Corstorphine House is a private hotel in Dunedin, in New Zealand’s South Island. Built in 1863, the property is one of the finest historic homes in the country. New Zealand's widely respected Qualmark has awarded this perfect retreat the ‘New Zealand Luxury Accommodation Five Stars’.
Corstorphine House offers world-class accommodation, fine dining, an idyllic garden, and plenty of room to relax, rejoice and rejuvenate. Only five minutes from the centre of South Island’s second-biggest city, Corstorphine House—with 12 landscaped acres, a fruit orchard and a herb garden—feels a million miles from the humdrum, modern world.
The USP of the place, no doubt, are the eight seductive and colourful rooms, themed along Indian, Moroccan Egyptian, Japanese, Scandinavian, French, Scottish, and Art Deco lines.
The Indian Room features a black and gold bath situated on a dais inside the bedroom. The room is decorated with Indian motifs in exotic greens, reds and gold; while the bed is canopied in luxurious swags of fabric in exotic colours. Dainty antique chairs and a writing desk offset the solid brass elephant that graces the room.
The Moroccan Room has one queen-size bed and one single bed (rollaway) and a private bathroom just across the corridor (no bath). The decor has been done up in rich orange, blue and burgundy, romantically draped, with a number of fabulous carpets on the floor and walls. The window faces west, so that the soft evening sun warms up the room and makes it glow.
The Egyptian Room is the old master bedroom of the 1863 part of the House and features a very large, king-sized bed and Egyptian/African themes. The view from the bed encompasses Mount Flagstaff, downtown Dunedin and various suburbs, Carisbrook, Mount Cargill and Otago Harbour and Peninsula, to name but a few features of this grand vista.
Tastefully decorated in a Japanese theme with very soothing colours, this room uses the basic principles of Japanese simplicity to create an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. From the king-sized bed, there is a view over the gardens towards the fountain and the giant sequoia tree beyond. The bathroom has a large splashing area with separate bath, a hand shower and a waterfall shower. The walls in the bathroom are covered with antique slates originating from the roof of the Corstorphine House stables.
The Scandinavian Room has been decorated in a variety of blue colours. The room features an antique European pine writing cabinet and a king-sized, two-poster bed. The Scandinavian Room offers extensive vistas of the Corstorphine Estate, Otago Harbour, Dunedin City, and the mountains beyond. Through the side windows, it offers a stunning view of the rose garden and the Fern Valley to the east of the House. The lobby to this room features an old lead light window, originally part of an old Otago villa.
The French Room overlooks the pottage garden and the old trees beyond. It has been decorated in fresh yellow colours and features a king-sized, four-poster bed and antique English fireplace. The room itself is in the new (1905) part of the House; the en-suite bathroom with the same colour décor is in the old (1863) part. The lobby to the French Room features an old church window and church pew. Both the bedroom and the bathroom get the morning sun.
The Scottish Room is located on the ground floor. This sunny room is lavishly decorated in a Scottish theme and includes a carved writing bureau, an oak sideboard, and a large, comfortable settee. The luxurious bathrooms include a double slipper bath imported from the United Kingdom and European chandelier lighting. In the second part of the bathroom, there is a vanity, bidet, antique towel heater, two showers, under-floor heating, hair dryer, and bathrobes with a Scottish flavour.
The Art Deco Room is the largest room in the House, measuring 64 sqm. The room used to be reserved for T K Sidey, who held various ministerial posts in the 1920s and used to retire there from his official duties at Wellington. Its views go down the Otago Harbour all the way to Portobello on the Peninsula and to Port Chalmers on the west side of the harbour.