The large residence at 73 Maxwell Road, Blenheim is potentially one of Blenheim’s oldest houses. It has historical significance for its decades as a home for the Catholic orders of the De La Salle Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy, and the Catholic Family Social Services. Marlborough is directly associated with the earliest period of Māori settlement in Aotearoa. Polynesian settlers inhabited Te Pokohiwi/ Wairau Bar c.1300, and an extensive network of lagoons was later developed to make the most of the plentiful mahinga kai resources. Earlier tribes were succeeded by Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa and Rangitāne in the sixteenth century, with Rāngitane occupying the Wairau Bar. Between 1828-1832 war parties of Waikato and Taranaki warriors attacked numerous pā, unsettling the region’s established tribal alliances. Ngāti Toa Rangatira put down roots in the Wairau and one of their warrior chiefs, Te Rauparaha, dominated affairs in the region and was the primary negotiator for the New Zealand Company’s 1839 purchase of the arable Wairau Valley. European settlement in the nineteenth century shifted customary ways of life for tangata whenua. Ownership and possession of the Wairau was still in dispute until 1847, when the Crown finally wrested legal title. Today Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Toa Rangatira have principal interests in the Wairau/Blenheim area. The township of Blenheim developed in the 1850s in an area that was a flax swamp before earthquakes raised the ground level. John Ewart was the first owner of Lot 13 Town Sec 4 on Maxwell Road. Ewart became a significant landholder in Blenheim, founded on his successful hotel business and hall and meeting-rooms, both of which were familiarly known by his surname. At the time of his marriage to Jane Kennedy in 1875 Ewart resided at his hotel, but it can be assumed that the construction of the Ewart marital home on Lot 13 Town Sec 4 occurred sometime soon after that. The present building may contain remnants of this original building, as it retains typical features of nineteenth century cottages, such as the single storey, H-shaped layout with symmetrical projecting gables flanking a front porch, distinctive chimney and three multi-paned sash windows set flush in the centre of each projecting bay. John Ewart died at the residence in 1891. His wife continued to live in the house until 1914, however the Ewart Estate was not wound up until the 1920s. In 1919 sale documents the property was described as a ‘fine residence with outbuildings, and beautiful garden thereon’, in ‘fair repair’ and having been ‘at one time a show place in Blenheim’. It was finally sold in 1923, to coal and produce merchant John Kennedy Jeffries, who six months later took out an additional mortgage on the property. This could represent substantial alterations and additions to the original house, or a complete rebuilding of the dwelling. The shingled gable ends and window hoods are typical of the bungalow style of the 1920s. In 1953 the property was acquired by the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington as a residence for the De La Salle Brothers, who had been brought to Blenheim to teach at the St Mary’s Parish boys’ schools. This Order was founded over 360 years ago by St John Baptist De La Salle to focus on the educational and welfare needs of young people. The Brothers’ residence was enlarged and named Delargey House, in honour of Cardinal Reginald Delargey (1914-1979). Twenty years later the La Sallian Brothers withdrew from Blenheim due to declining numbers. The building was then used as a group family home by the Catholic Social Services, until it became the Sisters of Mercy Convent in 1985. In 1998 the three remaining Sisters of Mercy moved out to a smaller residence. The building was then sold and since then has operated as a hostel named after the impressive copper beech tree in the front yard. The tree, thought to have been between 80-100 years old, was chopped down in 2007 to the dismay of many locals.