A large property with 279 rooms and once described as "one of the finest in Christchurch and vicinity", it was for three decades used as a Catholic seminary.

[2] The church added a chapel, a library, lecture halls and a dormitory, which ran perpendicular to the original house.

[3] The seminary closed in 1978 when the church merged the training facility with their school in Mosgiel, and then ran it as student accommodation under the new name Campion Hall, given the proximity to the University of Canterbury.

They continued to run it as a boarding house and gave it the name Antonio Hall in memory of their son Anthony, who had died in 1975.

It is said that the company had plans to convert the property to motel units, but this did not happen and the decline of the buildings started.

[10] In February 2024 a third suspected arson attack occurred when additional fires broke out in multiple parts of the building.