Daily Photo – Langlois-Éteveneaux House

In the afternoon of my second day in Akaroa, I paid a visit to the local museum, where I was particularly interested to see inside the heritage cottage sitting towards the end of the main line of shops. I’d walked past it a number of times, so was pleased to finally get the opportunity to have a peek inside.

Still sitting in its original location, the two-room Langlois-Éteveneaux House is something of a survivor. It is the only remaining house known to have been constructed by French colonists in Akaroa during the 1840s, which gives the little building rather more significance than its modest appearance might suggest.

After a quiet poke around, I learned, among other things, that the house was commissioned by one Aimable Langlois, who ran the neighbouring French store. The building that followed was distinctly French in character, with the small, rectangular and symmetrical proportions typical of the colonial style, along with a steeply pitched roof and shuttered casement windows.

It’s a wonderfully simple little house, but it offers a rather tangible glimpse of the brief moment when Akaroa and the rest of New Zealand might have become French! Now there’s a scary thought!