The Rest Home opened 1914-1915 as an 'Old Men's Home', under the control of the Palmerston North Hospital Board. It soon became known as the Old People's Home, and then Awapuni Hospital. It closed as a hospital in December 1889, because of falling patient numbers, its distance from the Public Hospital and its earthquake prone buildings. It is now the home of Te Hotu Manawa o Rangitāne ki Manawatu Marae.