The Grand Chateau, also known as the Chateau Tongariro, was a hotel and resort complex located close to Whakapapa skifield on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, within the boundaries of Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's oldest national park. It was also close to the volcanic peaks of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. The building was completed in 1929 and, despite extensive refurbishment, still retains much of the style of the pre-Depression era. It is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category 1 historic place. The Chateau Tongariro Hotel closed permanently on 5 February 2023. History In 1887 the paramount chief of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Horonuku Te Heuheu Tukino, gifted the tribe's land – including the sacred mountain peaks of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro – to the people of New Zealand. The gifting was to ensure the area's protection for all time, for all people. In the early 20th century, the approach to Whakapapa was only for the fit and strong. There were miles upon miles of wild country to cross on foot or horseback, wild rivers to ford and mountainous terrain to navigate. Climbers Bill Mead and Bernard Drake imported the first skis seen in the North Island in 1913, and in July of that year were the first to attempt to ski on Mount Ruapehu. They realised the Whakapapa Valley was "much better than any other area of Ruapehu for skiing as well as for summer parties, if it could only be given road access and huts." In 1919 Bill Mead persuaded the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts to pay for an access road to Whakapapa. The new 'highway' was pushed through towards Mt Ruapehu with the help of labour from the Whakapapa prison camp early in 1925 under the supervision of Dave Dunlop, and in 1925 Sir James Gunson drove the first car to Whakapapa. The Ruapehu Ski Club built a collection of huts, which became Whakapapa Village. Construction In 1923, the newly-established Tongariro National Park Board investigated a site for a 100-bed hostel in order to encourage tourists to visit the newly formed park, but it was not until 1925 that New Zealand Government, via the National Park Board, followed up this initiative by offering to lease land and lend up to £40,000 to any private company that would build and operate a hotel on the site. Rodolph Wigley (1881–1946), the managing director of the Mount