Olveston Historic Home is a substantial house and museum in an inner suburb of Dunedin, New Zealand. The house was designed by Ernest George in the Jacobean style in the early 20th century for the Theomin family. When Dorothy Theomin died in 1966, the house, garden and contents were gifted to the city, and are now open to the public. The house is decorated and furnished much as it was when the family lived there, creating a snapshot of upperclass colonial Edwardian life. The Theomins were avid collectors and their art, furniture, weapons and decorative items can be seen throughout the house.
Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described Olveston as "an extremely interesting and very grand house", while Heritage New Zealand, who have protected it with a Category I registration, regard it as "an outstanding illustration of Jacobean design and one of New Zealand's grandest urban houses". In 2014 it won the TripAdvisor Choice Attraction award, making it the number one tourist destination in New Zealand. The gardens are of national significance. The property is part of the city's Royal Terrace-Pitt Street-Heriot Row Residential Heritage Precinct."A2. Heritage Precinct Values" on Dunedin City Council website, retrieved 5 July 2025
History David Theomin Olveston was built between 1904 and 1907 for wealthy merchant David Theomin. He was born in Bristol, England, and emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1874. Theomin married Marie Michaelis of Melbourne (1855–1926) in Melbourne in January 1879. In 1881 Theomin and his wife moved to Dunedin. By marriage Theomin was related to the extended Hallenstein, Fels, de Beer and Brasch families of Dunedin, patrons of the arts and learning. Theomin's fortune came substantially from importing pianos, which he distributed through a New Zealand-wide chain of shops, called The Dresden, and later The Bristol Piano Company. He and his daughter Dorothy were patrons especially of music and the visual arts, while his wife Marie was a strong supporter of the now Plunket Society.
Theomin had acquired land on the site on Royal Terrace in 1881 where there was an existing eight-room villa, which the family called Olveston after the village near Bristol where David Theomin had enjoyed childhood holidays. By 1901 he had bought an adjacent property and in 1904 acquired another, allowing him to plan the building of a new house and garden in earnest.
From early 1902 to December 1904 David and Marie Theomin were travelling and collecting abroad, while Dorothy attended Roedean School. They visited Toronto and David Theomin had plans for a two-storey house drawn up by architect Charles J. Gibson (1862–1935). The house would have been a "fashionable two storey house with large bays set at right angles to a semicircular veranda that scaled the full height of the building." It was designed in red brick with contrasting stone facings, a veranda and Marseille tile roof. It would have been similar in appearance to Venard, a house designed by James Louis Salmond and built in 1898 in Mornington. However Theomin rejected Gibson's plans, and, continuing on to Europe, commissioned Ernest George & Yeates to design his new house, the plans of which are dated October 1903.
The Theomin family lived in the existing villa until construction began, when they rented it out and moved in to Avenal, the Hart residence at 25 Royal Terrace. Construction on the current house may have begun in 1904, the date inscribed on Olveston's south face, but probably was not well underway until the building permit was issued in early 1905. The major building work was completed the following year, but finishing work in the interior continued into 1907, and the family probably did not move in until July of that year. In August 1907 a dinner party and a coming-out ball for Dorothy were held. The original villa was demolished to make way for the gardens.
The size of the house required a team of servants, and Olveston was run by a live-in team of cook, parlour maid, housemaid, lady companion, and butler. Additional help included a gardener, laundress, dressmaker, and later a chauffeur, who resided in the house next door.
The Theomins regularly hosted 'at homes', daytime gatherings where up to 200 people might attend, at which there was always musical entertainment. Smaller afternoon teas were held in the drawing room to introduce or farewell friends, and dinner and bridge parties also, with attendees drawn from the church leaders, doctors, lawyers, university staff and business people of Dunedin. Marie and Dorothy Theomin often sang, but often invited performers, including the Cherniavsky Trio, and Mischa Levitsky. Truby King was known to be an eccentric dinner guest who would leave the table if he found the conversation tedious.
Marie Theomin died aged 71 in 1926, and Dorothy's older brother Edward died of lethargic encephalitis in 1928, having never properly recovered his health after the war. Edward had married Ethel Mocatta in 1919 and they moved into 8 Royal Terrace together. Dorothy and her father continued in the tradition of entertaining, hosting the English cricket team in 1930 and a Michaelis family wedding in 1931.
Dorothy Theomin The house passed into Dorothy's ownership on David's death at Olveston on 15 July 1933. Dorothy admitted to friends that she relied on trustees and her lawyer and father's associates to manage financial matters. As neither Edward nor Dorothy had children, Dorothy found herself the sole remaining Theomin family member. She had an English companion, Mary Elliot, to help with running of the home, however staff became more difficult to retain after the outbreak of World War II and eventually Dorothy found herself living alone in the house, Mary Elliot having returned to England with Lady Newall in 1945. Dorothy invited friends from the Otago Hunt Club to join her in the house, and Stan and Stella McKay moved in with their two sons. Stan occasionally chauffeured Dorothy to the Hermitage or Franz Josef for mountaineering. A downstairs bathroom was converted to a kitchen for the McKay's use, and a guest bedroom became their living room.
Dorothy changed little in the house during her ownership. She relocated to the main bedroom and dressing room, which she had recarpeted in wall-to-wall fawn from Harvey Nichols, and she redecorated her private sitting room.
Dunedin City Council The house and its contents were bequeathed to the city by Dorothy Theomin in 1966, along with an annual income of $4000. The council were initially opposed to accepting the gift, being concerned about ongoing maintenance costs for ratepayers. After lobbying by the Friends of Olveston group, a Theomin Gallery Management Committee was established and the home was opened to the public the following year. Besides being open for guided tours of the home and art collection, the museum runs education programmes aimed at local schools, covering domestic technology, the building and design of the house, and Edwardian games and culture. It may also be hired for weddings, and formal dinners in the original dining room. The house is also used as a venue for chamber music concerts, plays and other performances. The house hosts artists-in-residence including printmaker Manu Berry in 2014, and poet Ruth Arnison.
The Friends of Olveston group wound up in 2013, having achieved its aim of 'saving Olveston'. The following year the Olveston Charitable Foundation was launched with the purpose of building funds to secure the home's future and avoid it becoming a "burden on the ratepayer" as desired by Dorothy Theomin.
Olveston has between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors annually, welcoming its 1 millionth visitor in 1989, and its 2 millionth in 2018. It has gained Qualmark Gold status from Tourism New Zealand, an award which "recognises the best sustainable tourism businesses in New Zealand". In 2014 TripAdvisor named Olveston as New Zealand's top attraction, but only 4% of visitors are from Dunedin.
Media appearances Olveston was used as the setting for historical mini-dramas in the TV magazine series Spot On. In 2017 Dunedin musician Dudley Benson released a remake of Shona Laing's (Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy, with a video recorded at Olveston. The hall and staircase appeared as part of the interior of the Lavania royal residence in the 2022 film The Royal Treatment.
Construction and layout
The house was built in the Jacobean style to plans prepared by the London architect Sir Ernest George. It is George's only known Southern Hemisphere building. It was fitted with all the latest conveniences, such as central heating, an internal telephone system, a service lift, a food mixer, heated towel rails and an electric toaster. The lighting was electric, with a generator in the basement providing electricity. It has 35 rooms, with a total floor area of 1276 m2.
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. 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. The stonemason was H. S. Bingham, the glaziers Andrew Lees Ltd, and the plumbers A. & T. Burt Ltd.
Architectural historian Hilary Grainger compared Olveston to George's other work, and thought the high Dutch gables, window details, door canopy and rainwater heads were reminiscent of their other private houses, and the shaped gables similar to those found at Poles and Busbridge Hall. The straight gables are more similar to those found at Batsford and Motcombe (now Port Regis School). She considered the round bay window in the dining room and the oriel window above the great hall to be more unusual features. Grainger also notes that the stair and gallery arrangement, with half-landing and open arcades, is identical to that designed by George for 52 Cadogan Square.
The British architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner visited Olveston in August 1958 and described Olveston 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. Although Heritage New Zealand describe the house as "quite unrelated to the development of New Zealand domestic architecture", Knight and Wales consider that George and local architect Basil Hooper were both introducing new ideas to Dunedin "at a time when there was very little inspired work being done." Charles and Jessie Speight's house, Haeata, at 273 York Place, bears a strong resemblance to Olveston. Haeata was built in 1915 by Scottish architect John Brown (1875–1923), who was chief draughtsman at Mason & Wales from 1908 to 1914.
The house was designated as Category I status by Heritage New Zealand in 1983. The listing compares the house to Holland House in London, and says it is also "reminiscent of the Elizabethan mansion, Kirby Hall". The report notes that "Olveston shows great attention to form, harmony and proportions. The architectural details are an eclectic combination of tall mullioned bay windows, classical portico, prominent chimneys, crenellations, battlements and turrets."
Interior and collections
The interior of Olveston has been compared by Hardwicke Knight and Niel Wales to the interior designed by Ernest George for Edgeworth Manor in England: "[Edgeworth Manor interior], with its great oak timber roof and stone-lined walls, is one of the finest modern rooms of its kind, and this splendour, although on a smaller scale, is something that can be looked for and found at Olveston."