Olveston (house) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Olveston |
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| Alternative names | Olveston Historic Home |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Jacobean style |
| Location | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Address | 42 Royal Terrace, North Dunedin |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 45°51′58″S 170°30′09″E / 45.86613°S 170.50243°E |
| Construction started | 1904 |
| Completed | 1907 |
| Owner | David Theomin (to 1933), Dorothy Theomin (to 1966), Dunedin City Council |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 4 |
| Floor area | 1276 m2 |
| Grounds | 1 acre |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Sir Ernest George |
| Architecture firm | Mason & Wales |
| Other designers | Green & Abbott (London; interior design) |
| Main contractor | Robert Miekle |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 35 |
| Designated: | 24 November 1983 |
| Reference #: | 61 |
Olveston Historic Home is a large house and museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was designed in the early 1900s for the wealthy Theomin family. The house is built in the Jacobean style, which was popular in England.
When Dorothy Theomin passed away in 1966, she gave the house, its garden, and everything inside to the city of Dunedin. Today, Olveston is open to the public. It looks much like it did when the family lived there. This makes it a special place to see what life was like for a rich family in the early 1900s. The Theomins loved collecting things. You can see their art, furniture, and other interesting items all around the house.
Experts have called Olveston "an extremely interesting and very grand house." Heritage New Zealand protects it as a Category I building. They say it's "one of New Zealand's grandest urban houses." In 2014, Olveston won a Tripadvisor award. This made it a top tourist spot in New Zealand. The gardens are also very important.
Contents
A Look Back at Olveston's History
The Theomin Family's Story
Olveston was built between 1904 and 1907 for a rich businessman named David Theomin. He was born in England and moved to Australia in 1874. David married Marie Michaelis in 1879. In 1881, they moved to Dunedin.
David Theomin became wealthy by importing pianos. He sold them through his shops across New Zealand. Theomin and his daughter Dorothy loved music and art. His wife Marie supported the Plunket Society, which helps families and children.
The Theomins bought land in Dunedin in 1881. There was an old house there, which they called Olveston. They named it after a village in England where David had spent childhood holidays. By 1904, they had bought more land. This allowed them to plan a new, bigger house and garden.
David and Marie Theomin traveled a lot between 1902 and 1904. During this time, they asked Sir Ernest George, a famous architect from London, to design their new home. The family lived in the old house until construction began. The main building work was finished in 1906. However, the inside finishing continued until 1907. The family likely moved in that July.
A large house like Olveston needed many staff members. The Theomins had a cook, a maid, a butler, and a lady companion living with them. Other helpers included a gardener, a laundress, and a chauffeur.
The Theomins often hosted parties and gatherings. Up to 200 people might attend their daytime events. There was always music and entertainment. They also held smaller afternoon teas and dinner parties. Many important people from Dunedin visited their home.
Marie Theomin passed away in 1926. Their son Edward died in 1928. Dorothy and her father continued to entertain guests. They even hosted the English cricket team in 1930.
Dorothy Theomin's Time at Olveston
When David Theomin died in 1933, Dorothy became the owner of Olveston. She relied on family friends and lawyers to help manage her money. Since neither she nor her brother Edward had children, Dorothy was the last Theomin family member.
Dorothy had an English companion, Mary Elliot, who helped run the house. However, it became harder to keep staff after World War II. Eventually, Dorothy lived alone in the large house. She invited friends, Stan and Stella McKay, and their two sons to live with her. They converted a downstairs bathroom into a kitchen for the McKays.
Dorothy did not change much in the house during her time. She moved into the main bedroom and redecorated her private sitting room.
Olveston as a Public Museum
Dorothy Theomin gave the house and everything inside to the city of Dunedin when she passed away in 1966. She also left money to help with its upkeep. At first, the city council was unsure about accepting the gift. They worried about the costs of maintaining such a large house.
However, a group called the "Friends of Olveston" worked hard to convince them. The house opened to the public in 1967. Today, visitors can take guided tours of the home and its art collection. The museum also offers educational programs for schools. It teaches about old technology, house design, and life in the early 1900s. Olveston can also be rented for weddings and special dinners. It hosts music concerts and plays too.
A new group, the Olveston Charitable Foundation, was started in 2014. Its goal is to raise money to ensure the home's future. This helps prevent it from becoming a burden on taxpayers, as Dorothy Theomin wished.
Olveston welcomes between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors each year. It reached its 1 millionth visitor in 1989 and its 2 millionth in 2018. It has received "Qualmark Gold status" from Tourism New Zealand. This award recognizes top sustainable tourism businesses. In 2014, Tripadvisor named Olveston New Zealand's top attraction.
Olveston in Media
Olveston has appeared in TV shows and films. It was used for historical mini-dramas in the TV series Spot On. In 2017, a music video for a song by Dudley Benson was filmed there. The house's hall and staircase were also seen in the 2022 film The Royal Treatment.
How Olveston Was Built
The house was built in the Jacobean style. This design was created by the London architect Sir Ernest George. Olveston is his only known building in the Southern Hemisphere. It was built with many modern features for its time. These included central heating, an internal telephone system, and a service lift. It also had a food mixer, heated towel rails, and an electric toaster. The house had electric lighting, with its own generator in the basement. Olveston has 35 rooms and covers a huge area of 1276 square meters.
The building is made of brick. It is covered with Moeraki gravel and has Oamaru stone details. The roof is made of Marseilles tiles. The main entrance and some important rooms face east. The house looks out onto the garden and the Town Belt bush. This gives it beautiful views, even though it's close to the city center. The building materials and the craftsmanship are of very high quality.
The local architects who oversaw the building were Mason & Wales. The main builder was Robert Meikle. Other skilled workers included stonemason H. S. Bingham and glaziers Andrew Lees Ltd.
Architectural experts have compared Olveston to other buildings designed by Ernest George. They note its tall gables and window details. The grand staircase and gallery inside are similar to those in a famous London house.
Nikolaus Pevsner, a British architectural historian, visited Olveston in 1958. He called it "an extremely interesting and very grand house." He also said Ernest George was one of the top English architects of his time. Olveston was given Category I status by Heritage New Zealand in 1983. This means it is a very important historic building.
Inside Olveston: Rooms and Collections
The inside of Olveston is very impressive. The floors, doors, and door frames are made of English oak and West Australian jarrah wood. New Zealand kauri wood was used for the kitchen cupboards and tables. The beautiful oak stairs were made in London and then put together on site without using any nails.
The wallpaper in the main hall has a Renaissance design. The dining room and library have wallpaper from New York. Stained-glass windows were made by companies in London. The drawing room has the only decorated ceiling in the house.
House Layout
The house has reception rooms, a library, a kitchen, and guest rooms on the ground floor. A grand hall with a gallery goes up through two floors. This hall was even used as a ballroom. Unusually, there is a billiard room upstairs, on the same floor as the bedrooms. The Card Room, also called the Persian Room, is a small lounge next to the billiard room. A special "Juliet" window lets people upstairs connect with events happening below. The top floor used to be for the servants. Today, it provides space for artists who stay at Olveston.
Main Rooms
The Great Hall is dominated by the large oak stairs and a big fireplace. It has a special Turkey carpet and a grandfather clock from 1770. There are two Jacobean-style chandeliers and a stained-glass window. This hall leads to the dining room and library on one side, and the drawing room on the other.
The dining room has a Chippendale-style table for casual meals. It also has chairs designed by George Hepplewhite. You can see an old French clock and four "spectacular" silver candlesticks from the 1830s.
The library is a cozy room with oak wood panels and a fireplace. It has wallpaper that looks like leather. You can find pottery figures and porcelain items here. There are also photos of the family.
The drawing room feels lighter and more feminine. It has a Chippendale-style desk and a Steinway grand piano from 1906. Collections of brass, porcelain, silver, and colored glass are on display. A marble statue of Marie Theomin was made in 1904.
Kitchen and Pantries
The kitchen has a large coal range from London, not a local one. This range has two ovens and nine hotplates. The kitchen dresser and tables are made of kauri wood. There is a collection of blue and white 'Delft-ware' tiles and jars. The kitchen also has many old-fashioned tools like a bean-slicer and a coffee-percolator.
The scullery has many ingredient jars on open shelves. It has two sinks, one for meat and one for dairy. There's also a marble counter for making pastries. A window with outside steps allowed deliveries to be brought in easily.
The butler's pantry holds the tableware and a safe. The main dinner service is white Wedgwood with a gold border. There is also a Venetian glass set. An old silver meat dish from 1810 could keep food warm using hot water in its base.
Billiard Room and Persian Room
The billiard table is very large, weighing two tons. It needed strong steel beams under the floor to support it. There is a raised area with seats for people to watch the game. A stained-glass window in this room shows a Green Man image. An old Chinese enamel urn is also in the billiard room. Cabinets display collections of Japanese items like inro (small cases) and tsuba (sword guards).
Special Collections
The Theomins collected many different things. These included art, ceramics, weapons, and furniture. They had a significant collection of Japanese items. Two Japanese panels with carved peony flowers are in the great hall. The entrance area displays Japanese weapons collected by David Theomin. These include helmets and old flintlock pistols. There is also a copy of a famous statue of David and a carved oak bear.
The ceramic collection includes blue and white pottery and figures. There are also four porcelain figures from the 1770s representing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The house has a collection of colored glass, brass, and silverware.
The house also displays many beautiful embroideries. These come from places like Turkey, India, and Japan. Some of Marie and Dorothy's own embroideries are part of the velvet curtains in the Persian Room.
The Theomins were big supporters of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. They had their own important art collection. This includes works by artists like Frances Hodgkins and Frank Brangwyn. Four watercolors by the artist Myles Birket Foster hang in the dining room. A painting by Frances Hodgkins, Orange Sellers, Tangier, hangs on the stairs. She painted it after meeting the Theomins on a boat in 1902.
Dorothy added paintings by New Zealand women artists to the collection. In 2018, a painting by Ernest George was given to Olveston.
Olveston Gardens
The gardens at Olveston are very special. They were named a "five star" Garden of National Significance in 2014. There is an Edwardian-style glasshouse and a potager (a kitchen garden). You can also see holly and camellia hedges.
The gardens have changed over time. Early photos show a large rose garden that has been replaced with a lawn. The gardens have several important trees, including red, black, and copper beech trees. In 2022, a large red beech tree had to be removed to protect a nearby property. You can visit the gardens for free every day between 9 AM and 5 PM.
A garage was added to the property in 1915. The family's original 1921 Fiat 510 Tourer car was returned to the house in 1994. It is now on display for visitors to see.
