Wood House, 70 Waipapa Road (circa 1873)

This board and batten clad cottage, although now somewhat altered from its original form, is one of the oldest houses in Waitara, and was likely constructed around 1873 (possibly earlier) by/for Henry Henson Wood and his family. The home is said to have been constructed from heart Totara from a schooner wrecked at the mouth of the Waitara River. 

Henry Wood was a watchmaker, jeweller and silversmith from London, and emigrated to New Zealand in 1843, bringing with him some of the first shipments of watches, clocks, jewellery and musical boxes. Wood married Phillipa Inch when she was just 15 years old, and it seems they first lived in New Plymouth. The couple would go on to have nine children, although it seems at least one died during infancy.

Whilst Henry Wood was granted Waitara Suburban East Sections 19, 24 and 29 in January 1873 (the first entry in the Land Deed Index), he may have actually purchased them several years earlier in 1868, when they were first offered for sale by the Government. Indeed, a court case from 1872 regarding the sale of a horse by Henry's son, puts the Woods as living in Waitara at least a year before the Crown Grants were issued. It thus seems the family may have shifted to this property prior to 1873, and may mean the house was constructed slightly earlier than 1873. 

Henry died in 1878, aged 68 years, and is buried nearby on the bluff overlooking the river along with his wife Phillipa, who died in 1927 aged 96, and also two of his children, Charles and Phillipa. The house seems to have remained in the family until about 1955, when it is thought to have been sold to a Mr Andrews. 

Board and batten cladding was a common feature of early (circa 1840s-80s) buildings constructed in the area now defined as New Plymouth District (between about Ōkato and Urenui), and can be described as a form of regional variation in building styles, that sets our architectural heritage apart from the rest of New Zealand.

See Taranaki Land Deeds Index I11, pages 26, 27 and 28.