This imposing residence was built in 1873 on pastoralist and stock breeder Edward Menlove’s Windsor Park Estate. The homestead, set in park-like gardens, was the hub of his extensive property, and demonstrates the lifestyle of wealthy landowners in nineteenth century North Otago. Windsor Park’s substantial outbuildings, including stone stables (Register No. 2438) and men’s quarters/cookshop (Register No. 2439,) are located nearby.

The Filleul brothers were the first runholders in the Teaneraki area in 1853. Edward Menlove and Thomas Calcutt purchased the run in 1865. In 1869, the land at Waiareka became the property of Menlove alone. He and his family moved there from Dunedin in the early 1870s and by 1877, Menlove had 14,000 acres [5,665 hectares] at Waiareka. He set about establishing an estate suitable for an English gentleman, stocking the streams with trout, landscaping the grounds and building his residence and the associated farm buildings. Menlove immersed himself in local affairs. He was active in the Presbyterian church, the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society, the Oamaru Harbour Board, the Oamaru hospital committee and the New Zealand Refrigerating Company. He was also a renowned stock breeder – particularly Clydesdales and sheep.

Prominent Dunedin architect David Ross designed the two-storey Oamaru stone house. The ‘palatial residence’ as one contemporary newspaper described it, provided generous accommodation for Menlove and his family. The hall was, ornamented with ‘two Oamaru pillars, of Elizabethan architecture’. To the left of the hall was the parlour with a 12 foot [3.6 metre] stud and a deep bay window. Next to the parlour was the kitchen with a Leamington range and steam pressure boiler to provide hot water. A side window provided access for the dining room. Off the kitchen was the scullery, the pantry and the back staircase. On the opposite side of the hall, at the back of the house, was the day nursery. The dining room next door had bells to ring for service and an upward sliding door provided a link with the drawing room. The drawing room, of similar dimensions to the dining room, had access to the conservatory which ran along the east elevation of the house. The bedrooms and servants’ rooms were upstairs.

Windsor Park estate shaped the surrounding settlements, with Menlove subdividing to provide for settlement at what became the village of Windsor. In the later years of the nineteenth century, Windsor Park was subdivided in line with the government policy of closer settlement. The house remained the hub of the farm until in the late 1970s, when the homestead was subdivided from the farm steading. In 2014, Windsor Park Homestead remains a private residence set in extensive grounds, and a testament to the enterprising Edward Menlove.