Ewelme Cottage is a historic house on Ayr Street, in the suburb of Parnell,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. Ewelme Cottage is named after the church of the same name. It was built mostly of kauri in 1863 and 1864 for Church of England clergyman Reverend Vicesimus Lush and family while he was vicar of

All Saints Church, Howick All Saints’ Church in Howick was the first parish church in Auckland and is the oldest building in Manukau City, Manukau. It can be found on the corner of Cook Street and Selwyn Road in the suburb of Howick, New Zealand. The Church was built i ...

. This was so that his sons could attend the Church of England Grammar School in Parnell. The cottage was continuously occupied by the Lush family, among them

Mary Ruddock Mary Ruddock (2 April 1895 – 27 June 1969) was a New Zealand businesswoman who ran a dressmaking business in Wellington from the 1930s to the 1960s. Early life Ruddock was born in Hastings, England, on 2 April 1895, one of eight children ...

, until 1968. Since 1969, it has been preserved as a house museum by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as the Lush family had left it, with about 2,000 books, hundreds of pages of sheet music, original artworks and a vast array of everyday objects from their time. In an article published in ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' in 2011, Ewelme Cottage was suggested as possibly the most important of the Auckland's Historic Places Trust properties, despite being the smallest. The drawing room, veranda and garden of Ewelme Cottage were used in the production of the 1993 Oscar-winning film '' The Piano''. Regarded as one of the most haunted places in the city, it is claimed to be haunted by spirits of women and children. The house is reputedly haunted in particular by a young girl who has reportedly appeared by an oak tree in the garden. According to a former curator of the historic home, sightings of ghosts at Ewelme Cottage date back to 1945. Because of claimed hauntings, it was visited by a team of paranormal investigators in 2005 and featured on ''Ghost Hunt'', a New Zealand television show. In 2020, Ewelme Cottage offered free entry for

Waitangi Day Waitangi Day ( mi, Te Rā o Waitangi), the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing – on 6 February 1840 – of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is regarded as the founding document of the nation. The first Wait ...

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{{Parnell, New Zealand Houses completed in 1864 Reportedly haunted locations in Auckland 1860s architecture in New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region Historic homes in New Zealand Parnell, New Zealand Historic house museums in New Zealand Museums in Auckland