For four months, stonemason and sculptor Marcus Wainwright has been shaping Oamaru stone blocks to restore the deteriorated tomb in the Northern Cemetery.
The building's weathered, damaged and vandalised structure will be returned to its former Gothic elegance with the $350,000 restoration.
The tomb houses the remains of William Larnach, a prominent Dunedin businessman and MP, along with his first two wives, Eliza and Mary, his eldest daughter Kate and eldest son Donald.
Mr Wainwright said a significant part of his work was tracking down images of the tomb's original stonework.
A photograph from the 1970s allowed him to see how the tomb's crosses were styled, as 1881 proposal drawings by architect R.A.Lawson for William Larnach had not included those details.
After a year, Mr Wainwright will have finished three crosses, four finials and recreated or restored three large tracery windows.
The challenging and rewarding work had been "going steady" so far, he said.
Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust chairman Stewart Harvey said other elements of the restoration project, which include metalwork, stained glass work and a security system, would not be started until the new stone elements were in place.
