The ‘Pink Palace’ has finally come down – rekindling memories of colourful artist-about-town Robert Currie, who happily inhabited the ramshackle bach at the top of town for about 16 years.
“It saved Dad to be honest,” his son Bryce told the Chronicle of the proudly Raglan resident who, in his latter years, enjoyed nothing more than a simple coffee and a good chat down the road at The Shack.
Robert had spent the previous six years living and creating works of art inside the old Te Uku Post Office on SH23 – before it became the Roast Office – but that was a challenging time, Bryce adds, as the building was cold in winter and somewhat isolated for a man on his own pushing 70.
So his father had been very grateful to be able to move back to Raglan and into that pink house, says Bryce. It gave him a “second wind”, and he could connect with people in town again.
Robert stayed there – painting with a passion and a sense of purpose – for the rest of his days, Bryce adds.
He died in January this year, aged 83, with many iconic Raglan artworks to his credit.
His father lived “a tough life” in a way, Bryce explains, but always bounced back.
The family was hit hard early on when Robert suffered a serious stroke before the age of 50 and could no longer work. Bryce describes that time as “brutal”. For two years he was in a wheelchair and could neither walk nor talk, and was all but living at Waikato Hospital, Bryce recalls, in “dedicated rehab”.
After that everything changed, says Bryce.
His father had been a very successful corporate guy, starting off as a stock agent for Dalgety and Company. Coincidentally, he came to Raglan often during that time, even crossing the old causeway – now spanned by the new Rangitahi bridge – to draft stock for sale.
Then he moved into commercial property, followed by a career at Landcorp in Wellington where he was “leading the charge” selling state-owned assets, and reporting to Parliament after the big stock market crash. He’d live in the capital during the week and return home to Hamilton at weekends, says Bryce, indulging in the drinking/smoking culture of the time.
Robert was at the peak of his career but the pressure and the lifestyle led to his stroke, Bryce believes. Once recovered he was forced to change tack, and reinvented himself as a motivational speaker inspiring others, ironically, on how not to operate in the corporate world.
But it seems Robert was destined to be in Raglan because he returned – never to look back – in 2001, deeply depressed after the loss of his beloved wife Ann from cancer.
That’s when this self-taught ‘closet artist’ of old chanced upon Te Uku’s historic post office as a place to live, and again reinvented himself – as Robert Currie, the artist. He’d always dabbled, Bryce remembers, and had the odd exhibition at Waihi where the family once had a bach, but being in Raglan inspired Robert to take his works to a whole new level.
Art, Robert once told the Chronicle, motivated him to get up each day. Painting at night and into the wee hours, he was always keen the next morning to see what he’d done.
Although beset by major health woes into his 80s – including heart attacks, prostate cancer and cataracts – Robert remained upbeat in his happy place at the unmissable Pink Palace til the day he died.
*The Pink Palace was demolished last week because of general deterioration; the commercially zoned site now likely to see a business-cum-residential development in its place.
