‘Glendaruel’ is an early pit sawn timber cottage located on the main road of Karori. As a suburb, Karori was settled early in Wellington’s colonial history. The land that the cottage occupies was first farmed and occupied by Daniel Wright and his family. Upon Wright’s death in 1856 the land passed to the trustees of his estate. Wright’s will indicates that the land included a cottage and stables; it is unclear whether or not this is the cottage now known as Glendaruel.
The land was leased out for a number of years and in 1873 it was purchased by Stephen Lancaster, one of Karori’s largest landowners and an important local politician. By 1878 much of the present building was in place. It was accompanied by eight hectares of land (now subdivided). The first known occupier was P.F.M. Burrows, then chief architect in the Colonial Architect’s office. P.F.M. Burrows was among a number of people who leased the property from Lancaster. Following Lancaster’s death in 1899, the executors of his estate subdivided the land in 1908 and were offered for sale. Glendaruel is featured on the auction poster for the ‘Lancaster Estate’ of that year which has notice of ‘A very desirable home containing six rooms, stables, etc erected on Section Nos. 440 and 441 having a total frontage of 126 ft. 8in. to the Main Road’. In October 1910 lots 439-441 were sold to Henry Taylor Marshall, who on sold them to Charles Austin Briggs, Company Manager in May 1914. In February Angus Melville Polson acquired the land from the Briggs estate.
In May 1919 Charlotte Eliza Wood purchased the property and the land. Charlotte Wood was the daughter of Dr. James MacGregor, a Scottish Minister, who had been a professor in the Free Church Theological College in Edinburgh. Following the death of two children to tuberculosis, the family emigrated, and arrived in New Zealand on the Jessie Reedman. The family lived in Oamaru, where MacGregor became the first Minister of the Columba Church. Charlotte attended Otago University, where she graduated with an M.A with Honours and became a secondary school teacher. In 1904 Charlotte met Robert Wood, whom she married in 1906. Robert was born in Leith, Scotland in 1852. After working as a youth he became involved in the temperance movement, and whilst studying for his ordinance at the Free Church of Scotland he agreed to do missionary work and arrived in New Zealand in 1877. He spent time at the first Church in Dunedin and Masterton. He was a minister in Southland and North Canterbury, and also spent time in Island Bay and Seatoun. On Robert Wood’s retirement in 1919, the couple moved to Karori, where Robert would be active in the local church and community. The Wood’s home was named ‘Glendaruel’ after a town in Argyll, Scotland, with which Mrs Wood’s family had strong ties in the past.
The land was subdivided in 1929 and part of lot 439 was sold. In 1933 the land was divided into two lots, lot 1 was sold in 1934 to E.A. Wing and Charlotte Wood kept lot 2 and Glendaruel until her death, when it was transferred to Katherine Wood. It is around this time that that the major modifications were made to the house. In 1932 the rear wall was demolished and replaced with a washhouse, shed, and porch, as well as a new kitchen and bathroom. Material from the demolished sections was used to construct the additions. Other changes included changing the double chimney to a single chimney, the addition of a fireplace in the front bedroom, and the installation of new drainage. Four years later a new garage was built on the property, and in 1974 the house was repiled, and in 1975 the lean to room was demolished.
Glendaruel is a house of considerable age and historical significance, although part of its history is somewhat obscure. It was the home, for seven years, of the family of P.F.M. Burrows, one of New Zealand’s most prominent colonial architects in the 19th century. The family with the longest association with the house is the Woods. The house was bought in 1919 by the Rev. Robert Wood and remained in the family until recently.
