Te Mata Park was gifted in 1927 to the people of Hawke's Bay by members of the Chambers family and administered by a trust board which must contain a male descendant of the Chambers family.
The road to the top of Te Mata Peak was completed in the late 1930s, mostly by work schemes. As a road now went past a picturesque building site, it was suggested by the trust board that a tea kiosk and a caretaker's cottage would be a suitable addition to the park.
It however would take 25 years before the building was opened on August 17, 1967. The previous year the trust board had sent a letter to the Hawke's Bay County Council (abolished in 1989), who had oversight of Te Mata Peak Rd, to seek permission to put the building near the roadway.
The trust board also apologised for saying that they had already called for building tenders, and could you please respond urgently. The council did, and permission was given. The council was also supportive in that it widened the road and agreed to tarseal the road to the building by the end of 1967.
They also gave an interest free loan of $5000 to assist with the building costs. In order to save enough money to build, the trust board had for the previous 12 years saved their grazing money, annual contributions and proceeds of plantations.
Originally the name of the building was to be Tea Kiosk, but much protest was received through the Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune from readers who wanted the building called Peak House. At the opening of the building, trust board chairman J M Chambers said thank you to all those who had protested and for "killing" the word kiosk.
"I am sure you will all agree the name Peak House is a nice simple name and that will stick."
The building was designed by John Kingsford from Davies, Phillips and Chaplin. Eric Phillips, who had designed the gates to the entrance of Te Mata Park, had retired, so John Kingsford from his old firm did the design work. E W Wilson & Sons were the builders.
At the opening of Peak House, Mr J M Chambers said there was trouble from two predators - opossums and vandals. The rabbit board was actively involved in reducing opossum population, and the caretaker living in the Peak House would also contribute to this. Vandalism had long been a problem, and as far back as 1943 Mr J M Chambers said it had reached such proportions that "junior rangers" had been appointed to patrol the park, and their captain was Eric Phillips, designer of the Te Mata Park memorial gates.
Mr J M Chambers read a letter from a man who said 40 years ago he used to climb every part of Te Mata Peak and "knew every hill".
"This more than dispels any doubt in my mind," said Mr J M Chambers that "as long as there are young people who can really get the enjoyment from exploring the park as this man did, and as long as there are older people who can look back with pleasure on Te Mata, I think the object of putting the land in trust has been achieved."
So right he was, except nowadays it's not the young that enjoy Te Mata Park.
• Michael Fowler (mfhistory@gmail.com) is the heritage officer at the Art Deco Trust, and trainer in accounting for non-accountants www.financialfitness.co.nz.