportedly took five years, and Budge’s legendary consumption associated with the job was said to amount to 72 hogsheads of beer.
Whatever embellishments have accompanied the story over the generations, Budge’s craftsmanship is still here for everyone to see. The schist hotel he built for Thomas Stanley in 1882 is still standing more than 140 years later.
Thomas Stanley had wanted an inn that would last. It did.
The marble floor that wasn’t meant for Stanley’s?
The entrance hall still retains its distinctive marble-tiled floor, a feature also recorded in James McNeish’s 1957 description of Stanley’s.
But local lore gives the marble another story. Legend has it that the marble was originally destined for St Joseph’s Cathedral in Dunedin, but was waylaid on its journey and instead found its way to Stanley’s Hotel.
Whether the story can ever be proven is another matter, but the marble itself is still here. Guests arriving at Stanley’s today continue to walk across the historic marble-tiled floor.
At Stanley’s, even the floor has a story.