Cotter House

The story of Cotter House begins in 1847 with an enterprising English colonist named Joseph Newman who came to New Zealand in 1840.

He became a wealthy stockbroker, temperance advocate and philanthropist who bought 60 acres in Remuera. He built a large wooden house in 1847 at what is now 4 St Vincent Avenue (originally Temperance Terrace). He had lived the life of a settler in the bush, having no neighbours, with only the surroundings of fern, tea-tree, and ‘tupaki’. By toiling early and late, in four years he had 60 acres at Remuera fenced in and in cultivation.

In 1862 he replaced the wooden house with a grander brick and concrete Victorian residence in the Gothic revival style. When Newman died in 1892, as the result of an accident when he was hit on the head by a hoarding advertising whisky), Thomas Cotter, a solicitor, bought the property, subdivided off some of the land and used it as a market garden known as Cotter farm. Under the house is an untouched cellar with original stone walls, meat hooks, and a barred cell where prisoners were supposedly kept overnight en route to Howick jail.

Joseph Newman sold land to the council to build the Remuera Public Library and to the Anglican Church for St Aidan’s Church. The house was surrounded by oak trees and known as Oaklands. An auction notice in 1921 described the property as:

OAKLANDS RESIDENCE, stands on Section 1, and consists of a SOLID TWO STOREY BRICK AND CONCRETE HOUSE, containing 12 large and lofty rooms, including ball and billiard room, together with all necessary outbuildings, MOTOR GARAGE, etc. the grounds surrounding the residence are well laid out and contain many beautiful trees and shrubs, the oak largely predominating, as the name of the estate indicates, OAKLANDS is one of the most delightful spots in the city, and the residence is one of the best known old homes in Remuera… “

Newman House has been a small girl’s private school, Charlecot, in the 1930s and in the 1950s became flats. In 1995, Gloria Poupard-Walbridge bought and restored Cotter House to be a five star luxury retreat.

It is listed on the Auckland Council Schedule of Historic Heritage No. 1872 as a Category B building, next to No. 1827 the Remuera Library and No.1871 St Paul’s Methodist Church.

2015 CHRISTMAS PARTY AT COTTER HOUSE

06-Dec-2015