A single storey timber building thought to have been built in the 1850s-60s. The house was originally located in Devon Street before being moved to this Powderham Street location about 1878-79.
An early map of New Plymouth, dated 1884, shows a house on this section occupied by a Mrs Skinner. This was Mrs Prudence Skinner, wife of Thomas Kingwell Skinner. It appears that their son, also Thomas Kingwell Skinner (born 1849), who never married, also lived here. T.K. Skinner trained as a surveyor and civil engineer. He entered into a business partnership with Thomas Sole and for many years they were the engineers for the New Plymouth Borough Council. Mrs Skinner died in 1919, aged 93 and Thomas Skinner died on 29 August 1925, aged 76.
The diaries of Fred Butler identify a Mrs Catherine Campbell as the occupier of this house in 1938.
The building was purchased by the Taranaki Women's Club in 1950. The club was founded in 1926 for women interested in social, public, scientific and artistic affairs.
The 1995 N.P.D.C. CBD Heritage Study describes its architectural significance as deriving from its "simple form and intact timber framing sheathing".
On 8 September 2012 it was reported in the Taranaki Daily News that due to the deteriorating condition of the building the Taranaki Women's Club had decided to sell their home of over sixty years.
In early 2014 the house was advertised for removal but in the end it was demolished in May 2014.
Related documents:
2000-year-old tree in centre of town (Taranaki Herald 23 April 1983)
Eleventh Birthday - Taranaki Women's Club (Taranaki Herald 1 June 1938)
Of passing interest, Kelvin Day (Taranaki Daily News 04/03/2013)
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