Abstract
The small New Zealand city of Gisborne, with its roots in the lute Wth century, contains house styles characteristic of New Zealand's urban residential history. Small cottages, Colonial bungalows, simple Colonial Georgian and Regency styles, Victorian Gothic style houses, “villas,” “Bay Villas,” “California Bungalows” and “State Houses” are all found in Gisborne. Questions of the origin of each style and whether these styles display any distinctive New Zealand characteristics are addressed in this study.