This building is significant as the most elaborate of the four rest houses constructed as part of Ell’s Summit Road project. It is a wonderful blend of various Gothic architectural periods. An impressive collection of heraldry hung inside includes the coats of arms for many of the early Canterbury settler families, governors- general and prime ministers. the dining room is an exact replica in the historic Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. For other pictures of the Sign of the Takahe taken in the 1980s before the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, visit my album at www.flickr.com/photos/36791099@N08/sets/72157651980464566/
