The Carpenter Gothic timber villa, ‘Naumai’, at 113 Rue Jolie in Akaroa was built in the mid-1870s as one of a neighbouring pair (with 115 Rue Jolie) and survives in relatively original form. It illustrates colonial lifestyles in the mid-Victorian period and is notable for both its long history providing tourist accommodation and the longevity of generational ownership. It has aesthetic, architectural, historical and cultural significance.
Akaroa Harbour is a large, long harbour on the southern coast of Horomaka/Te Pātaka-a-Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula). Tuhiraki (Mount Bossu) is the kō (digging stick) of the famous Waitaha explorer Rākaihautū. Akaroa was occupied by iwi such as Hāwea, Waitaha, Rapuwai, and Kāti Māmoe prior to the southern Kāi Tūhaitara migration to Canterbury. Te Ake was one of several Ngāi Tahu tūpuna (ancestors) who claimed land during this migration, placing his tokotoko at the head of the harbour. Akaroa continues to be a renowned mahinga kai (food-gathering area) for the local Kāi Tahu hapū based at the small kāika of Ōnuku which is located just to the south of Paka Ariki, Akaroa township. By the early nineteenth century, Akaroa Harbour had become a favourite port of call for whaling ships. French whaler, Jean François Langlois became involved in land transactions in the area in the late 1830s, which eventually lead to the founding of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company and ultimately In August 1840, French (and some German) settlers from the Comte de Paris landing at Paka Ariki/Akaroa. While the British had already annexed New Zealand by the time the settlers arrived, most stayed on and settled in the area. In the 1840s, the northern part of Akaroa was known as the ‘French Town’, while the southern part was the ‘English Town’. Storekeeper, James Garwood, was a well-known community member in mid-Victorian Akaroa. In 1874 he leased a quarter acre section in the English Town part of from Akaroa’s first doctor, Daniel Watkins. The condition of the lease was initially that two dwellings of a certain value be constructed there but this was revised the following year, requiring only a single dwelling. The house on ‘Jollie Street’ was built at this time, 1875, for Garwood and his family.
The house is a two-storeyed mid-Victorian Carpenter Gothic villa, exhibiting characteristic decorative timber detailing created by using machine mouldings. The gabled northern end fronts Rue Jolie and contains a decorative bay window at ground floor level and a curved sash window in the gable above. A slightly curved verandah runs along the remainder of the street-facing façade, above which a pair of dormer windows protrude from the roof. The house is one of a similar pair, with its slightly more austere twin at neighbouring 115 Rue Jolie (List No. 1735). Its style is also very similar to Garwood’s larger hotel on the Hill Top overlooking Akaroa which had been built in the early 1870s but which was destroyed by fire in 1931.
After Garwood moved in 1885, the house was let as a boarding house. In the 1890s the house served as the home and surgery of Dr Walter Hargreaves before once again being let as a boarding house. In 1909 Dr Watkin’s descendants sold the house to Rose Narbey, daughter of François Narbey who owned 115 Rue Jolie (and also a French descendent – one of the few French families that had an association/resided at the ‘English’ part of town). The house was again let as a boarding house, and is thought that this is the period (late 1910s and 1920s) in which it was first known as Naumai. Naumai comes from the Māori phrase, ‘Nau mai’, an inviting welcome. The house remained in the Narbey family’s ownership until 1966.
Akaroa Harbour is a large, long harbour on the southern coast of Horomaka/Te Pātaka-a-Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula). Tuhiraki (Mount Bossu) is the kō (digging stick) of the famous Waitaha explorer Rākaihautū. Akaroa was occupied by iwi such as Hāwea, Waitaha, Rapuwai, and Kāti Māmoe prior to the southern Kāi Tūhaitara migration to Canterbury. Te Ake was one of several Ngāi Tahu tūpuna (ancestors) who claimed land during this migration, placing his tokotoko at the head of the harbour. Akaroa continues to be a renowned mahinga kai (food-gathering area) for the local Kāi Tahu hapū based at the small kāika of Ōnuku which is located just to the south of Paka Ariki, Akaroa township. By the early nineteenth century, Akaroa Harbour had become a favourite port of call for whaling ships. French whaler, Jean François Langlois became involved in land transactions in the area in the late 1830s, which eventually lead to the founding of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company and ultimately In August 1840, French (and some German) settlers from the Comte de Paris landing at Paka Ariki/Akaroa. While the British had already annexed New Zealand by the time the settlers arrived, most stayed on and settled in the area. In the 1840s, the northern part of Akaroa was known as the ‘French Town’, while the southern part was the ‘English Town’. Storekeeper, James Garwood, was a well-known community member in mid-Victorian Akaroa. In 1874 he leased a quarter acre section in the English Town part of from Akaroa’s first doctor, Daniel Watkins. The condition of the lease was initially that two dwellings of a certain value be constructed there but this was revised the following year, requiring only a single dwelling. The house on ‘Jollie Street’ was built at this time, 1875, for Garwood and his family.
The house is a two-storeyed mid-Victorian Carpenter Gothic villa, exhibiting characteristic decorative timber detailing created by using machine mouldings. The gabled northern end fronts Rue Jolie and contains a decorative bay window at ground floor level and a curved sash window in the gable above. A slightly curved verandah runs along the remainder of the street-facing façade, above which a pair of dormer windows protrude from the roof. The house is one of a similar pair, with its slightly more austere twin at neighbouring 115 Rue Jolie (List No. 1735). Its style is also very similar to Garwood’s larger hotel on the Hill Top overlooking Akaroa which had been built in the early 1870s but which was destroyed by fire in 1931.
After Garwood moved in 1885, the house was let as a boarding house. In the 1890s the house served as the home and surgery of Dr Walter Hargreaves before once again being let as a boarding house. In 1909 Dr Watkin’s descendants sold the house to Rose Narbey, daughter of François Narbey who owned 115 Rue Jolie (and also a French descendent – one of the few French families that had an association/resided at the ‘English’ part of town). The house was again let as a boarding house, and is thought that this is the period (late 1910s and 1920s) in which it was first known as Naumai. Naumai comes from the Māori phrase, ‘Nau mai’, an inviting welcome. The house remained in the Narbey family’s ownership until 1966.
