Acacia Cottage is Auckland's oldest surviving residential building. The cottage was built in June 1841 by William Brown and John Logan Campbell at the rear of their business allotment in Shortland Street. An earlier (by one month) two-roomed cottage built by them on land on which they had squatted before the first official land sale, had to be sold to the eventual purchaser of that land. When Mr and Mrs Brown, and later, Campbell, moved into the cottage it was in an unfinished state, comfortless and dreary, with bare walls, 8 feet high partitions separating the rooms, no ceiling so that rafters and shingles were visible, no chimney and no fireplace. But it was the first permanent home, for a few years, of two of Auckland's pioneers and businessmen. Brown and Campbell were both born in Scotland where they studied law and medicine respectively. Before emigrating Campbell had also taken some training in carpentry. The two men met first in Australia, and later, in 1840, formed a business partnership in Coromandel. They purchased Motukorea (Browns Island) and then moved into the commercial area of the newly established capital city. Both men were at various times members of the Legislative Council and Superintendents of the province, although Brown, before he returned to Britain permanently in 1858, had keener political interests than Campbell. Apart from the years 1848-1850 and 1856-71, which were spent in Britain and Europe, Campbell remained largely in Auckland. He was prominent in the founding and development of several major companies and banks. He was chairman of the Auckland Education Board and in 1877 he established the Free School of Arts which he maintained until the founding of the Elam School of Fine Arts in 1889.

ARCHITECT/ENGINEER OR DESIGNER: The cottage was built for William Brown and (Sir) John Logan Campbell, with Campbell doing at least some of the work himself. Because of its simple design it is unlikely that it had a formal architect or designer. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: The cottage is an example of local vernacular timber construction, and in appearance is typical of cottages of the initial settlement period. The front door is centrally positioned with a small rectangular fanlight above. The two front rooms have double hung windows, each with six lights. The front door opens into a central hallway which continues through to the two rear rooms and the back door. The main front room has a brick fireplace and built in cupboard. The back door is ledged and braced in contrast to the four-panel doors used elsewhere in the building. MODIFICATIONS: The original wooden section of the cottage was shifted from O'Connell Street to Cornwall Park in 1920, and subsequently relocated in its present position in 1956. The original structure was a bare shell which was added to and made more comfortable over the years. It is not possible to document these improvements. The present building, as it stands in Cornwall Park, has been returned largely to the original plan, with the wooden addition to the left hand side of the front elevation being retained, and the brick chimney of the main front room, originally internal, being retained in the later external location. Hardwood shingles now replace the corrugated iron of the 1880s, although they are not the kauri shingles originally used.