Highwic
| Highwic | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Status | Historic house museum |
| Architectural style | Carpenter Gothic |
| Address | 40 Gillies Avenue, Epsom (off Mortimer Pass Newmarket) |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 36°52′18″S 174°46′30″E / 36.8718°S 174.7749°ECoordinates: 36°52′18″S 174°46′30″E / 36.8718°S 174.7749°E |
| Opened | 1981 |
| Designated | 7 Apr 1983 |
| Reference no. | 18 |
Highwic is a historic house in Newmarket, New Zealand that was formerly registered by New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand) as a Category I structure and is also one of AA Travel's "101 Must-Do's for Kiwis". Highwic is open to the public Wednesday to Sunday from 10.30 to 4.30. Highwic is available for weddings, birthday celebrations, photography, filming, television and corporate functions. Highwic has an education programme that is suitable for learners of all ages, with a particular emphasis on the primary age range.
Highwic is a large house of Carpenter Gothic design that was built for a wealthy colonial settler and landowner - Alfred Buckland. The building was erected in an elevated position looking out over the nineteenth-century township of Newmarket. In 1861, the land was purchased by Alfred's first wife Eliza for £1,000. The family with seven children, moved into the house in 1862. Eliza Buckland had two more children during her short time alive in her new house, she died of pneumonia in July 1866. The original eight room house was extended in 1874, 1883 and 1884 as the Buckland family grew bigger and their wealth increased.
Alfred Buckland married Matilda Jane Frodsham in May 1867. Matilda was twenty years younger than Alfred and went on to have eleven children of her own, nine of them surviving to adulthood. Matilda outlived Alfred, spending her declining years at Highiwc.
The building included a ballroom, seven bedrooms, a boy's dormitory, a laundry, kitchen, scullery, outside stables, grooms accommodation, a billiard house, and a service yard. By the early 20th century two inside bathrooms were added with baths, hand basins, flushing toilets and hot and cold water on tap! Family descendants who lived in the house until 1978 made alterations of their own. The property was then jointly purchased by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand) and Auckland City Council to save the site from subdivision. Highwic was opened as a historic house museum in 1981.
...
Wikipedia