The Tūārangi Old Men's Home

Abstract

The "old men" of the Ashburton Old Men's Home were relocated from their former Immigration Barracks site to a purpose-built campus on the outskirts of Ashburton in 1902. Their new home, named Tūārangi Old Men's Home, quickly came to be upheld as one of the premier institutions of its type in New Zealand. The early history of Tūārangi Home, both before and after this move, provides an insight into the changing status of both the "poor" and the difference that a modern building, designed on approved principles, might be able to make for their lives - in this case: those "destitute old men" from Ashburton and beyond.