Built in 1922, the Ngawhatu Psychiatric Hospital operated up until the year 2000.
The psychiatric hospital at Ngawhatu Valley filled up quickly with patients, young and old, ranging from epileptic to schizophrenic. Individual female and male villas were viewed as too segregated for a hospital. In 1984, as a result of a government plan, the individual female and male villas were integrated to house larger groups of mixed gender.
There were 13 villas, each housing between 40-60 people.
The closure of the Ngawhatu Psychiatric Hospital, amid claims of patient abuse, came as little surprise in the year 2000.