Tiritea House

This homestead was designed by a Mr Bedford, a Palmerston North architect, and built for Mr Richard Slingsby Abraham, who had been the Manager of the BNZ in Bulls. He had bought into a livestock auctioneering firm (later known as Abraham and Williams) in Palmerston North in 1884.

The imposing house was surrounded by 21 acres of grounds and 20 acres of bush and stood on the site now occupied by the Sir Geoffrey Peren Building. It had 24 rooms, including a great hall with wide staircase and domed skylight. The bedrooms were off a gallery running round the top of the stairs.

The property's sweeping drive, with plane trees along it, still exists today as the Manawatu campus' Main Drive, though the top has been realigned.

In 1920 the Abraham family sold the property to Mr Percy A. McHardy, a sheep farmer from Hawkes Bay.

Mr McHardy in turn sold the property on 1 March 1928 to the Palmerston North Borough Council who gifted the McHardy homestead and 21 acres of land to the Massey Agricultural College. The rest of the land was set aside as a reserve (Bledisloe Park).

Between September 1928 and January 1929 the house divided into two and the two parts moved back some distance to make room for the College's main building. The larger part of the house became the Principal's residence (retaining the name Tiritea House) and the smaller part the College's Registry Building (later known as the Old Registry Building).

Tiritea House remained the residence of the Principals (of Massey Agricultural College) and later Vice-Chancellors (of Massey University) until 2008. Since 2008 the house has served as the offices of the Massey University Foudation and the Development and Alumni Section.

The Old Registry Building has served as the office space of various sections of the institution throughout its history.