Olveston

Olveston was built between 1904 and 1906 for David Theomin, a Dunedin merchant, to a design by the English architect Ernest George - thirty-five rooms in Jacobean revival style with, unusually for the time and place, central heating, an internal telephone system, a service lift and an early shower. What makes it exceptional is not the architecture but the completeness: Theomin's daughter Dorothy lived there until 1966 and left the house to the city with its contents intact and undispersed. So the collection is not a curated approximation of an Edwardian interior - it is the actual furniture, the family's Japanese and European art, the books on the shelves, the kitchen equipment, the linen. Very few houses anywhere survive that way. Visits are by guided tour only, booked, running several times a day. The garden is open separately. Photography inside is restricted.

What you actually see

• The intact contents - the family's own furniture, art and everyday objects.
• The 1906 technology - central heating, service lift, internal telephones.
• The Jacobean revival design - thirty-five rooms by Ernest George.
• The guided tour - the only way in, on a fixed schedule.

When to go

Any season - it is indoors. Book the tour ahead; times are fixed and numbers limited. The garden can be visited without the house.

Honest expectations

Guided tours only and ticketed - you cannot wander. Photography inside is restricted. Tours run to a schedule and turning up without a booking often means waiting or missing out.

Nearby

Dunedin city centre and the railway station are downhill; Baldwin Street is north.