Couldrey House is a mid-19th century historic homestead located in the Wenderholm Regional Park. Couldrey House was originally built and owned by Robert Graham. The house has hosted many notable individuals including

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. In the 1980s the house was opened to the public and it currently functions as a museum.

Description

The original home was built entirely from

Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

. It was a single storey cottage with two

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and a

shingle roof A roof’s shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat, rectangular shapes laid in courses from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive course overlapping the joint ...

History

Robert Graham was the first European to settle the area. Graham was a notable politician who had served as the fifth Superintendent of

Auckland Province The Auckland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Area The province covered roughly half of the North Island of New Zealand. It was the largest of the six initial provinces, bo ...

. Graham arrived in the area in 1842 and would prevent the trees, some of which being ancient, from being felled for timber. In 1857 Graham built a small holiday home. He named the house ''Wenderholm'' (Swedish for winter home). The house was originally situated near the cliffs but, in 1860 it was moved to near the current site. Moving the home required a

bullock team A bullock cart or ox cart (sometimes called a Carriage#Bullock carriage, bullock carriage when carrying people in particular) is a two-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen. It is a means of transportation used since ancient times in m ...

and manpower from several marines. Maps 1760 extralarge

Graham had a wharf constructed by his property for ships that came up the Puhoi. During the later years of the

Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in Panic of 1873, 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been e ...

Graham sold the land and home to Robert Greenwood. Greenwood planned to subdivide it and sell it as the ''Greenwood Estate''. The poor economic conditions led to this plan failing and the land north of the

Puhoi River The Puhoi River is a river of the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows southeast from its sources southwest of Warkworth, passing through the town of Puhoi before reaching the coast of Whangaparaoa Bay seven kilometres no ...

(Wenderholm) was sold to Samuel Jagger with the headland south of the river being sold to the Waiwera Company (Of which Graham was a part of).

Major John Whitney John Whitney (27 June 1836–6 September 1932) was a New Zealand industrialist, who established the Colonial Ammunition Company. Born in England, he served as an officer in the British Army for several years, mainly in Ireland. In 1884 he and his ...

purchased the property as a retirement home in 1896. He would live at Wenderholm for more than 20 years after making another purchase for land owned by the Waiwera Company. Whitney had the property move to where it stands today and renovated the building by adding an old chapel onto the home to serve as a music room. The Whitneys also had a small number of

house cow A house cow is a cow kept to provide milk for a home kitchen. This differentiates them from dairy cows, which are Dairy farming, farmed commercially. They can also provide manure, for use as a Organic fertilizer, garden fertilizer, and their offsp ...

s, sheep, donkeys, horses, and dogs. In April 1919, Whitney left for England and sold the property to Annabella Mary Geddes after his wife had passed. Geddes was a founding member of the Royal Plunket Society and used the house as a holiday home until selling it. In 1927, Captain Thomas Caradoc Kerry, a

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

trader, purchased the property from Geddes. He was known to have hosted eminent guests during his time with the property. Kerry got the money to purchase Wenderholm after receiving an insurance payment in England over the beaching of the ''Ariadne''.

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

had taken him to court for conspiracy to defraud but he was acquitted by jury and was later paid the full £20,000. Couldrey House contains two chairs that were taken from the ''Ariadne''. In 1940 the house was purchased by

Herbert William Couldrey Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territory ...

. Couldrey owned a shipping company in Auckland. Between 1957–1960 he renovated the property and moved it onto another site. He had given it a Victorian style. Couldrey planned to subdivide Wenderholm into several lifestyle blocks in the 1960s. Although the plan was approved by the Rodney County Council it was appealed by the

Auckland Regional Authority The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The ARC ...

who subsequently purchased the land in 1965 under

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

to serve as Auckland's first

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

. The Couldrey family remained in ownership of the home and continued to live there until 1973: when they sold the property to Auckland Regional Council. The council renamed the property Couldrey House in the family's honour. On 23 February 1980, the three rooms of the house were opened to the public. By 1981 Couldrey House was fully opened to the public. The Friends of Couldrey House Trust has managed the property since 1990. Couldrey House had received protected heritage status with the

Rodney District Council Rodney District was a local government area in the northernmost part of New Zealand's Auckland Region from 1989 to 2010. It included Kawau Island. It was created from the amalgamation of Helensville Borough and Rodney County in 1989. The seat ...

by 1997.

Filming for an episode of the ''

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

'' TV series took place at Couldrey House in 1998. In 2001 Auckland Council announced it would preserve the property as it would have been in the 1950s.

Notable visitors

The house has been visited and occupied by a number of notable visitors, such as

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

was a friend of Graham and visited the property regularly. He also gifted Graham

kookaburras Kookaburras (pronounced ) are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic o ...

which ended up living around the property. In 1896 Sir

Henry St John Halford Sir Henry St John Halford, 3rd Baronet (9 August 1828 – 4 January 1897) was an English landowner and expert rifleman. Life He was born the son of Sir Henry Halford, 2nd Baronet, MP for Leicestershire South, whom he succeeded in 1868. He was ...

and his wife visited Wenderholm as guests of Major John Whitney. Thomas Kerry hosted the wife of Lord Bledisloe. In 1953

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

visited Wenderholm and the house. On their way to the property they were greeted by a crowd of 300.

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...

visited the property in 1957 and from his suggestion Couldrey decided to renovate the property. Other guests include

Viscount Cobham Viscount Cobham is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created in 1718. Owing to its special remainder, the title has passed through several families. Since 1889, it has been held by members of the Lyttelton family. The barony ...

, then

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

of New Zealand; the Duke of Argyle; and

Googie Withers Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers (12 March 191715 July 2011) was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some seventy-three years in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and ...

References

External links

{{Rodney Local Board Area Warkworth Subdivision Rodney Local Board Area Buildings and structures in Auckland Historic house museums in New Zealand