Mantle Residence, 9 Mayfair Place (circa 1899)

This small farmhouse is thought to have been constructed about 1899 for Richard Langman Junior.

The cottage is clad in plain rough-sawn horizontal weatherboards with two-pane double hung sash windows, and retains a number of original features including large open fireplaces, kauri board and batten ceilings and doors etc. 

This part of Section 28, Fitzroy District, was purchased by Richard Langman Junior from his father Richard Langman Senior in 1889. In 1899 R. Langman advertised to let (Taranaki Herald 5 June 1899) at Westown either a "five-roomed or an eight-roomed cottage, with five acres of grass at Tukapa" - this probably refers to the two houses shown on DP1736, surveyed in late 1901. DP1736 shows 9 Mayfair Place occupied by G. Baertsoen, with Richard Langman occupying the other house located nearby. 

Two early photographs of this area are held by Puke Ariki - one image was taken before 9 Mayfair Place was constructed, and the other after it was constructed. The tree heights in these photographs are similar, and they are thus thought to have been taken within a few years of each other - probably the late 1890s, and then the early 1900s.

A significant period in the history of 9 Mayfair Place was the occupation of the home by the Manlte family for three generations - with William Mantle first occupying the property in the mid-late 1900s. William Mantle emigrated to New Zealand with his family on the S.S. Howrah in 1876; first disembarking at Nelson, then travelling via coastal steamer to Greymouth, before finally heading to Whanganui, where William's father worked 4 miles up the Whanganui River at a quarry. The family then moved to Taranaki, settling on farms at Te Roti (where they heard the 1886 Tarawera eruption), and also at Stratford and Tahora. The family caught wild horses and trained them for racing at meetings across Taranaki.

It seems William Mantle and his family moved to the Mayfair Place property (then fronting Holsworthy Road, and later re-named Clawton Street), in the mid-late 1900s, with his son, Paul Mantle, born in the house in 1910. Out the back of the house were stables for 4-6 horses, and a room for the storage of bridles and saddles, and bins for oats and chaff. Between the stables and the house were two more buildings where the jockeys lived - these were known as 'Whares'. 

As a boy, Paul Mantle would ride the horses up to the racecourse and run them around the track before he went to school. Following the death of William Mantle, Paul and his family returned to live at the Mayfair Place property in 1949. Paul purchased the neighbouring section off Mr Goudie in the late 1950s, and the land was subdivided for housing, with the stables demolished, and Mayfair Place formed. Paul demolished the Goudie's old house on the opposite side of Mayfair Place, and constructed a new home in the late 1960s. 

9 Mayfair Place is notable for its relatively original exterior, and is in contrast with other homes in the street largely constructed in the 1970s-1980s period. The presence of early farm buildings amongst later subdivisions is a unique feature of New Plymouth's suburbs.

Located on part of Section 28 Fitzroy District - see Taranaki Land Deed Index I14, page 868. Also DP1736 and SO2151

Information on the Mantle family kindly supplied by Joseph and Dale Cameron (nee Mantle).