Olveston (house)

Story

Olveston Historic Home is a substantial house in an inner suburb of Dunedin, New Zealand.Construction and layoutBuilt for David Theomin in the Jacobean style to plans prepared by the London architect Sir Ernest George, (1839-1922) the house was fitted with all the latest conveniences: central heating, an internal telephone system, a service lift, a food mixer, and an electric toaster, for example. It has 35 rooms, with a total floor area of 1276 m². Theomin had acquired land on the site in 1881 when there was an existing villa. By 1901 he had bought an adjacent property and in 1904 acquired another. The existing buildings were then removed. The family was in London in 1903 and working drawings from Ernest George & Yeates are dated October 1903.The building is brick rendered in Moeraki gravel, with Oamaru stone facings and is roofed with Marseilles tiles. The main entrance and some principal rooms face east. A galleried hall rises through the ground and upper floors and served as a ball room. An elevated internal balcony was an eyrie from which to watch the dancing below. The youthful Miss Theomin's personal suite with its own sitting room is delicate and charming. The outlook is principally to the garden and the Town Belt bush providing attractive views and belying the proximity of the central city. The quality of the materials and the standard of the craftsmanship are high. The supervising architects were the Dunedin firm of Mason & Wales and the builder was Robert Meikle. Olveston is not an Arts and Crafts house though something of that aesthetic is apparent. While over-furnished by later standards a lot of the contents are interesting and some are outstanding. The British architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner visited Olveston in August 1958 and described it as "an extremely interesting and very grand house". He also noted that Ernest George was one of five or six pre-eminent English architects at the time of its commission.

"Olveston was built for Mr David Theomin. Built as a family home, Olveston was furnished with fine art, furniture and artefacts, purchased from all around the world.David Theomin’s daughter, daughter Dorothy Theomin lived at Olveston until her death in 1966. With no heirs to inherit, the house and the original contents were gifted to the City of Dunedin.Olveston is a time capsule as little has changed inside the house since it was occupied as a family home between 1906–1966. It is an authentic and original historic home in the heart of Dunedin depicting the life of a wealthy merchant family in the early twentieth century."