Colonial Cottage Museum

• 1957
• Dwelling additions (00058:30:C1568)
• 1967
• Dwelling additions (00058:520:C25198)
• 1978
• Repiled (00058:1184:C50889)
• 1995
• Dwelling alterations (00061:90:12891)
• 1999
• New interpretation centre SR54237

• 1858
• William Wallis
• unknown
• Clare Turner
• 1954
• Winifred Turner
• 1980
• Colonial Cottage Museum

Not assessed

The house is a typical Georgian-style cottage, and followed the double box design that featured in Brett’s Colonist Guide. The ground floor consisted of a parlour and a main bedroom at the front and a nursery and kitchen at the rear. Sometime during the 1870s a hallway was added which ran from the front door to the newly added scullery at the rear. A narrow stair case led up to two bedrooms. The house featured a high ridged roof with dormer windows looking out from the upstairs bedrooms. The additions of the 1870s also saw the construction of a front verandah.

Built from kauri, the house was constructed with very little use of nails and instead used traditional English timber construction techniques including pegged mortice and tenoned joints.

Timber structure with shiplap weatherboards, timber shingle roof.

Timber sash windows

The house is located on the western side of Nairn Street. Although there are a few nineteenth century houses remaining on the western side of the street, these are located south of the house and are separated from it by a modern apartment block. To the north of the house the western side of the street consists of flats. Across the street from the house, the eastern side of Nairn Street consists of a mixture of modern and nineteenth century housing. Because of the elevation of the street the house is situated slightly above its neighbours to the north. Its high ridged roof and Georgian architecture causes it to stand out from many of the surrounding buildings.

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  The cottage is a good representative example of a mid-19th century settler’s cottage, designed in the Georgian-style by its carpenter owner/builder. The building is notable for the careful proportion and symmetry of its exterior, and for the high quality of its materials and workmanship.

• Townscape

  Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

  This modest domestic scale building stands in strong contrast to its near neighbours – a large scale social housing development to the north, and large Victorian and Edwardian villas to the south.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  The building is associated with William Wallis (1830-1911), one of the early settlers of Wellington and his family. The building is also associated with the Colonial Cottage Museum Society, an organisation which was formed in the 1970s to save the house from demolition, and the Wellington Museums Trust which now runs the house as a museum. 

• Association

  Association: Is the item associated with an important historic event, theme, pattern, phase, or activity?

  The building has historic value as one of the oldest and most intact surviving houses in Wellington. 

• Archaeological

  Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

  The building may be deemed to be part of an archaeological site under the Historic Places Act (1993) due to the presence of pre 1900 buildings.

• Educational

  Does the item have educational value for what it can demonstrate about aspects of the past?

  The house has educational value as it offers an insight into the everyday lives of early colonial settlers in Wellington.

• Technological

  Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

  The house has technological value as it can offer an insight into the building methods used by early colonial settlers.

• Identity Sense Of Place Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  As one of the oldest identified surviving residence in Wellington the building contributes to the city’s sense of place and continuity.

• Public Esteem

  Is the item held in high public esteem?

  The Colonial Cottage is held in high public esteem, and this can be seen in the efforts to save the building when it was threatened with destruction in the 1970s.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  The building retains much of its original heritage fabric. The building has been restored and original features, including a shingle roof, have been reconstructed.

• Local Regional National International

  Is the item important for any of the above characteristics at a local, regional, national, or international level?

  The house is important on both a local and a regional level as one of the oldest identified surviving residences in Wellington.

• Rare

  Is the item rare, unique, unusual, seminal, influential, or outstanding?

  The building is rare in that it is one of the oldest identified surviving residences in Wellington city.

• Representative

  Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

  The building is a good representative example of colonial Georgian architecture.

Not assessed

• New Zealand Historic Places Trust. ‘Nairn Street Cottage.’ Accessed 20 August 2012.
• Museums Wellington. ‘The House.’ Accessed 20 August 2012.
• Wellington City Council. ‘Nairn Street Cottage.’ Wellington Heritage Building Inventory 1995: Non-Residential Buildings. Wellington City Council, 1995. N.
• Evening Post. 19 June 1911. Page 7.

Not available

Not available