The Tongariro National Park was established in 1894 following the gift to the Crown by the paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa, Te Heuheu Tukino IV (?-1888), of land encompassing the three mountains Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaruahoe. The Park was administered by the Minister of Lands until 1914, when it came under the Department of Tourist & Health Resorts. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Tongariro mountains had been visited for recreational purposes by only a few people, as access was very difficult. For the Whakapapa area it involved a walk or horse trek of over 17 km from the nearest road and the Waimarino (now National Park) railway station on the Main Trunk Railway Line. The only accommodation available was former shepherds' huts. From the turn of the century, the construction of recreational accommodation facilities commenced. In 1901 a hut was built near Ketetahi Springs. The Waihohonu Hut was built in 1904 on the eastern side of Ruapehu, and in 1918 the first Mangatepopo Hut was built to the north. The first skiers in the North Island tried the eastern slopes of the mountain in 1913, and promptly formed the Ruapehu Ski Club. In 1919 the Tararua Tramping Club was formed. The popularity of the new alpine sports grew, so that by 1920 a hut was provided by the Tourist Department at the area which had proven to be the most popular area for skiing, Whakapapa. (In the 1920s and 30s the snow levels were lower than currently, allowing skiing to take place quite close to the Whakapapa Huts.) This hut was the first building constructed in the area, and was aptly named Whakapapa Hut or No.1 Hut. Blyth Hut was built on the Ohakune side of the mountain in the same year. Demand for more accommodation grew, and in 1922 the Tourist Department built No. 2 Hut at Whakapapa. The two huts at Whakapapa were designed and built by William Salt with help from volunteers. No. 1 Hut could accommodate 22 people and No.2, 12 people. The Tongariro National Park Act 1922 established the regulations relating to the Park and provided for its control and management by a board, the Tongariro National Park Board (TNPB). The Board included the Minister of Lands, the paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa, representatives of the Lands, Tourist and State Forest Departments and the mayors of Wellington and Auckland cities, amongst others. At the first meeting of the TNPB, held at Waimarino on the 25 January 1923, the accommodation issue was raised again, with calls for a large government-financed hostel. The Minister (the Hon. D. H. Guthrie) said that this was unlikely as other places such as the Hermitage at Mt Cook were not paying their way. However, he did agree to raise the matter with Parliament, together with possibility of erecting a few small huts in the interim. Discussion included the difficulty of access: it was suggested that the Prisons Department could assist with building roads. The sum of £1000 from the Bruce estate was offered to assist towards development, and Mr J. Gunson, the mayor of Auckland, suggested local bodies could contribute. The formation of the Bruce Road was in hand by 27 July 1923, partly financed by the R. C. Bruce estate. On 3 August 1923, the TNPB authorized the expenditure of £400 for constructing huts. It can be inferred that this refers to the building of No. 3 Hut, even though the Minutes which record its completion do not refer to it as that: 'The chairman reported that the Prisons Department had completed the erection of two new huts at the Whakapapa and Mangatepopo sites, each containing 12 bunks and a fireplace'. The TNPB minutes and annual reports for the next two years do not mention any further construction that could be relevant and No. 3 Hut is in use by August 1925. Therefore it seems that No. 3 Hut was built some time between 3 August 1923 and 5 February 1924 by the Prisons Department. The designer of No. 3 Hut is not known, but was probably the Public Works Department. No. 3 Hut was in a different style from the first two Whakapapa Huts, with its cottage format and full-width verandah as well as in its construction, the others having walls and roofs of corrugated iron. No. 3 Hut was built as two rooms, each with six bunks. These were probably built three-high as was the current custom. The building was painted by 22 May 1924, with paint costing £6/0/9 supplied by the Public Works Department. An 'Interim statement of work done on huts' for £308/5/3 was submitted by the Prisons Department at this time. It might be inferred that other bills passed for payment by the May Board meeting such as the 'mattresses for huts' supplied by Oborn & Co., Auckland, blinds by Maple Furnishing Co., Auckland, and timber from the Kauri Timber Co., Auckland, also related to the new Whakapapa and Mangatepopo huts. Further timber was supplied by the Prisons Department at a cost of £8/11/2. Improvements for visitors continued, with the provision of washing facilities. The initial suggestion 'that a bath house should be erected at the Whakapapa huts ... a plain wooden building [with a] partition in middle....' was agreed to and elaborated by Board member Bill Salt: '...I am in favour of the suggestion but if it will not increase the cost too much it would be better to have two separate buildings...'. Negotiations regarding the timing of the work, to be undertaken by the Prisons Department, and the quality of the materials were under way by late July 1924: The cost of material and labour would be as follows:- Plumbing materials, including baths etc £76 14 6 Timber, glass, iron, paint etc 34 19 - Cartage 10 - - Labour 20 - - Contingencies 10 - - £151 13 6 The chip heaters require to be of special design as per detail supplied by Mr Fairhall. ... Burt and Co. now offer to do the work for £10/9/6 per heater instead of £12 as formerly. The galv. iron baths quoted at £2/15/- each would be much too light; £3/17/6 would provide a much better article.... The water supply was to be piped from the adjacent stream, with one estimate for the plumbing amounting to £64/5/0. The Auckland firm of J. Burns & Co. quoted a much cheaper price of £3/17/6 for a chip or bath heater and probably received the order. The total estimated cost was £215/18/6 for the proposed bathhouse at Whakapapa (ie, just one building). The Board did not meet for a few months and records available do not clarify the decision to erect two bath houses not just one, nor the date of their erection, but two bath houses were built. These were situated adjacent to No. 1 and No. 3 Huts. By February 1925 the Board was setting the fee for a hot bath at 1/6, and a cold bath at sixpence. The annual report of the Board for 1924-25 reported: 'Two bath-houses fitted with porcelain baths and washbasins have now been erected where hot and cold baths can be obtained as required.' Another service was provided by May 1924: a telephone connection from Waimarino to No. 2 Hut. The potential of the Park for tourism and increased alpine recreation was being recognised.Popular tourist guidebooks welcomed the new developments: Among the first activities of the Board will be the erection of an up-to-date hostel, at a suitable spot on the mountain side, and the construction of a good motor road from the entrance gate to the site of the hostel.... Two additional accommodation huts are being erected - one at Whakapapa and the other at Mangatepopo.... The Whakapapa cottage is situated near the upper waters of the Whakapapa-nui Stream, five miles by rough cart track from the main road. The intention is to popularise the Park as a winter as well as a summer resort. Already these mountains are visited by a great many people in the Easter season and during August for the snow sports of ski-ing [sic] and glissading, and the Board looks to the future when the Tongariro country will be a St. Moritz of the Southern Hemisphere. Progress on the Bruce Road was slow with forming and culverting preceding the metalling by some months. The road was built by the Prisons Department, the men staying in camps in the vicinity. In August 1925 the first motorcar was driven to Whakapapa Huts, on a road that had been formed but not metalled. A year later, the Taumarunui Press reported: 'A large number of Taumarunui people visited the Park during the week-end and several cars were parked in the vicinity of the Whakapapa Huts which, with the exception of the last half-mile, is now approached by a good metalled road.' A fourth building was completed by Christmas 1925: this was the large dining hall used also for social events and extra accommodation. It was situated on the east side of the Bruce Rd. But still there were demands for additional accommodation: The accommodation at the huts was greatly overtaxed, the dancehall being used as a dormitory and the overflow being then accommodated in tents. A considerable number of members of the [Ruapehu Ski] club, as well as many other intending visitors, had to be turned away owing to lack of accommodation. The facilities were described in more positive terms by Cowan in his guidebook commissioned by the Tongariro National Park Board: The Whakapapa Huts are five miles from the main road, by a good metalled road, the Bruce Road...Here at Whakapapa, in a beautifully sheltered, partly wooded valley, there are three huts, or small cottages, with good wide fire-places - a great consideration in this mountain region - and bunk accommodation for forty-six persons; one of the huts is for women. There is also a dining and social hall, there are also some tents. The official caretaker and guide lives at Whakapapa. At present, pending further arrangements, visitors to Whakapapa and other camps must take their provisions, eating utensils, and blankets with them; mattresses and pillows are proved by the caretaker at Whakapapa. As to fuel, firewood is provided by the caretaker at Whakapapa. Cowan's reference to one of the huts being for women is confirmed by a February 1926 survey plan that shows No. 3 Hut as 'Ladies' Hut' with 'Ladies' Bath House' adjacent. The Hut may have been used for women when there were mixed parties; it was also used by other groups e.g. school groups, the Tararua Tramping Club and the Ruapehu Ski Club. One woman who stayed in the hut was Lady Alice Fergusson, wife of Sir Charles Fergusson, Governor General of New Zealand, 1924-1930, and daughter of the former Governor-General, the Earl of Glasgow. The impending visit was reported in one of the local newspapers: '... the next week or two will see an invasion of tourists from all parts of the Dominion. They will include Her Excellency Lady Alice Fergusson and a Vice-regal party, and a party of 16 Auckland girls.' No. 3 Hut's name was changed to Fergusson Cottage to commemorate her visit, but exactly when the name change occurred has not been established. The chimneys in No. 3 Hut were altered more than once. The earliest known photograph of the hut shows the two chimneys to be of symmetrical but identical shape, but by August 1925 the western one has been altered. A complaint about defects in the equipment of the accommodation huts may have been referring to the inadequacy of the chimneys. A comment in the Ruapehu Ski Club's annual report for June 1926 indicates the reason: 'The large fireplaces in the No 3 Hut at Whakapapa have been altered and now the smoke nuisance in this hut is to a certain extent abated.' Both chimneys had been altered to a third shape by 16 September 1926; they were again symmetrical. By September 1931 the eastern chimney has been removed and a new internal pipe chimney protruded through the roof. This was in place at least until Christmas 1937 . An existing patch in the iron sheeting on the roof reinforces this interpretation . By 1948 the chimneys and fireplaces had been altered again, with the complete removal of the western one and the erection of a brick chimney externally on the eastern wall. The brick chimney and new fireplace with its stepped mantelpiece may have been part of the conversion of the cottage for use a permanent residence in the late 1930s or early 40s. According to Liz Agnew who moved into the cottage with her parents Acker and Edie Keane in 1948, the new fireplace worked well: 'Fergusson Cottage was a very very warm and cosy place as Dad always had the fire going in the winter and there were panel heaters etc in the kitchen.' The cottage's history was closely involved from 1928 with that of the Chateau Tongariro. It was included as part of the agreement made on the 27th August 1928 between the Tongariro National Park Board and the syndicate later known as the Tongariro Park Tourist Co. Ltd, to take effect 15 October 1928. The syndicate was 'to form a company and to commence building a hostel', with the agreement allowing them to lease No.2 area including: all that piece or parcel of land in the Wellington Land District containing by admeasurement 1 acre 3 roods 17 perches ... known as the Whakapapa Huts site, Tongariro National Park, being part Okahukura No.8 Block, situated in Block III, Ruapehu Survey District and being the whole of the area numbered 2 on plan 89/5/R ... bordered red... The lessee shall take over the buildings and other improvements on the No. 2 area ... and shall maintain and conduct all such buildings during the term of the lease as hut or cottage accommodation for visitors and guests to the satisfaction of the lessor. Other clauses state that the TPTCL must not discriminate or refuse to accommodate anyone, must post charges, and must not increase charges without the approval of the lessor. Work on the Chateau began in January 1929. Tradesmen working for Fletcher Construction Co. Ltd while building the Chateau in 1929 lived in the Whakapapa Huts, including Fergusson Cottage. The first addition to the cottage, the lean-to, may have been prompted by the need to make it more comfortable for the builders. Certainly the lean-to was built after the erection of the Long Lodge complex that opened in December 1928. The cottage and the Lodge's ablution block are only 0.6m apart at their closest points, and the lean-to's plan reflects this in the dog-leg (or cranked) shape of its eastern wall. The Chateau was officially opened on November 1st, 1929. It is assumed, but not established, that the use of the cottage by Chateau staff began from this time. Modifications to make it more comfortable for long-term residents may also have begun at this time. These changes included the addition of a bedroom at the rear, a larger kitchen, an internal area used as a dining room, an internal bathroom and toilet in the former lean-to, the change of use of the eastern bunkroom to a lounge and the blocking of one front door. These changes had occurred by 1948 when the Keane family moved in. Alan (Acker) Keane was the store manager for the Chateau, and his wife Edie was the accountant. They lived there until Acker Keane's death in 1976. Since 1948 to 1993 there seemed to have been no significant changes to the cottage, either structurally or in its use. By 1931 the Tongariro Park Tourist Company was insolvent. The lease of the land reverted to the Tongariro National Park Board. The TPTC property and chattels were assigned to the Board. The schedule of insured items includes huts but these are not specified. In a deed signed on 9 Feb 1932, under the 'Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act 1908 ... the whole of the movable property ... belonging to the Board ... has been assigned to and vested in the Minister [of Tourism]'. The Tourist Department took over the running of the Chateau and huts. In 1992 the Department of Conservation commissioned a conservation report from Conservation Architect Chris Cochran. Cochran recommended that Fergusson Cottage should not be moved, that it was essential that particular elements and fabric features were retained and not altered in any significant way, and that it was desirable to retain other itemised elements and fabric features. In 1994 Fergusson Cottage and the Love Shack were converted by the owners, KAH Corporation, into a café. The architects for this work were Chapple Architects, Palmerston North. Most of the features listed as 'essential' by Cochran have been retained, with the exception of the wall dividing the two original front rooms. However, most of the 'desirable' elements have been removed: this includes the brick chimney, nearly all the doors and the kitchen cupboards. Nonetheless, the cottage and the Love Shack retain some of the ambience of the 1920s, and care has been taken to match new wall linings in the Love Shack, and new skirting boards and the new front door in the cottage, with the original appearance and materials. The adjoining lobby is in new materials. The Love Shack was originally the ablution block of the Lodge (later called Long Lodge) built by the Tongariro Park Tourist Company between No. 1 and No. 2 Huts. It is likely to have been built at the same time as the Lodge in late1928 and the Lodge's dining and kitchen block (now Thompson Lodge) to the north ie down-slope from Fergusson Cottage. (The three buildings of the Lodge complex were separated by other buildings.) The first visitor 'checked into the Lodge on 14 December 1928. The new buildings provided much better facilities than the huts, with sheets and eiderdowns, ... housemaids ... and chef '. The Lodge and its outbuildings were designed by the Timaru architect Herbert Hall who later designed the Chateau. By 1992 (and possibly as early as the 1950s) the Love Shack had been converted into two living units. It has now been converted again with only a portion of one interior wall remaining, which with a partition wall closes off one corner as a storeroom and porch for the collection of mail. The large open space thus formed serves as additional seating for café patrons. The room is connected, via a wide entrance in the north wall, to the new lobby as part of Fergussons Café. The change of use of Fergusson Cottage reflects the changing use of the mountain environment, and the changing needs of visitors. Visitor numbers had increased to 800,000 per year by 1999, with a permanent resident population of 80 people.

Conservation Architect Chris Cochran in his 1992 report stated: Fergusson Cottage is a simple gable-roofed structure with a verandah across the front (north) side of the building and a lean-to and a projecting wing on the back (south) side. The gable-roofed portion [is] the original building. The structure is timber framing with vertical board and batten sheathing; the rear wing has rusticated weatherboarding on the south and east walls. The cottage was originally two rooms only, each opening to the verandah via symmetrically placed doors in the middle of the front elevation. Nearly half of the front wall of each room was taken up with two pairs of large double-hung sash windows, each with six lights. These windows would have maximised the natural light for each room, as well as maximising the view. Each room had a hearth with external chimney. From photographic evidence it seems that the style of the chimney was changed fairly soon after construction. The original chimneys are visible in an historic photograph. The bathhouse was placed so that its entrance was only a few paces from the end of the verandah. The original method of heating water for baths was with a chip heater. Former resident Liz Agnew recalls that the building had a copper in the corner, which was used during the late 1940s-50s for heating water for laundry. The copper may have been installed in the 1930s when the cottage was converted to a permanent residence. There are two patches on the ceiling of the bathhouse which indicate the location of the chimneys for the chip heater and the copper. Cochran's measured drawing shows on the western side a porch open to the north and with a wood shed on its south side. From his photographs it can be seen that the small lean-to and the porch also had vertical board and battens and the same style of windows as the original structure. The separate structure (the original bath house, used as a wash-house in 1992) close to the northwest corner of the cottage was also board and batten that 'match those of the cottage'. Cochran's plan and photographs show a single chimney, of brick, on the east side. The verandah rails are horizontal. The ceiling in the two front rooms is coved. Although built a few years later and for a different purpose, the Love Shack has a similarity in its materials and some similar windows. 'The Love Shack is a single-storey timber framed building, clad with flush vertical boarding on the walls and corrugated iron roof - it was designed by the Timaru architect Herbert Hall, as the ablution block for the Lodge.' At its closest point the Love Shack is only 0.6metres from Fergusson Cottage. Current: The buildings have been modified as per the plans by Chapple Architects so that the Cottage is now joined to the Love Shack by means of a flat-roofed lobby that serves as the main entrance. The external materials of the front of the entrance lobby are glass in aluminium framing, and brick pavers. The glass, in two fixed panels either side of a pair of doors, is full height and width. Paint colours echo those on the Cottage. The front of the lobby does not protrude beyond the front wall of the Cottage or the Love Shack, but the roof of its porch does. Internally, the new lobby is an irregular 5-sided room with its longest wall forming the front wall, in glass. A wide doorway to the west opens directly into Fergusson Cottage; on the southeast side a flight up four steps leads up to the Love Shack, which can be closed off with a pair of wooden sliding doors. These doors are in the same style as the sliding doors from the Cottage to the toilet lobby and from the toilet lobby into the toilet. The floors of the lobby and its porch are paved with modern brick pavers. Ceiling and walls are unpainted plywood. Several of the interior walls of Fergusson Cottage as described in Cochran's 1992 plan have been removed or partially removed to create an open plan layout and/or wide doorways. Beams support the structure in their place, in such a way as to preserve the coved ceilings in the original two front rooms. The sloping ceiling of the lean-to is visible in the work area behind the serving counter. There is a small step down from the customer side of the serving area ('coffee 2' on Chapple plan) to what was the back bedroom ('coffee 3' on plan), and another step down from coffee 2 to the servery. The new toilet and its lobby, in the position previously taken by the back porch and wood shed, have recycled windows. The new front door and frame were modelled on existing ones. The double-hung sash windows in the front elevation are original. The left-hand door is original, the other a new replica. The external doorsteps of the two doors have different profiles. Light switches, door handles, fittings, plumbing fixtures, cupboards are all new. The architraves in coffee 2 and 3 appear to be original ie 1930s. The skirting board in coffee 3 also seems original: it is 135 mm high and has an asymmetrical profile, different from that in all other rooms. The window frames in the former back bedroom and kitchen are original. There are a few diversions from the plans by Chapple Architects: the replica chimney and gas fire planned for the west wall in coffee 1 were not built; the window in the toilet has been placed in the west wall. The wall between kitchen and back bedroom/coffee 3 has a small, framed window through which staff can view patrons. The exteriors of all three buildings are painted, with the main colour being shades of light green, features a darker olive green. The washhouse roof is brown, and the roofs of the Love Shack and Fergusson Cottage are an apple green. The colour schemes are similar for the other historic buildings in the complex on the western side of the Bruce Road, except for the garage, which is brick. The washhouse is used as storage for café supplies. When inspected it was full of boxes, but it could be seen that at least some of the wall linings and floor are the original timber. No plumbing fittings were visible. A rotary clothesline behind the cottage is relatively recent. Remnants of old concrete paths exist. The brick steps leading up to the verandah were extant in 1993 (see plan). The garden in front of the verandah has been planted with cottage plants and natives, and the area in front of the cottage has been landscaped relatively flat to allow for several picnic tables for the use of café patrons. The setting of the cottage has changed considerably: the road is sealed, much widened and has shrubberies of native plants alongside the footpaths. These obscure the buildings from the road and create a different environment from that in the historic photographs.