Hapurunui was originally built for the prominent New Plymouth solicitor Oliver Samuel. It was sold in 1919 to then Mayor of New Plymouth Charles Burgess and his wife Ann. The couple gifted the house and grounds to the New Plymouth Borough Council in 1936. Thomas H. Bates designed the substantial alterations to the original bay villa on the site.
The park was officially opened and handed over to the New Plymouth Borough on 24 March 1937.
Hapurunui was used, at various times, as a restaurant and a venue for functions and weddings until 2012 when the New Plymouth District Council sold the building for removal. It was moved to a new site - a back section on Annandale St, Moturoa, on 9 February 2013. The house is visible from Moulton Street West (off Rainsford Street).
Grey District Section 771, Taranaki Land Deed Index I2 Page 215. (Archives New Zealand)
Documents
Gifting:
Gift of Hapurunui (Statement by the Mayor 1936)
Memorandum of Transfer (1936)
Gift to the People: Another Scenic Gem (Taranaki Daily News 17 July 1936)
Generosity of Givers (Taranaki Daily News 17 July 1936)
Vice-regal message (Taranaki Daily News 24 July 1936)
Control of park (Taranaki Daily News 18 August 1936)
Meaning Of "Hapurunui" (Taranaki Daily News 8 September 1936 p.6)
Sale and removal of house:
Move on the cards for Burgess House (Taranaki Daily News 29 March 2012)
'Slow down' message over fate of Burgess Park (Taranaki Daily News 11 April 2012)
Historic Burgess House On the Move (Taranaki Daily News 11 February 2013)
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