page_title: Housing in New Zealand
section_title: 13th to early-19th century: Adapting a tropical culture to a temperate climate
hierarchical_section_title: Housing in New Zealand / House design / 13th to early-19th century: Adapting a tropical culture to a temperate climate
caption_attribution_description: Maori Chief Tahau holding a patu (a stone club), lying in porch of a whare (meething house), New Zealand. Mid 1870s. Albumen print. 15 x 21 cm. Title, photographer's initials and number 153 in lower edge in the neagtive, mounted to board (time-stained in edges), annotated in pencil in lower left corner on mount.
context_page_description: Housing in New Zealand was traditionally based on the quarter-acre block, detached suburban home, but many historical exceptions and alternative modern trends exist. New Zealand has largely followed international designs. From the time of organised European colonization in the mid-19th century there has been a general chronological development in the types of homes built in New Zealand, and examples of each generation are still commonly occupied.
context_section_description: At first Māori used the building methods that had been developed in tropical Polynesia, altered to fit the more nomadic lifestyle. By the 15th century Classic Māori communities slept in rectangular sleeping houses (wharepuni). The wharepuni were made of timber, rushes, tree ferns and bark, they had a thatched roof and earth floors. These building also had a front porch which was an adaptation to New Zealand's climate and is not found in tropical Polynesia. The effect of European housing methods led to a mix of designs with Maori adopting windows and high roofs.
caption: Maori Chief Tahau in whare mid 1870s.
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