More Info →Monrad homestead, Karere

This building was one of the first European houses in inland Manawatu, erected 1867 by European carpenters employed by Ditlev Gothard Monrad, the Lutheran Bishop and ex-Premier of Denmark who settled at Karere in 1866. The house was occupied by the Bishop and his wife 1867 - 1868 and then by one of the Bishop's sons, Viggo, 1868 - 1885. A verandah and extra ground-floor rooms were added to the house about 1880. The last owners and occupants were two of Viggo Monrad's sons, Ditlev and Oscar, who lived in the house from about 1886 until its destruction by fire in 1889. Written on the rear of the photograph:” To the left of the house is partly visible the store, which is on posts. The stave fence carries on down to the other fence. You can see between the big tree and whare a yard, but now we will change the left part from the fence to the store into a hen run. The open window is our bedroom, the two middle ones the living room, the left one the guest room. Above my room is Louise’s, the remainder still open space with a couple of windows. The door leads into a passage. To the right of the house is a gate leading into a yard. To the right of the whare stands raspberry bushes, then potatoes….etc”.