{{Short description|Heritage building in Auckland, New Zealand}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox building | image = John Kinder house, Parnell, Auckland.jpg | caption = John Kinder House in 2021 | address = Ayr Street, Parnell, Auckland | location_country = New Zealand | coordinates = {{coord|-36.861982|174.782409}} | embedded = {{designation list|embed=yes|designation1=NZ Category I|designation1_number=110|designation1_date=11-Nov-1985}} }} '''Kinder House''' is a historic house on Ayr Street, in the suburb of Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand.
== History == thumb|A photograph of Kinder House taken by John Kinder, the owner.|left Kinder House, sometimes known as "The Headmaster's House"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/results.do?view=detail&db=object&id=6015 |title=Headmaster's House – aucklandartgallery.govt.nz |access-date=11 April 2010 |archive-date=18 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018234616/http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/results.do?view=detail&db=object&id=6015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was built in 1857. It was commissioned by Bishop George Selwyn and designed by Frederick Thatcher, architect of many Anglican buildings in Auckland. The house is a Gothic-style, double-storey mansion built of grey volcanic stone quarried from nearby Mount Eden.
The house was the residence of London-born John Kinder (1819{{Snd}} 1903), an Anglican priest, painter, photographer and headmaster of the Church of England Grammar School, Parnell. He occupied the house with his wife and the six children of his brother Henry Kinder, who was murdered in 1865 by John's sister-in-law and her lover.
The house was opened to the public as a gallery in 1982.<ref>[http://www.kinder.org.nz/the-church-of-england-grammar-school-at-parnell-1854-1893 Kinder House – Grammar School At Parnell – Kinder.org.nz]</ref> The house is also used for wedding receptions and other functions. In 2012, leading landscape photographers from New Zealand and abroad exhibited New Zealand landscape photography at a Kinder House exhibition organized by the Contemporary Photography Foundation, during the Auckland Festival of Photography.<ref>[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1204/S00274/a-world-class-landscape-exhibition.htm A World Class Landscape Exhibition]</ref>
== Reported haunting == It is claimed that the house is haunted by the apparition of a man.<ref>Kinder House – Ghost Hunt: True New Zealand Ghost Stories (2005) {{ISBN|0-7900-1012-7}}</ref> Because of this, it was visited by a team of paranormal investigators in 2005 and featured on ''Ghost Hunt'', a New Zealand television show.<!--what did they conclude?-->
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.kinder.org.nz/ Kinder House Official Website]
== External links == {{Commons category-inline|Kinder House}}
{{Parnell, New Zealand}}
Kinder House Category:Houses completed in 1857 Category:1857 establishments in New Zealand Category:Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region Category:Historic houses in New Zealand Category:Parnell, New Zealand Category:Reportedly haunted locations in Auckland Category:Historic house museums in New Zealand Category:Museums in Auckland