The Manse

​Timaru’s Russell Square is an oasis of green surrounded on all sides by houses.

The most prominent building on the square is a magnificent five-bedroom house.

The transom window over the front door is etched with the name “The Manse” and “1879”, identifying the house’s function and year of completion.

A “manse” is a house of a Presbyterian minister, from the Latin mansus, meaning “dwelling” and the ecclesiastical definition goes back to the 16th century.

The Manse on Russell Sq was the residence for the ministers of the former Trinity Church, established in 1864 on Barnard St.

The design is a modest colonial vernacular take on the Victorian Italianate style, which mainly manifests in the details of the window casings, and the corner quoins looking like stone blockwork.

One of the more notable residents of The Manse was the Reverend William Gillies (1837-1908) who migrated from Scotland to the Otago colony with his parents in 1852.

He returned to Scotland to train for ministry, then returned to Aotearoa in 1864, first being appointed to Taieri and then to Timaru in 1875.

Gillies was prominent in the prohibition movement, and an ecclesiastical lawyer, being influential in the drawing up of the Church Property Act and managing the legal affairs of the Presbyterian Church.

He died of a heart attack at the Te Awamutu train station en route from Auckland to the General Assembly in Dunedin, while he was trying to procure a cup of tea for his wife.