The timber Wharf Hotel (Former), dating from the 1860s or early 1870s, and significantly enlarged in 1878, is one of the earliest surviving buildings in Rawene, and one of the earliest remaining hotels in the Hokianga. Its surviving external form is particularly significant as an uncommon remaining Northland example of a small, nineteenth century domestic-scale public house, differing from the larger and more ornate ‘commercial-style’ hotels that later prevailed in New Zealand. As one of two hotels in the early years of the small town, it was an important focus for social activity, and connected to a number of prominent members of the early Māori-Pākehā community. It is also historically significant for uses that occurred after it closed as a hotel in the 1890s, including as a Methodist manse and Rawene’s first hospital. Looking out towards the busy trading passage between the inner and outer Hokianga Harbour, the hotel was built close to the waterfront at Rawene (also known as Herd's Point), which had been laid out as a township in 1864-1866. It was one of several buildings erected on a section that had initially been set aside as a post office reserve by the Crown. In its original form, a one-storey kauri building with a gable roof and verandah, it appears to have been built for George Hardiman, a member of one of the early Māori-Pākehā families in Hokianga. Its small-scale domestic appearance was commonplace for early colonial taverns and related establishments in New Zealand, following overseas precedents in Britain and North America. From the mid-1870s the building was owned by John Lundon (1828?–1899), an entrepreneur and politician, who renamed it the Harp of Erin. It was substantially enlarged in 1878 with the construction of a two storey extension with a hipped roof; graffiti in the latter states it was built by George G. Menzies, who subsequently became Hokianga County Engineer. Enlargement of the facilities occurred during a period of heightened importance for Rawene, after the settlement formally became Hokianga’s county town (1876). Although the building was owned by Lundon until 1888, the hotel licence was operated by others over the years, including his teenage daughter Matilda. A detached kitchen at this time lay behind the main building. After the Rawene wharf was erected nearby in 1881, the establishment was renamed the Wharf Hotel, and continued under new ownership: ‘extensive improvements’ were made in 1892. A number of lean-tos to the side and rear were added over the years. The building ceased to be a hotel in circa 1894, becoming a residence for the local Methodist minister and his family between 1895 and 1900. It was then used as Rawene’s first hospital, probably from 1904: although some alterations and additions were made, the hospital moved to new premises in 1909. In 1925-50, the building housed Lucy Ferguson’s boarding house, providing lodgings and food, and was later used as a furniture showroom, and shop selling groceries and meals. A dormer window was added into the one storey gable roof sometime after 1950. In the 2010s the building underwent substantial restoration, when windows and doors were replaced, internal alterations made and lean-tos removed. It is now (2017) a private residence, and broadly retaining its early scale and external form, remains a visually distinctive component within the historic Rawene townscape.