there were many occupants and families in the house during this period, the most notable was Dr. Frederick Truby King, founder of the Plunket Society. He lived in the house from 1921 to 1924, during which time he was appointed the Director of Child Welfare in the Department of Health. The house was sold to Edward Pearce, grandson of the leading businessman and briefly Wellington MP of the same name. State Highway 1 passes beneath the back of the house deep in a trench. Once detailed planning began in the 1950s, this house and its surroundings, along with much of this select part of Thorndon, suffered "motorway blight". Wellington writer/journalist Pat Lawlor wrote of the apparently run-down state of this house and the condition of Chesney Wold, their Karori house in 1958 (both then divided into flats). The Society bought this house after the death of the 91-year-old resident, Mrs Edward Pearce, in 1985. Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society The Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society—founded in 1986 by art historian Oroya Day, Peter Young, and the architect James Beard—purchased the property in 1987. In the late 1980s, the society restored the house to its original condition, undertaking considerable research and relying on Mansfield's own descriptions as well as photographs and "archeological and architectural analyses". The house and its garden are open to the public. See also Notes References External links Katherine Mansfield House and Garden entry in the Register of Historic Places on the Heritage New Zealand website Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Wellington Region Historic house museums in New Zealand Monuments and memorials in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Wellington City Museums in Wellington City Mansfield, Katherine 1880s architecture in New Zealand Wooden buildings and structures in New Zealand Historic homes in New Zealand