That big house up on the hill...

By Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb | Posted: Tuesday Apr 14, 2026

Olveston: Portrait of a Home by Jane Ussher and John Welsh (Massey University Press, 2025)

“As long as you have enough to keep yourself and your family in health and comfort, and can look after your friends and dependents, that is all you need; the rest is on loan.” -David Theomin

David Theomin’s ideas about generosity, public spirit and the importance of cultural pursuits all informed his daughter Dorothy’s decision to leave her grand family home Olveston, full of its intact collections of art, books and musical instruments, along with its china, kitchen equipment and everyday objects, to the city of Dunedin in 1966. It is a remarkable legacy for the city, the beautiful gardens are freely open to the public every day, and there are several house tours each day, showing off the house, and celebrating the generosity of the Theomins. There are regular concerts, High Teas, the odd theatrical - see more at olveston.co.nz

This large new book celebrates Olveston’s grandness and pomp and also conveys a sense of its life as a beloved family home, where the inhabitants enjoyed their comfort, their carefully chosen belongings and sharing these with friends and family, and ultimately, the city. Designed in 1903, built in 1906, it is a Victorian gentleman’s residence – the old Queen might have died in 1901 but David Theomin remained a Victorian, albeit one interested in newfangled household appliances, all his life. The book is elegantly designed and clearly laid out. Jane Ussher’s beautiful and atmospheric photographs are presented in groups, room by room, with informative essays on each room and its contents at the back of the book.

A fascinating long essay by John Walsh, in the front of the book, details the lives of the Theomins and the creation of the house and how they embellished and adorned it with the best of everything, with curiosities from the Theomin’s travels, reflecting their interests in high culture. The Theomins, through marriage, fellowship and business relationships were part of an intertwined group of Jewish families in Dunedin with links to Melbourne and Bristol. These families practised a deliberate and considered philanthropy, aiming to create a city of culture and learning, on the back of the prosperity created by the busy mercantile life of a town well-placed to exploit the Central Otago goldrush. The gift of the house and its contents to the city (a gift some of the city council at the time were dubious of) indicates the generosity of the family and their urge to enhance life in Dunedin.

You just know David Theomin would have been tickled pink to see Dunedin named as a UNESCO City of Literature – it is very special that this informative, beguiling book graces the Dunedin City of Literature Collection.

Olveston was published by Massey University Press in late 2025, it is available to buy from bookshops.

Find this book and over 3000 others in the Dunedin City of Literature Collection at Dunedin Public Libraries.

Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb worked in independent bookshops in Aotearoa and the UK for over 34 years, as a bookseller and book buyer. She lives and reads in Dunedin.