Places of Historical Interest

|| click here to view map ||

click on the photos to view a larger version





12 Main St
Wyett House built in the 1870s. It was once run by Miss Wyett as a finishing school for girls. The heavy wooden fence was a protection against floods from the Waiohine River, which originally flowed a few hundreds of metres north of the house.








21 Main St
The Hornblow House, now Briarwood, is thought to be the earliest commercial building (1867) still in existence in Greytown.






33 Main St
The Greytown Hotel. Investigation into the history of this building dates it earlier and earlier. A very large photograph in the public bar shows it well established in 1871 but it was known to be working in 1861. It is one of the oldest surviving hotel buildings in New Zealand.







56 Main St
The central portion of this house dates from the very early days of Greytown and was built in 1857. It was subsequently added to after 1866 when Gallagher married.






Corner of Main & Kuratawhiti St
The Catholic Church, built in 1880. The transept is the Greytown Court House 1883, which was moved across the road as an addition to the church in 1957.The building is typical of early rural church architecture.






Corner of Main & Jellicoe St
Diagonally opposite Sacred Heart Church is St Andrews Union Church The original Methodist Church, is now at Cobblestones. The second church on this site dates from 1880.
St Andrews, looking South along Main Street circa 1913.







72 Main St
This Victorian Shop was built as the Premier Boot Warehouse in 1891 for Mr Loasby, a prominent Greytown figure.
Looking North along Main Street as snow falls. 72 Main Street is first on left, circa 1918.






The Lime Trees
Planted beside the BNZ building at the turn of the century they grace the street with their handsome appearance.






75 Main St
An imposing building built for the Bank of New Zealand in 1875 by R A Wakelin, and the town's principal bank until its closure in 1997.






80 Main St
This attractive brick building was built for the Permanent Investment & Loan Association of the Wairarapa in 1896. The Association, established in 1873, was the predecessor of the Wairarapa Building Society. It was the oldest building society in the Wellington Province and one of the earliest such societies established in NZ.






Corner Main & McMaster St
Greytown’s Town Hall was built in 1907 to replace the original hall a little further down Main St, which burnt down in one of the many fires that plagued small rural towns in colonial times.
Greytown Townhall circa 1950.






110 Main St
The Old Borough Chambers is a handsome high Victorian building built in 1892.






113 Main St
Cabbage Tree Cottage possibly a gardener’s cottage for a Kempton House once standing on the Library site. The cottage exterior was reinstated by the Greytown Historical Community Trust from a derelict state in 1996.






126 Main St
Beard House possibly built in 1874. The present legal firm has occupied the building for over 100 years.


Looking South along Main Street, Beard House is third from left, circa 1890.







Town Library
Built as a Masonic Hall on West Street in 1891 it was moved to its current site in 1980 and converted to its present use as the town library.






123 Main St
Built in 1872 for Richard Wakelin to replace an older, smaller cottage built in the first years of Greytown, on one of the original town acres of the Small Farms Settlement.






125 Main St
Jane Wakelin’s Cottage built in stages and enlarged by the second owner in c1880s as a workshop and store.






129 Main St
Bright House. Parts of this building are thought to be the earliest remaining structure in Greytown.






St Luke’s Gum Tree.
This huge Eucalyptus regnans was reputedly wheeled over the Rimutakas in a wooden wheelbarrow and “removed” while the carter was at lunch in the nearby Rising Sun Hotel. With a girth of approximately 13m, a span of 30m and a height of 40m it is surely the biggest gum tree in NZ!






163 Main St
The original Kempton House built by Thomas Kempton c1859. The upper storey was destroyed by fire shortly after it was built.







174 Main St
Armstrong Saddlery. The earliest part of this building dates from the 1860’s. It was a saddlers workroom and shop for many years and the shop facade still remains.






100 West St
Old Barbers Shop built by James Judd in 1906 and moved here from the Main Street in 1975.



xxx



The Oak Trees
These magnificent English Oaks grow on what was once Ben Stephens 40 acre section which he ballotted for in 1854. One would like to think that they grew from acorns planted by an early settler.






157 West St
Drummond Cottage c1875 is one of the finest surviving examples of the ornate cottage style. Moved from Main Street to its present site in the 1970’s it was restored from a neglected shell.






18 Jellicoe St
Registry Office. James Boys was Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Greytown from 1863. Before c 1890 he built this house in Jellicoe Street and the front hallway was used as the Registrar’s Office.






18 Mole St
Built by Nathan Kidd, of Kidd’s Orange apple fame, in 1895.






40 Kuratawhiti St
Izard House. This is one of the few substantial Victorian Houses remaining in Greytown. Built towards the end of the C19 for a local lawyer. Number 38 Kuratawhiti Street is an almost identical property, built at the same time.






Soldiers Memorial Park Purchased by public subscription as a Memorial to the men killed in W.W.1. The Lime trees in the Avenue were planted as individual memorials. The magnificent Totara and Matai trees in the bush are between 400 and 600 years old.






Cobblestones Wairarapa’s Early Settlers Museum
Once Hastwell’s Coaching Stables, dating back to 1857. The Museum Project was initiated in 1969 by the Greytown Jaycees with assistance from the Wairarapa Horsedrawn Society. Since then many early buildings of note, all with an interesting history, have been moved to Cobblestones from other parts of the Wairarapa.
The first Methodist Church built by Hart Udy in 1865 from timber sawn at his Matarawa mill just north of the Waiohine River, and the original Greytown Hospital, the first one in the Wairarapa, built in 1875 are now part of the complex.





Papawai Pa
Papawai Pa was once an important political and cultural centre. In the 1890s, 18 large carved figures were erected representing famous Tipuna. These have been restored with help from the Historic Places Trust and stand again guarding the Marae.
The present Meeting House dates from 1888. From then onwards Papawai was famous for the great meetings held there. In 1897 the Kotahitangi Movement Parliament was established at Papawai with Tamahau Mahupuka as Premier. Tribal delegations from many parts of the country travelled to Papawai to discuss Government proposals with Richard Seddon and King Mahuta among those present. After the death of Mahupuka in 1904 the importance of Papawai began to fade.
Much hard work has taken place at the Marae since 1980 and Papawai Pa again stands proudly as a centre of Maori culture in the Wairarapa.


|| click here to view map ||
All enquiries can be made to John Abbott maggieabbs@wise.net.nz