Broadgreen Historic House

Location, fees and opening hours

276 Nayland Road, Stoke. Phone +64 3 547 0403. Fax +64 3 547 0409.

The historic house is open 10.30am - 4.30pm every day except Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Note: Photography is not permitted inside.

History of Broadgreen Historic House

One of Nelson’s oldest residential buildings, Broadgreen House is located at 276 Nayland Road Stoke. The charming cob cottage was built in 1855 for Mr and Mrs Edmund Buxton, and their six daughters. In 1855 Mr Buxton, originally from Derbyshire, founded the firm 'E. Buxton & Co. Merchants' in Nelson which sold “everything from firearms to sausage skins”. His house was built on the 100 acre property he bought in Stoke, near Nelson in 1854.

Visitor experience

Broadgreen Historic House is fully furnished with period furniture and household goods offering a glimpse inside a comfortable middle class colonial residence of the mid-1800. It is easy to imagine the family and their servants returning at any moment to the parlour, the nursery, the kitchen and the smoking room. One of the oldest quilts in New Zealand is one of the items in the extensive textile collection.

Management of Broadgreen Historic House

Nelson City Council purchased the property in 1965 and some of the remaining land, which included some notable specimen trees. Council established a public park and an extensive rose garden around the residence.

The Council maintains the park and manages the historic cottage and collection and The Broadgreen Society established in 1980 aims to assist in the preservation and improvement of Broadgreen Historic House, to provide facilities for public inspection, enjoyment and research. They provide volunteer guides, and funds to assist with the upkeep and administration of the house and collection.

The Society has built the Broadgreen Centre adjacent to the house, which not only provides storage for collection items and space for staff but includes a pleasant meeting room for public hire and community activities.

Samuel’s Rose Garden

Samuel’s Rose Garden established in 1968 contains 560 named varieties and over 3000 plants. Each year the Nelson Rose Society adds new cultivars to the collection which includes Slaters Crimson China Rose which was the first variety of rose grown in New Zealand. Early settlers brought their favourite roses with the as roses are only native to the Northern hemisphere in the community. The gardens are named after the late Mr S J Samuels, a rose nurseryman, who donated both the rose stock and bud wood, and undertook the budding assisted by his wife.

Annual Rose Day

An annual Rose Day celebration is held in November each year. This community day combines family focused activities and entertainment, Devonshire teas and stalls. Go to Rose Day page for this year’s date.

Broadgreen Centre Meeting Room

A carpeted meeting room with French doors opening onto the grounds is available for hire. A whiteboard at one end of the room could be used for lectures or OP displays. A small, fully-equipped kitchen next door has a serving hatch opening into the meeting room and there is a wheelchair accessible toilet available as well. The meeting room is suitable for anniversary dinners, craft or hobby groups, birthday celebrations, small wedding functions and the like. Loud music and late-night revels are a no, no, though! Contact Broadgreen House for further details: +64 3 547 0403.

Cob construction of Broadgreen Historic House

The outer, downstairs walls are made from cob, or rammed earth. They range in thickness from 508mm to 600mm (20"-24"). The clay and mud were mixed with straw and horse hair for reinforcing. A section of wall in the kitchen has been exposed for visitors to see the construction.

The outside cob walls are now covered in roughcast, but were possibly originally smoothly rendered and scored with lines to represent the joints in ashlar masonry. This effect is still visible in the downstairs front hallway and on the walls under the side verandah.

Upstairs the walls are of lathe and plaster construction. Again, a section has been left exposed for visitors to see. Upstairs walls are 450mm (18") thick.

The roof is mainly Welsh slate tiles. Thick Welsh slate is also used for the bench top in the dairy, where milk pans would have been set to allow the cream to rise.

Floors are of wide timber on joists, with hand-made nails, in the 'family' part of the house, and Welsh quarry tiles in the rear, servants' section.

The house originally had no plumbing or bathroom, and cooking was done over an open fire in the vast scullery-kitchen fireplace. A bread oven is built into the wall beside the fireplace and on the other side of the hearth, a copper for washing clothes, boiling hams, etc. was installed.

Another local example of a Cobb cottage

Another local example of a Cobb cottage built in 1858-59 is the original home of George and Cornelia Harvey. This can be found at George Harvey Road, Mahana, Upper Moutere, Nelson +64 3 540 2781

Contact details

For more information on Broadgreen Historic House and the Society, including exhibitions, hireage, becoming a volunteer, wider information on the collection and the history of the house, school visits and colonial education please phone +64 3 547 0403.