Painters watch as firefighters inspect the house that featured in the Robin White work A Buzzy Bee for Siulolovao after a fire started in its roof space in March. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
A Buzzy Bee for Siulolovao, painted by Robin White. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
The property was popularised by Robin White in A Buzzy Bee for Siulolovao, painted in 1977 when she lived in Portobello.
The work shows a giant Buzzy Bee toy looming above the villa.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus contained the fire above the ceiling, but Chief Fire Officer Murray Little, of Dunedin, said at the time it could have rapidly engulfed the timber home.
An incident report, released under the Official Information Act, revealed the fire was caused by painters using a heat gun too close to combustible material in the roof space, including straw, pine needles and birds' nests.
Owner Robert Montgomery said the contractors had paid the insurance excess.
