This two-storied cottage on Paekākāriki Hill Road, Pāuatahanui is thought to date to 1860, and was built by Thomas Hollis Stace, one of the village’s first Pākēha settlers. It is one of the oldest buildings in the Porirua area and has historical significance through its association with the initial Pākehā settlement of Pāuatahanui, and the Stace family in particular. The cottage and its site have archaeological significance with the potential to reveal important information about the early history of Pāuatahanui. It is a key element within the historic landscape of Pāuatahanui which includes the neighbouring Pāuatahanui War Memorial, Mataitaua pā and St Alban’s Church and cemetery.

In November 1853 Thomas Hollis Stace and his family arrived in Pāuatahanui from Tasmania. Stace had purchased Section 63 at Pāuatahanui, one of the New Zealand Land Company’s ‘100 country acre’ sections. There were existing buildings on Section 63 including a ‘dwelling house’ and outbuildings but the Stace family are understood to have settled in nearby Taylor-Stace Cottage. In 1854 Stace mortgaged his land to Charles Pharazyn which enabled him to ‘develop the land and become a prosperous farmer’ and in 1860 he built the two-storied cottage on Section 63. The Stace family never lived in the cottage as they were based at their nearby property ‘Riversdale’; Stace is understood to have constructed cottages in the area as ‘a commercial activity’.

The two-storied cottage is described as a ‘modest colonial cottage’ with a ‘simple and economical form’. It has weatherboards along the street frontage with vertical corrugated iron cladding on the remaining sides and a steeply pitched roof clad in corrugated iron. The ground floor originally comprised a large lounge, small drawing room and a third room which was potentially a scullery or storeroom (later converted to a bathroom) and a narrow staircase led to the bedroom and landing area.

The Stace family leased the cottage to various tenants over the years. In 1877 Postmaster Thomas Pryke leased the cottage and it became the Post Office for a period. In the 1880s, Edward Boulton Jnr and James Robertson rented the cottage for use as a store and bakery. The front verandah was added between 1879 and 1902. The Stace family’s long association with the cottage ended in 1969 when it was sold to the Community Development Consortium. At this time the cottage was described as being in a ‘remarkable state of repair’, though with evidence of modifications and extensions. In 1984 the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand purchased the cottage and undertook restoration works such as the reinstatement of the verandah fretwork to its original pattern, and construction of the lean-to and back block. The Society sold the cottage to auctioneer John Wedde in March 1993, and in February 1995 it was purchased by the Turvey family who undertook restoration and maintenance works including reroofing, insulation, relining of walls and addition of leadlight panels above the front door with the date ‘1860’. The cottage remains in private ownership to this day.