4 Aubrey Street (circa 1850s-60s)

This cottage may have formed part of the 65th Regiment Quarters during the Taranaki Wars and is thought to date from the 1850s-1860s. 

Early records reveal that Town Section 191 was originally allocated to the Plymouth (later New Zealand), Company, and then later sold.

Originally the cottage was clad in vertical board and batten typical of many early New Plymouth buildings and is also likely to have had two twelve-light double-hung sash windows at the front. The building is currently clad in fibrolite.

Puke Ariki holds an undated photograph (above) showing 4 and 6 Aubrey Street, thought to date from the middle decades of the twentieth century - the cottage still retains its board and batten cladding at this stage, although the original windows have been replaced.

Skinner's 1880 plan of New Plymouth shows four buildings of a similar size across the front of Town Sections 192 and 191 - it is thought that all four cottages were part of the 65th Regiment Quarters, with those on Town Section 191 since demolished, likely in the 1920s or 1930s given the age of the homes currently occupying Town Section 191.

Related document and plan:

Town Section 192, Taranaki Land Deed Index I1 page 197.

Taranaki DP1802 Sheet 1 Aubrey Street, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)