Pompallier House

Pompallier House is a nineteenth-century building located in Russell, New Zealand which once served as the headquarters to the French Catholic mission to the Western Pacific.

Situated in a beautiful waterfront setting in the Bay of Islands, this French-style printery and tannery combines momentous Māori and Paheka history, glorious gardens, and hands-on fun. The property is just five minutes' walk from the wharf at Russell, formerly known as Kororareka and infamous as the ‘hell-hole of the Pacific’ for its drunken and raucous behaviour. It was against this colourful backdrop that a group of French Marist Brothers – including Jean Baptiste Pompallier, after whom the property is named – arrived to set up a Catholic Mission in the settlement.