Standing on Stout Street as part of the Tairawhiti Museum complex in Gisborne, it is easy to forget that Wyllie Cottage was built in 1872, when it stood alone as the only European building on the Whataupoko side of the Taruheru River. The cottage was built for Kate Halbert, the Maori daughter of trader Thomas Halbert and his fifth wife Keita Kaikiri, and Scotsman James Wyllie, a trader turned interpreter who worked for Captain G.E. Read in 1854. After marrying in 1854, Kate Halbert and James Wyllie lived on a farm at Tutoko. Caught up in the disturbances of the land wars in the 1860s, in the 1870s they moved closer to the new township of Turanga/Gisborne and built a cottage on land of which Kate Halbert had been confirmed an owner by the judgements of Poverty Bay Commission in 1869. The land was leased to a European, and the Wyllies took out a sublease in 1872, building their cottage on the crest of a hill. They moved into the house in late 1872 or early 1873 with their eight children.
Wyllie Cottage is an early Victorian Colonial, two bedroom cottage in the style that Jeremy Salmond identifies as English Colonial. It is one and a half storeys and has totara framework, totara external tongue and groove vertical boards and battens, with a wrap around verandah and timber shingled roof. It had beaded tongue and groove kauri interior linings and kauri floors and stair treads. The cottage uses the American 'balloon frame'. According to family lore the cottage was built by John Forbes, originally from Dunedin, and who we know was resident in Gisborne in 1872. According to Rob Hall, ‘and its detail indicates that it was planned and built on the spot, not prefabricated.’
Within three years the Wyllies had moved to a new house built on another piece of land that Kate Halbert owned, in 1875. The cottage remained unchanged for the next ten years, where it seems to have been occupied from time to time, possibly by Wi Pere, Kate Halbert’s half brother. By 1882 the land on which the cottage stood had been surveyed into sections, and a bridge was erected across the Taruheru River. The land and cottage was purchased by accountant James Charles Dunlop, who moved the building to its current location, (which is within the curtilage of its original location) which was where the Museum is sited. In 1898 the land, new house and Wyllie cottage were purchased by William Douglas Lysnar. Lysnar rented the cottage, which was used as a residence, a school, and possibly a dressmaker’s workshop. Winifred Lysnar, who inherited the property from her father, sold the house and cottage to the local council in 1954 to establish a museum and gallery. Neglected and in a run down state by the 1960s it was threatened with demolition, but the community rallied to save the building, and it was restored in 1971 to the condition it had been in after its move to its current location in the 1890s. It is currently used as a museum display, demonstrating life in nineteenth century Gisborne.
Wyllie Cottage is architecturally significant as a rare example of typical early European timber construction used to build settler housing in the Tairawhiti region. It is the oldest complete house in Gisborne, and the only one remaining of its particular style and construction. It is historically significant as the first house of European construction to be built on the Whataupoko side of the Taruheru River, as well as its role as an early school, and has social importance because of its connection with Kate Halbert and James Wyllie, for whom the cottage was built. Wyllie Cottage was restored through the goodwill and fundraising efforts of the community, and enjoys the high esteem of the community, and the many visitors who pass through its rooms as part of the Tairawhiti Museum complex.
Wyllie Cottage is an early Victorian Colonial, two bedroom cottage in the style that Jeremy Salmond identifies as English Colonial. It is one and a half storeys and has totara framework, totara external tongue and groove vertical boards and battens, with a wrap around verandah and timber shingled roof. It had beaded tongue and groove kauri interior linings and kauri floors and stair treads. The cottage uses the American 'balloon frame'. According to family lore the cottage was built by John Forbes, originally from Dunedin, and who we know was resident in Gisborne in 1872. According to Rob Hall, ‘and its detail indicates that it was planned and built on the spot, not prefabricated.’
Within three years the Wyllies had moved to a new house built on another piece of land that Kate Halbert owned, in 1875. The cottage remained unchanged for the next ten years, where it seems to have been occupied from time to time, possibly by Wi Pere, Kate Halbert’s half brother. By 1882 the land on which the cottage stood had been surveyed into sections, and a bridge was erected across the Taruheru River. The land and cottage was purchased by accountant James Charles Dunlop, who moved the building to its current location, (which is within the curtilage of its original location) which was where the Museum is sited. In 1898 the land, new house and Wyllie cottage were purchased by William Douglas Lysnar. Lysnar rented the cottage, which was used as a residence, a school, and possibly a dressmaker’s workshop. Winifred Lysnar, who inherited the property from her father, sold the house and cottage to the local council in 1954 to establish a museum and gallery. Neglected and in a run down state by the 1960s it was threatened with demolition, but the community rallied to save the building, and it was restored in 1971 to the condition it had been in after its move to its current location in the 1890s. It is currently used as a museum display, demonstrating life in nineteenth century Gisborne.
Wyllie Cottage is architecturally significant as a rare example of typical early European timber construction used to build settler housing in the Tairawhiti region. It is the oldest complete house in Gisborne, and the only one remaining of its particular style and construction. It is historically significant as the first house of European construction to be built on the Whataupoko side of the Taruheru River, as well as its role as an early school, and has social importance because of its connection with Kate Halbert and James Wyllie, for whom the cottage was built. Wyllie Cottage was restored through the goodwill and fundraising efforts of the community, and enjoys the high esteem of the community, and the many visitors who pass through its rooms as part of the Tairawhiti Museum complex.
