Mona Vale gardens - Colombo in the City, Central Christchurch

Mona Vale is a delightful place to relax in peaceful surroundings. Enjoy a garden of mature trees, sloping lawns and herbaceous borders. The sheltered setting also showcases a number of impressive buildings of regional historic significance.

Mona Vale homestead

Originally called Karewa, prominent architect Joseph Clarkson Maddison designed the homestead in 1899 for the manager of the Belfast Freezing Works, Frederick Waymouth and his wife Alice.

With its half-timbered upper floor, leadlight windows and steeply pitched roof, the building is a style we know today as Old English Revival. The interior is reflective of this with dark stained timber panelling and a large collection of fireplaces. When the Waymouths lived here, the interior was decorated in the fashionable Arts and Crafts style. This celebrated natural motifs such as leaves and berries along with more handcrafted elements like honeycomb door knobs. 

In 1905 the property was purchased by wealthy heiress Annie Townend who renamed the homestead Mona Vale after her mother’s birth place in Tasmania. Townend made a number of additions including two gatehouses, a bathhouse and a fernery, as well as developing the grounds further. Mona Vale passed to public hands in 1969 when then owners, Church of the Latter Day Saints, planned to demolish and subdivide the aging property. Huge public outcry led local councils to purchase the property and restore it. Fast forward to today, the Mona Vale homestead is a popular wedding and events venue(external link)(external link) managed by Continental Catering.