Butler Residence (1899/1922/1960)

This single storey villa was located on the north side of Gill Street, between Liardet and Gover Streets. The original number was 184, after the New Plymouth CBD re-numbering it became 65-67 Gill Street. (Town section 869)

The rear of this section was part of Waimanu pā which was occupied by the Ngāti Tuparikino hapū of Te Āti Awa up until 1770. The final mounds of the pā were finally destroyed in 1952 when construction commenced on an extension to the New Plymouth Post & Telegraph Department's motor workshop in Molesworth Street.

For many years it was the home of the Butler family, including the well-known historian Frederick Burdett Butler (1903-1982). According to Fred Butler's street index book (ARC2007-73) a house was built on the section in 1899 by Coleman for the Postmaster, Mr Coad. In December 1908 Fred Butler's father (also Frederick) purchased the house and section. On 12 December 1922 a permit was issued for alterations (designed by Messenger, Griffiths & Taylor) to the villa. The contractor was Albert Hains and the estimated cost was £1350.

In April 1960 Butler moved the house to Mountain Road. The house was cut in two for removal and when re-erected a second storey was added using bits and pieces from a number of old New Plymouth buildings. The house, with additions, now (2024) forms part of the Sentry Hill Motel complex.

In 1961 Fred Butler sold the Gill Street section to the firm "Sole & Cutfield". Butler records in his index that in 1962 Firestone tyres built and occupied a building on the site. The section is now (2024) a carpark for businesses facing Molesworth Street.

Fred Butler moved to the Tauranga Historic Village in the mid-1970s and then to Thames where he died on 10 January 1982. 

Related documents:

Taranaki Land Deed Index I4 Page 145 Town Section 869

Tender letter from Messenger, Griffiths & Taylor to F.S. Butler (ARC2012-102)

Treasures on Display (Spotlight #23 December 1960)

Museum Pieces offered to Council (New Plymouth Photo News #65 2 September 1961)

One Man maintains a Treasury of New Zealand History (New Zealand Womens Weekly 9 March 1970)

Museum For Sale (Taranaki Herald 8 May 1972)

Historic Material Lost (Daily News 17 January 1975)

Taranaki History Goes to Tauranga (Taranaki Herald 31 March 197)7

Book row: Collection on the move (Truth 11 July 1978)