Book Review - Olveston: Portrait of a Home by Jane Ussher & John Walsh

By NZ Booklovers | Posted: Thursday Oct 02, 2025

Reviewer: Karen McMillan - Massey University Press

Olveston: Portrait of a Home by Jane Ussher & John Walsh

Olveston is one of New Zealand’s most gracious heritage homes, built in 1907 for merchant David Theomin and his family to move into. This lavish, full-colour coffee table reveals its history thanks to the text by John Walsh, while Jane Ussher’s stunning photographs showcase the home’s exquisite interiors and their treasures. 

The Theomin family were well-travelled, sporty, musical and well-connected, and their home is a confident mix of Jacobean Revival and Flemish architectural styles. The family were also avid collectors. For a generation, Olveston was their family home where the last Theomin, Dorothy, lived until she died in 1966.

But Dorothy made few changes while she lived there and it remains a celebration of its Edwardian heyday. The home was bequeathed to the city, becoming a museum. Dorothy adhered to her parents’ view that good fortune was a gift to be used for the benefit of others. As a consequence, Olveston is now a ‘way of life’ museum, a capsule of social history and a place filled with interesting and exotic arts and ornaments, bringing Edwardian Dunedin to life.

From the vestibule to the great hall. From the drawing room, library, dining room, billiard room, bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchen and butler’s pantry, each photograph is a treasure trove to enjoy, with so many details to revisit.

This is a visual feast and a handsome book to savour, even the endpapers are a wonderful textural treat!