Taranaki Regional Council media release
8 January 2009

It’s a house with plenty of stories to tell – and Taranaki people are flocking to hear them.

Hundreds have taken advantage of free tours of the former Matthews homestead at Tupare, the heritage property on Mangorei Road, New Plymouth, in the three months since refurbishments were unveiled.

The tours have been running at 11am on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays since mid-October, with queues forming during an Antiques Roadshow that launched the refurbishments and hundreds more visiting during the Taranaki Rhododendron and Garden Festival. On peak days during the festival, multiple house tours were run to cater for 50 or 60 people.

Formal tallies have been kept since the end of November, with 270 more people ushered through the house by volunteers from the Friends of Tupare.

The volunteer guides say visitors appreciate having access to all areas of the Chapman-Taylor-designed house, as similar attractions in other places usually have many rooms roped off.

Visitors also appreciate Tupare’s stunningly landscaped grounds, originally developed by the Matthews family and also newly revamped in a major project by the Taranaki Regional Council, which now owns and manages the property on behalf of the people of the region. Nearly 8,600 people have visited Tupare since the refurbishments were completed in October.

“The feedback to the volunteers confirms our belief that Tupare is one of Taranaki’s heritage jewels,” says the Council’s Regional Gardens Manager, Greg Rine. “An important aim of the refurbishment project was to give visitors to the house an authentic insight into the work of James Chapman-Taylor, the vision of Sir Russell Matthews, and the lifestyles of their era.”

Chapman-Taylor, the renowned “arts and crafts” architect, designed the house for Matthews in 1932. Unusually for the architect, though, he relinquished control of its construction to Matthews, who had firm ideas about what he wanted. Construction took 12 years.

The result was a unique stately home with the unmistakeable Chapman-Taylor stamp but also reflecting the dreams and aspirations of the innovative Matthews, whose accomplishments included laying the first bitumen road in New Zealand.

“Many of those taking the house tours have some knowledge of the Matthews family and are thrilled to see the home as it was in its heyday,” says Mr Rine.

“Tupare was considered an important house in New Plymouth and many local people were very proud to have it in the city. The Matthews were considered to be very prominent people in the city, and people took an interest in the house.

“There are a multitude of stories. The Matthews’ guests over the years included Roger Whittaker, Joy Adamson, Alistair Cooke, Sir Roy Jack and Lloyd Geering. Many of the visitors were connected to the oil industry and Ivon Watkins, the chemical company Russell Matthews had helped finance. Americans involved with the International Harvester agency Sir Russell had were frequent visitors, as were people connected with his horticultural interests.

“There were many parties in the house, the liveliest of them involving Australian and American oil explorers based in Taranaki at the time.”

The house tours, at 11am on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, continue until 31 March, and will resume in October. There is no charge.

Also proving popular is the refurbished Hollard Gardens, a heritage property at Kaponga that is also owned and managed by the Council.

Nearly 5,000 visitors have passed through the gatehouse since its refurbishments were unveiled at the end of October. New features at the gardens include a children’s play area and free barbecue, an events pavilion and interpretive material that reflects the character of Bernie Hollard, the renowned plantsman who developed the 4.5 ha grounds starting in 1927.

Both Hollard Gardens and Tupare are open from 9am to 5pm daily. Entry is free.

For more information, see www.tupare.info and www.hollardgardens.info.

ENDS

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