This two-story villa on the corner of Young and Weymouth Streets was designed for New Plymouth solicitor Thomas Shailer Weston Snr by New Plymouth architect, Frank Messenger, and built in 1904-05. A permit was issued to Thomas Weston on 14 October 1904, for a residence on Town Section 140 (actually 141). The estimated cost was £1,250.00.
It was later bought by noted Waverley racehorse breeder Mr Alexander Alexander and his wife Maria. Alexander died in 1938 (obituary Taranaki Herald 19 April 1938) and the house was finally sold following the death of Maria Alexander in 1951 (Tender advertisement Daily News 23 February 1952). The new owner, Lance Godfrey Smith, had some alterations made and the residence was turned into a private hotel known as the Aotea Guest House. Trish and Mike Blundell took over the lease in 1986, buying the building a year later. This establishment operated until 2006-7 when it was renamed the Arcadia Lodge. The listed address changed then too, from 26 Weymouth Street to 52 Young Street.
On 25 July 2018 the Taranaki Daily News reported that the lodge, run by a community trust, had decided to put the building up for sale.
The villa was sold to the Te Atiawa Iwi Charitable Trust in January 2022 and was finally demolished in 2023.
Town Section 141, Taranaki Land Deed Index I5 page 524.
Related items:
Tender Advertisement (Taranaki Herald 13 August 1904)
Sewerage Connection for Weston Residence (Taranaki Herald 14 February 1905)
'More Work' Needed to Protect NP's Historic Buildings (Taranaki Daily News 22 November 2022)
Taranaki DP1873 Sheet 1 Town Sections 114 And 141 (1902), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki DP2009 Sheet 1 (1903), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki SO7186 Sheet 1, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
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