Story: Māori housing – te noho whare

Pre-colonial European sealers and whalers often lived in whare, but a few built European-style dwellings, leading some Māori to build European-style houses of their own. Among the first to do so was Ngāpuhi chief Rāwiri Taiwhanga. He erected this cob house with a wood-shingle roof in 1831 at Paihia, in Northland, and lived there until 1834. This undated photograph shows the dwelling in a deteriorated condition.