Brain-Watkins House Museum is registered by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga as a Historic Place Category 2. Boatbuilder Capt. Joseph Denham Brain began building the house after he received a shipment of kauri on 29 September 1881. He would live there with his wife Kate Ellen Brain (née Bishop), and their daughters Ada, Alice, Eleanor, Edith (Bessy) and Elva. The house and heritage garden have been cared for by the Tauranga Historical Society (Est. 1952) since 1979 with volunteer guides opening the building to the public on Sundays from 2pm to 4pm and for tour bookings at other times.
What’s on? Keep up to date with our Events Page
Explore: Our collections online
Listen to the story: Who Lived There: Brain-Watkins House
The House Collection is an eclectic mix of all the decades during the 98-year period of occupation from 1881 to 1979. Donations to support the upkeep of Brain-Watkins House Museum are very welcome. A yearly subscription to the Tauranga Historical Society costs $40 per household. Bank account: SBS 03 1355 0660053 00 (please email us your name and contact details).
Read the latest issue of Tauranga Moana Heritage:
What is a House Museum?
A house museum is a touchstone to the past – a place that acknowledges and celebrates the events of everyday life, with the potential to connect the past and present through objects, stories, and emotions.
They are a place of warmth where real people lived and breathed, ate, and slept, drank too much, had sex, gave birth, raised children and died, where they fought, debated and disagreed with each other – in short, all of the things that happen in a home today.
Within Aotearoa New Zealand’s built environment there only seven single-family homes with original contents that have survived into house museums:
- Kemp House (Est. 1822), Kerikeri
- The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga (Est. 1838), Tauranga
- Alberton (Est. 1863), Mount Albert, Auckland
- Ewelme (Est. 1864), Parnell, Auckland
- Clendon House (Est. c. 1868), Rawene
- Brain-Watkins House Museum (Est. 1881), Tauranga
- Olveston (Est. 1906), Dunedin
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Brain-Watkins House Museum (Est. 1881)
The story of Tauranga since 1881.
Tauranga, Bay of Plenty 3110
New Zealand
Admission:
$5 Adult. Children free (up to 16 years of age)
Open on Sundays from 2pm to 4pm or by arrangement.
Brain-Watkins Hall for Hire:
■ Meeting hall with kitchen and toilet facilities
■ Suitable for up to 25 people
■ $30 per half day | $50 full day.
■ Email bookings: bwhallusers233@gmail.com
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Brain-Watkins House Museum (Est. 1881) 