Mona Vale, Christchurch
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Mona Vale, with its homestead formerly known as Karewa, is a public park of 4 ha in the
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
, New Zealand, in the suburb of
Fendalton Fendalton is a suburb of Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. History Fendalton was originally known as Fendall Town, named after the original settler of the land, Walpole Chesshyre Fendall (1830–1913). Fendall emigrated fr ...
. The homestead and gate house are both listed as heritage buildings with
Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...
(NZHPT). The fernery and the rose garden, and pavilion with the setting of the park along the
Avon River / Ōtākaro The Avon River / Ōtākaro ( ; ), sometimes rendered as the River Avon, flows through the centre of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and into the Pacific Ocean via the Avon Heathcote Estuary / Ihutai, which it shares with the Ōpāwaho / H ...
, add to the attractiveness of the property. It is one of the major tourist attractions of Christchurch.


Geography

The western boundary of Mona Vale is the Main North Railway, and the Avon River forms the eastern border. In the north, the park is very narrow and starts at Fendalton Road. In the south, it extends to Matai Street East and has
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as a neighbour. The gardens cover four hectares.


History

The land initially belonged to the Deans brothers, whose homestead is
Riccarton House Riccarton House is an historic building in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is part of the Riccarton estate, the first area in Christchurch lived in by British settlers, after which the suburb of Riccarton is named. The house was commissioned by J ...
in
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. William Derisley Wood leased the land and built what became known as Wood's Mill. The weir in the Avon River was built in the 19th century and forms the Mona Vale mill pond, which still exists today. Frederick Waymouth and his wife Alice purchased four acres of land and had a homestead built in 1899–1900, designed by architect Joseph Maddison. Waymouth, who called the homestead Karewa, was the managing director of Canterbury Frozen Meats. Maddison was a well-known Christchurch architect, who amongst other buildings designed the freezing works in the Christchurch suburb of
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. It is thought that this connection between Waymouth and Maddison led to this commission. Waymouth sold the property to Annie Quayle Townend in 1905, who renamed it Mona Vale after her mother's house in
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. She was the daughter of a wealthy
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run-holder, George Moore of
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. She was his only surviving daughter and he had bequeathed her one million pounds, apparently making her New Zealand's richest woman at the time. Townend added nine acres of land to the property and had a gate house built just off Fendalton Road. After the New Zealand International Exhibition, held in Hagley Park, finished in 1907, she purchased the exhibition's fernery including its plants and had it reassembled at Mona Vale. The present collection of ferns were supplied by
Landcare Research Landcare may refer to: * Australian Landcare Council, a former Australian government body, superseded by the National Landcare Advisory Committee * Landcare Australia, an Australian community not-for-profit organisation, involving local volunteers ...
in
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, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the private collection of the late Arthur Ericson. Townend also added the bathhouse to the property. She died in 1914. In 1939 it was bought by Tracy Gough, and in 1941 by the firm, Gough, Gough and Hamer. Tracy Gough added to the beauty of the gardens by having a lily pond built and having rhododendrons and azaleas and many more exotic trees planted in the gardens. The property was sold in 1962 to
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following the death of Gough, Gough and Hamer founder Tracy Gough. When the church wanted to sell Mona Vale to a New Zealand company intending to subdivide the property and to demolish the homestead, a public outcry resulted in community fund-raising. The
Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...
and the Riccarton Borough Council bought Mona Vale in June 1969 for the purpose of turning it into a public park. The purchase of Mona Vale is credited to Christchurch mayor Ron Guthrey. Until the
2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercal ...
, the homestead was operated as a restaurant, café and function centre, often used for weddings. The building closed due to earthquake damage. It was officially reopened by Christchurch City Councillor James Gough, great-grandson of the former owner Tracy Thomas Gough, on 28 November 2016 following a two-year, $3.2 million repair and restoration. The Christchurch Civic Trust awarded a heritage renovation award in 2017 for the earthquake repair works.


Heritage listings

The homestead was registered as a Category 1 heritage building by the NZHPT on 7 April 1983 with registration number 283. The gate house off Fendalton Road has its own heritage listing, and it was registered by NZHPT as Category II on 23 June 1983 with registration number 1799. File:Bathhouse and Poppies at Mona Vale.jpg, The bathhouse File:Mona Vale fernery.jpg, Inside the fernery File:Fern statue at Mona Vale.jpg, Statue of a fern in the fernery File:Rhododendron border and the Avon River, Mona Vale.jpg, A border of Rhododendrons along the Avon River


References


External links

{{commons category
Website of the homestead proprietor
1899 establishments in New Zealand Urban public parks Parks in Christchurch Tourist attractions in Christchurch Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Canterbury Region Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in the Canterbury Region