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
Christchurch Girls' High School
Christchurch Girls' High School () in Christchurch, New Zealand, was established in 1877 and is the second oldest girls-only secondary school in the country, after Otago Girls' High School.
History
Christchurch Girls' High School was establishe ...
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
Riccarton Riccarton may refer to:
New Zealand
* Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch
** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it
** The location of Riccarton Race Course
* a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago
Scot ...
.
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
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
. 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
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
. She was the daughter of a wealthy
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
run-holder,
George Moore of
Glenmark Station Glenmark may refer to:
* Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai.
History
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals was founded in 1977 by Gracias Saldanha as a gen ...
. 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
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln (na ...
, 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
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
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