This villa at 221 The Terrace is one of eight houses built on Town Acre 194 by developer-builders Palliser and Jones in 1896. Although the house was built as a single-family residence, it has been in use as a hostel, boarding-house and self-contained apartments for most of its 110+ year history.
The house appears to have been built for Charles and Jane Ewen. Charles, at the time, was the General Manager for the Commercial Union Assurance Co Ltd, which had its New Zealand Head Office premises on the corner of Lambton Quay and Grey Street.
The house was converted for use as a Victoria College (Victoria University) student hostel in 1912. It seems likely that there were few internal alterations carried out to accommodate this use, as the house was later offered for sale as a grand family home in 1919. The auction notices, from this sale, described the house as a two-storey residence with six bedrooms, a dining room, drawing room, morning room, kitchen, scullery and ‘glassed-in back verandah’. It had electric lights installed throughout and was described as having a ‘magnificent view’ of the harbour and city. The first internal alterations are likely to date from the 1920s when it was converted into a combination of flats, rooms and bedsits, and these were advertised for rent from 1920 until at least 1938. The interior was further altered in 1962 when it was converted (formally) into five flats.
The house was renovated in 2003 and works included the removal of the street-front fire escape and landing; the reinstatement of the verandah and a first floor window (on The Terrace elevation); the insertion of two windows to the south elevation on the first and second floor levels; and the full height extension to the west (rear) elevation to replace the verandah and balconies. It is currently in use as short term rental accommodation.
