This charming little wood cottage comes complete with white picket fence, original fireplace and chimney, red roofed verandah and matching attic windows for eyes – but it's not for sale. This is Wellington's oldest building and was built (to last) in 1858 by a carpenter, William Wallis, as a home for himself and his new wife, Catherine – which could be way he did such an outstanding job of it that it's lasted this long!

The house is on Nairn Street, Mount Cook and when it first went up it was in a line of houses all built in a similar

The contents of the house don't all belong to the Wallis family, but they do all date from between 1850 and 1880 and are just the kinds of things William and Catherine would have surrounded themselves with.

P.S. William and Catherine had ten kids, but by the time of their seventh they had moved next door – into another house that William had built with his bare hands and the tools that are still kept at the site today. It was saved from demolition in the 1970s by William and Catherine's granddaughter who was still living in the house.

Colonial Cottage Museum.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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