PROJECT

Kate Sheppard House refurbishment

CLIENT

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

Our team gets results:

Stephen Threadgall – Project Director / Canterbury & Upper South Island Lead

Kim Lochhead – Senior Project Manager

kate sheppard house REfurbishment

The epicentre of women’s suffrage - Kate Sheppard’s Christchurch Ilam home has opened as a place to tell her story and the social changes that have followed some 132 years after NZ’s trailblazing feminist lived in this home. Built in 1888, this Category 1 listed kauri villa was purchased by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) in 2020. HNZPT was entrusted with this special property and the journey to return Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House to its former glory, repurposing it as a visitor experience which would tell the narrative of the remarkable achievements of Kate Sheppard and others who worked tirelessly to achieve women’s suffrage and to provide a venue for continuing her legacy. 

The works included repairing and strengthening floors, ceilings, wall linings, repositioning walls and doors, exterior and interior painting, fireplace maintenance, remedial carpentry works and garden redevelopment. All works were in keeping with the historic fabric of the house. In a partnership between the University of Canterbury and HNZPT, Kate Sheppard house will also be used as a base for collaboration, seminars and talks as well as academic research, with seminar rooms and meeting rooms.

Kate Sheppard House features interactive displays developed by Story Inc. bringing alive formative details such as the gathering of 31,000 petition signatures printed on the replicas of Kate’s original wallpaper. HNZPT Manager Heritage Assets Southern, Dr Christine Whybrew, says “We are honoured to have the responsibility of caring for this place, and sharing its stories with visitors.”

Photography credit: HNZPT Chris Hoopmann.

The legacy of the suffrage movement and achievements of Kate Sheppard and other New Zealand women will be told at this special place.

prime minister jacinda ardern, Excerpt from the Prime Minister’s Speech at the opening ceremony, 15 december 2020