When J.B. Way emigrated to New Zealand, he built the house in 1871 where he and his family lived for 73 years. During the Second World War, the house was sold to the Nutt family where it was turned into apartments. In 1980, it was sold to the government where it was rented to Richmond Fellowship and operated as a treatment centre for psychiatric patients. However, by 1998, the house needed drastic renovations and so it was bought by the Kay family turning it into a quality hotel for backpackers.