This board and batten house was built in 1868 for the Flight family. It was originally located on the corner of Courtenay and Eliot streets - where Education House stood until it was demolished in 2022.
In 1984 it was relocated to the Taranaki Polytechnic for restoration. The lengthy project was eventually completed in 1989 and the following year it was shifted to New Plymouth Girls' High School.
However, prior to the decision to move the historic house to New Plymouth Girls' High School a number of other options were explored. These included a site at Memorial Place in Waitara, a section on Hine Street, Brooklands Park and the Transport, Aviation and Technology Museum on Kent Road.
For more on the Flight family and the controversy surrounding the restoration and relocation of the house, please view the documents linked below.
Flight House has a category II registration with Heritage New Zealand and is a category A heritage building on the New Plymouth District Council District Plan.
Town section number 1477, Taranaki Land Deed Index I5, page 82.
Related documents:
Historic home's energetic owner (Daily News 9 November 1984)
Josiah Flight A Busy Pioneer Murray Moorhead (Weekender 21 April 1991)
Free home available-but there's a catch (Daily News 11 August 1984)
Appeal To Businesses (Taranaki Herald 20 October 1984)
Flight House to be restored (Daily News Nov 1984)
Window On Our Past (Daily News 25 June 1987)
Councillors Consider Historic Home's Future (Taranaki Herald 9 October 1987)
Flight House Ideas Floated (Daily News 20 October 1987)
Arts Idea For Flight House (Taranaki Herald 20 February 1988)
Flight House future fuels fears (Taranaki Herald 22 October 1988)
Plans to place historic house in Hine Street (Taranaki Herald 3 December 1988)
Future of Flight House debated (Taranaki Herald 21 March 1989)
Historian says claims nonsense (Daily News 22/03/1989)
Waitara house plans ignored (Taranaki Herald 25 March 1989)
Flight House Shift Approved (Daily News 11 April 1989)
Flight House Siting Fight (Taranaki Herald 11 April 1989)
Final move for Flight House (Daily News 18 September 1990)
Of passing interest, Kelvin Day (Taranaki Daily News 14 May 2012)
Related plans:
Plan of Town section 1478 (1928), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki DP5922 Sheet 1 Town Section 1477 (1940), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Flight Place (Word on the street)
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