Tupare Homestead. New Plymouth. New Zealand.
S 39° 05.330 E 174° 06.525
60H E 249932 N 5669385
One of New Zealand's finest historic homesteads stands in a beautifully restored garden on the outskirts of New Plymouth. The elegant homestead was designed by the renowned James Chapman-Taylor.
Waymark Code: WM9BQA
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 07/27/2010
Views: 6
This is a wonderful old homestead to visit. Here you can take a guided house tour and sense the prestige, lifestyle and hear stories of the property's original developer, the prominent businessman Sir Russell Matthews, and his family and the people who surrounded them.
Chapman-Taylor, the renowned “arts and crafts” architect, designed the house for Matthews in 1932. Unusually for the architect, though, he relinquished control of its construction to Matthews, who had firm ideas about what he wanted. Construction took 12 years.
The result was a unique stately home with the unmistakeable Chapman-Taylor stamp but also reflecting the dreams and aspirations of the innovative Matthews, whose accomplishments included laying the first bitumen road in New Zealand.
Tupare was considered an important house in New Plymouth and many local people were very proud to have it in the city. The Matthews were considered to be very prominent people in the city, and people took an interest in the house.
There are a multitude of stories. The Matthews’ guests over the years included Roger Whittaker, Joy Adamson, Alistair Cooke, Sir Roy Jack and Lloyd Geering. Many of the visitors were connected to the oil industry and Ivon Watkins, the chemical company Russell Matthews had helped finance. Americans involved with the International Harvester agency that Sir Russell had were frequent visitors, as were people connected with his horticultural interests.
There were many parties in the house, the liveliest of them involving Australian and American oil explorers based in Taranaki at the time.
The house tours, at 11am on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, continue from 1 October to 31 March. There is no charge.
Link to the Homestead: [Web Link]
History if no Link:
Free house tours are run at 11am on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from 1 October to 31 March.
Tours for groups can be arranged at other times.
Car park at the entrance gate house.
487 Mangorei Road, New Plymouth
Additional Parking or Point of Interest: Not Listed
Structure Type: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
A clear picture of the Homestead, Marker or Plaque taken by you. And if you like a picture of you and GPS at the marker.
No Copyrighted images please.