Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value The cottage was built as a family home for a city businessman John Chew, 20 years before the railway went through. John Chew arrived in Wellington in 1858 and was trained as an engineer. He owned 200 acres of land in the Kaiwharawhara district in 1860 and had leased another 250 acres. A former sawmill existed somewhere in the vicinity of Nagio Hall. Chew renovated this mill and operated it, but a big flood in the 1860s destroyed the mill. Chew also had interests in timber in the Wairarapa. Hutt Valley, King Country and near Porirua. He also had other business interests in Wellington. The present house is the third on the site and was built c.1865. The other two houses were demolished and these were probably built in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The second house is said to have become Chew's workshop, storeroom and wash-house. Some alterations to the existing house have taken place but do not seem to have detracted from the house's association with local industry (i.e. sawmilling) and with that of an innovative local engineer and entrepreneur.

Physical Significance

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: Important example of domestic colonial architecture. A typical wooden house of the 1860s and still a family home. Original lines virtually unchanged. This colonial dwelling is one of the few remaining examples in near original condition still standing close to Wellington. TOWNSCAPE/LANDMARK SIGNIFICANCE: A charming reminder of Ngaio's industrial beginnings, set, today among modern buildings.