Pah Homestead, Manor house in Puketāpapa, New Zealand

Pah Homestead is a manor house in Puketāpapa featuring Italianate design elements including a formal entrance portico, wide verandahs, and a four-level arcaded tower within Monte Cecilia Park. Inside, the restored rooms display original door joinery, decorative ceiling roses, parquet flooring, and marble fireplaces throughout.

James Williamson bought the property in 1877, demolished the thirty-year-old house and had the present homestead built between 1877 and 1879 to designs by Edward Mahoney of E. Mahoney and Son. The Italianate villa, brick rendered with cement to imitate stone, was based on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's Osborne House and was the largest house in the Auckland province at the time. Williamson was forced to sell after the 1886 stock market crash, and the Bank of New Zealand took over the estate after his death in 1888.

Since August 2010 the homestead has housed a public art gallery, opened as the TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre and now run by The Arts House Trust, which promotes contemporary New Zealand art. Entry to the exhibitions is free, and the trust's collection numbers over 9,500 works. The name Monte Cecilia dates from 1913, when the Sisters of Mercy took over the house.

The site sits in Monte Cecilia Park in Hillsborough and is easily accessible, making it convenient for a casual visit. Plan to spend an hour or two exploring the manor and the surrounding park grounds at a relaxed pace.

In January 1872, Cyrus Haley, holding a grudge against owner Thomas Russell, fired shots into each bedroom of the house; no one was hurt, and Haley was caught and convicted of attempted murder. The house and grounds later served as filming locations for The Quiet Earth (1985) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).