More Info →'Atawhai', Fitzherbert

C.T. Natusch was the architect who designed 'Atawhai', meaning “Warm Welcome”, which was constructed between 1908 – 1909. The house was built at the top of the bluff, across the bridge from Palmerston North, in Fitzherbert, and building materials had to be hauled up the bluff by a double pulley. The house had 17 rooms, plus sculleries and pantries, and included a veranda facing the sun. A steep access road was built at a later date. The house was built for Edwin Keiller, a widower, as a healthy place to raise his children. In 1963 the Presbyterian Educational Trust bought the house which is administered in conjunction with Massey University as a hostel for students known as Fergusson Hall.