Mount St Joseph at 14 Hillside Terrace has been owned by the Whanganui Sisters of St Joseph since 1949 when they bought the 1880 homestead from the Peat family. Photo / Erin Smith
A Whanganui building that has served the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart for 77 years is up for sale.
The 1880 homestead known as Mount St Joseph, located at 14 Hillside Terrace on St John’s Hill, has been owned by the sisterhood since 1949.
It served as a home, meeting place and training centre which started many of them on their lifelong vocations.
“We started here,” Sisters of St Joseph archivist Sister Anne Burke said.
She and Sisters Marie Skidmore and Colleen Woodcock told the Whanganui Chronicle about the building they once called home.
The building was originally constructed as a private residence for the Peat family.
It was later sold to the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, formerly known as the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth.
They bought the building and its accompanying 38 acres for £5732 – the equivalent of £177,355 today or NZ$399,368.
They renamed it Mount St Joseph and referred to it as the “Hearth Place” for the sisters.
It served as the order’s novitiate from its purchase in 1949 until 1975, when the training centre was moved to a more central location in Wellington, then Feilding in 1983.
“We had numbers in those days,” Sister Colleen said.
The three Sisters completed their four to five years of training at the Mount St Joseph novitiate during the 1960s and said about 20 Sisters shared the building at that time.
“As numbers have gone, some people have come in [nowadays] without much support around them.”
“For us in the 60s, I think we were very lucky.”
Novice Sisters trained at the novitiate while aiding the nearby Sacred Heart Convent and Sacred Heart College.
The grounds were turned into a working farm and the building underwent several alterations and additions over the years, including the addition of a north wing.
Many Sisters revisited Mount St Joseph following their training as it transitioned into an administrative building, conference centre and Josephite Retreat Centre (Te Punanga o Hohepa).
Sister Anne said she lived onsite for a total of 12 years, Sister Marie for six years, and Sister Colleen for between 18 and 20 years.
Sister Colleen is the sole remaining resident of Mount St Joseph.
“It’s sort of been like the half place for the Sisters of St Joseph at Wanganui,” Sister Anne said.
“It’s been going for a very long time and used widely by the community.”
The congregation’s footprint in Whanganui has shrunk over the years as numbers have dwindled and the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart New Zealand Trust Board has sold off pieces of its land, including much of the estate surrounding Mount St Joseph.
The former Nazareth Rest Home, which sat opposite the main Mount St Joseph building, is owned by the Whanganui District Council and rented by the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy.
The Sacred Heart convent was sold and demolished in 2002 while Sacred Heart College was sold and converted into the Jane Winstone retirement village, named after one of its former students who was also a pioneering aviator.
Only the original chapel structure from the shared site remains.
Memorabilia and salvaged parts of these structures have been incorporated into the Mount St Joseph building.
Many of the statuettes, religious artefacts and other historic artefacts in Mount St Joseph are being removed and sent to other branches.
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart New Zealand Trust Board property and services manager Sally Ward said the decision to sell Mount St Joseph was a culmination of decreasing use and numbers.
“The feeling is it makes sense actually to sell the property,” Ward said.
The retreat centre had been permanently closed for about six months.
“The other sisters are getting much older ... they are no longer able to run the retreat centre and do the other things that they used to do.”
The Sisters said they planned to have a farewell service for the building before they left.
They said the unique building had played a key role in their lives and it would be an emotional goodbye.
“The environment, you know, the peace of the place and the trees, the creation, gardens … it was like a gift,” Sister Colleen said.
Sister Marie thanked the Whanganui people for the support they had given.
“They’ve been part of our lives and our history over so many years.”
Two of the original sisters to train at the novitiate in 1949 remain in Whanganui. Now in their 90s, they live at Quinlan Court assisted living community homes.
“When this place goes, it might be significant for us, but I just think – how will it be for those people?” Sister Colleen said.
The property has a Class C designation on the Whanganui District Council’s built heritage register for its architecture and historical significance.
“It is a very beautiful historical building and we would hope that [the new owner is] somebody who appreciates both the history and the story behind the building,” Ward said.
“We’d like to see the story continue to be built on.”
The property is listed with Bayleys Real Estate for sale by tender, closing at 2pm on March 11.
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.