Located in Parnassus, North Canterbury, the farm now known as Te Mania was originally designed as a village in about 1880. However, the idea of creating a village was abandoned, and in 1888 the land was leased for farming.

The area became freehold in 1900 and in 1935 was purchased by Edwin and Ester Wilding. After consulting local Maori, the farm was names Te Mania - the original Maori name for the area.

The Wildings had the present homestead built in 1937. Covering an area of 4500 square feet (418m2), it was the largest house designed by Christchurch architects Collins and Harman. The Wildings worked closely with Harman in conceiving the design, which was influenced by the European modernist style popular in Britain during the 1930s. Constructed from reinforced concrete, its flat roof, balconies and asymmetrical facade are all typical of this era. The only exception is a bay window on the north side, which was added at the Wildings’ request during construction. Local river shingle was used for the concrete cavity walls, which were rendered with buff coloured plaster on the exterior and green on the interior. Both coatings remain intact today.

Moving inside the house, its modernist exterior design gives way to more conservative layout. The open-plan ethic has clearly been abandoned, although the modernist notion of extending interior space to the exterior is followed through the use of large balcony areas.

Despite its size, the Te Mania homestead was constructed with little ostentation. The internal walls are unadorned, the only concessions to ornamental design being the plain mouldings above some of the windows, and a scallop pattern on a band of concrete below the parapet on the northwest end. The homestead relies on its proportions for impact, and it was no doubt considered to be extremely radical by other North Canterbury residents at the time.

During the Second World War, wheat, linseed, peas and clover were cultivated at Te Mania. Over the years however, Angus cattle and thoroughbred race horses supplanted arable farming as Te Mania’s main focus.

Blessed with a almost frost-free climate, Te Mania and the surrounding areas were planted with oranges, lemons and Chinese gooseberries in the late 1930s. 1973 saw the addition of avocados and macadamia nuts, which continue to thrive amongst many other sub-tropical plantings.

Te Mania Homestead has remained in the Wilding family. It was passed from Edwin and Ester to their son Frank and his wife Jo, then on to Frank’s son Tim and wife Katie. Today it is home to Sam Wilding and his partner, Aly, and their three children Archer, Bodhi and Alaska.

For more information on Te Mania Angus, one of the largest fully performance recorded registered Angus herds in New Zealand, visit temania.co.nz.