Constructed in 1854, ‘The Cuddy’ at Te Waimate Station is an outstanding early pioneer dwelling that demonstrates ingenuity in early house building and tells a story of New Zealand’s pastoral history. Built by early Canterbury settlers, the Studholme brothers, the two-roomed cottage has aesthetic, architectural and historical significance.

John, Paul and Michael Studholme emigrated from Cumberland, England to Lyttelton in 1851. In 1854 the three brothers took up four pastoral runs to form the large Te Waimate sheep station in South Canterbury. Michael Studholme was in charge, a site was chosen for his house in 1854 and, together with George Brayshaw, the Studholme brothers built the first Pākeha settler dwelling in Waimate. The style of the dwelling was based on English precedents but adapted to suit the availability of materials in New Zealand. The timber slabs used in construction were purportedly from a single totara tree. The thatching for the roof was carried out by Saul Shrives. The building was said to be ‘so warm, so comfortable, so impervious to weather, so snug, that it was afterwards appropriately named The Cuddy’.

Rectangular in plan, with a hipped thatched roof, the two roomed Cuddy sits within the grounds of Te Waimate homestead. The walls are constructed of vertical totara slabs with cob pugging on the inside. The floor is clay. Two mullion and transom windows flank the central door on the north elevation. Snowgrass was used for the original roof thatching, and remains of this survive beneath later layers of corn straw thatch.

The Cuddy was the place where many travellers were hosted and farming and land improvement projects were planned. Michael Studholme lived there until 1860, after which time he built the first part of his new two storeyed house nearby to coincide with his marriage to Effegenia (Effie) Channon. That new homestead was added to in 1880, while The Cuddy remained largely as it was when first constructed in 1854. When Michael Studholme died in September 1886, aged 53, he left behind Effie and their family of six sons and four daughters. The two-storeyed 1860-1880 homestead was destroyed by fire in 1928, but The Cuddy survived unharmed. Various programmes of repair and re-thatching have been undertaken on the building over the years. Still owned by the Studholmes, Te Waimate Station is significant in being one of the very few early runs that has remained in the ownership of the same family. In 1960 The Cuddy was declared a private historic reserve and is managed by Heritage New Zealand.