The Papakowhai Homestead has great regional significance, as it is one of the oldest houses in the Porirua area. It is believed that the back portion of the house dates from c.1848 when the Bowler family farmed the area. In 1855 the house was bought by Anthony Wall, a New Zealand Company settler who arrived in New Zealand in 1841. When Wall died in 1879, his third son Anthony Wall (jr.) inherited the property. Wall commissioned an architect, possibly Robert Edwards, to design the 1888 additions and alterations. The house remained in the ownership of the Wall family until 1965. Since then it has had a number of owners. The house was used for tearooms in the 1960s, and for a brief period of three months, in 1965, the house was opened to the public as a museum using material from the collections of the Dominion Museum (now Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa)

The greater part of Papakowhai Homestead is a good example of a Victorian timber-built dwelling. It is a two-storey timber structure with a square plan. The Italianate influenced house is notable for its elegant, partially enclosed verandah, which has beautifully detailed posts. The interior of Papakowhai retains some of the original joinery.

The Papakowhai homestead has great regional significance as it dates to the first decades of organised Pakeha settlement in the Porirua area.