The Mission House at

Kerikeri Kerikeri () is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination north of Auckland and north of the northern region's largest city, Whangarei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of th ...

in New Zealand was completed in 1822 as part of the Kerikeri Mission Station by the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

, and is New Zealand's oldest surviving building. It is sometimes known as Kemp House.

Samuel Marsden Samuel Marsden (25 June 1765 – 12 May 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden was a prom ...

established the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

mission to New Zealand with lay preachers, who lived in the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...

under the protection of

Hongi Hika Hongi Hika ( – 6 March 1828) was a New Zealand Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the iwi of Ngāpuhi. He was a pivotal figure in the early years of regular European contact and settlement in New Zealand. As one of the first Māori l ...

, the chief of the local tribe, the

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 165, ...

. In November 1819, Marsden purchased 13,000 acres (53 km²) from the Ngapuhi. Marsden instructed the Reverend

John Butler John Butler may refer to: Arts and entertainment *John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American performer * John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist *John Butler (author) (born 1937), British author and YouTuber *John Butler (born 1954), ...

to erect buildings for the mission station under the shelter of the Ngapuhi Pa or fortress of Kororipo at Kerikeri, (Marsden, himself,

Thomas Kendall Thomas Kendall (13 December 1778 – 6 August 1832) was a New Zealand missionary, recorder of the Māori language, schoolmaster, arms dealer, and Pākehā Māori. Early life: Lincolnshire and London, 1778–1813 A younger son of farmer Ed ...

and Hongi Hika left for Britain). Using Māori and skilled European labour, Butler had completed the centre piece Mission House by 1822, (despite being interrupted by the return of Kendall and Hongi Hika with a thousand muskets, and Kororipo being used as a base for the subsequent Ngapuhi military campaign in the

Musket Wars The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms ra ...

). Butler's house was a weatherboard clad, two-storey Georgian design with a verandah and two chimneys. It was built primarily from

Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

. At some point in the 1830s, a skilling was added, and the verandah was replaced with an enlarged design in 1843. In the 1920s a bathroom was added behind the kitchen. Butler was sacked in 1823, and George Clarke occupied the building until the early 1830s, by which time the Ngapuhi had abandoned Kororipo, but the mission station was strong enough to feel no need for protection. The house was occupied by

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and Charlotte Kemp in 1832 and although initially part of an expanded mission presence, (including the

Stone Store The Stone Store at Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands is New Zealand’s oldest surviving stone building. Part of the second Church Missionary Society station in New Zealand, the store was designed by John Hobbs to replace an earlier wooden store ...

), it was later purchased by the Kemps, and stayed in that family for 142 years, until Ernest Kemp donated it to the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

(since renamed to Heritage New Zealand) in 1974. Mission House was added to the New Zealand Historic Places Category 1 list on 23 June 1983. The Trust has restored the building to an approximation of its 1843 appearance, (although the verandah was higher, and the roof was not shingled). Together with the Stone Store, the Mission house is now a museum open to the public.

References

{{coord, -35.218, 173.963, display=title Houses in New Zealand Museums in the Northland Region Far North District NZHPT Category I listings in the Northland Region History of New Zealand Historic house museums in New Zealand European-New Zealand culture Bay of Islands Residential buildings completed in 1822 1820s architecture in New Zealand 1822 in New Zealand Wooden buildings and structures in New Zealand 1822 establishments in New Zealand Historic homes in New Zealand Religious buildings and structures in the Northland Region