Mission House on Kaipara Harbour funded

Preservation of one of Kaipara’s historic homes will benefit from this year’s Heritage Assistance Fund grants.

The imposing Gittos Mission House, overlooking the Kaipara Harbour at Rangiora on the Oneriri Peninsula, was built by Wesleyan missionary William Gittos in 1866, when he moved from Port Albert to be closer to the Maori community. It became a manager’s residence for a fish canning venture around the late 1870s or early 1880s, and then the base for an ostrich farm. Eventually, it became the farming home of the Linnell family who purchased it in the early 1900s. The present owner, Trevor

Linnell, is the third generation of Linnells to live there.

He says that while there have been modernisations for practical reasons and a wing that originally housed maids and servants quarters was demolished, a lot of the four-bedroom kauri home with its steeply sloping roof is original.

Kaipara District Council’s Heritage Fund grant will be used in consultation with the Historic Places Trust on jobs such as repairing veranda decking and window surrounds, plus roof work.

“It is an ongoing project and the Heritage Fund contribution is a big help,” Mr Linnell says.

The fund was established in 2006 to help and encourage people to protect and preserve resources of heritage value. This year, a total of $10,000 was available for distribution. In total, 12 applications were received, requesting funds totaling about $25,000.

The National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund, administered by the Historic Places Trust, provides financial incentives to encourage the conservation of nationally significant heritage places in private ownership. Priority is given to heritage places of national significance which need conservation work and heritage places of national significance where conservation work is planned and could be improved through extra funding. Info: www.historic.org.nz