HISTORY OF INVERLOCHY HOUSE

Thomas Kennedy MacDonald came to Wellington in 1871 and for the next forty years was one of the city's most prominent citizens. "He became a City Councilor, and a good one; a land agent, and a spry one ; an auctioneer and an active one", (N.Z. Free Lance, 27.6.1903), and then bought a house - and a beautiful one.

Inverlochy was built in 1878 and was described as having "14 rooms, 2 bathrooms, every modern convenience, water laid on, 2 conservatories, a vinery, a fernery, fowl house, wash house and offices, stable with 2 stalls and loose box, being in a salubrious and fashionable location, and an unrivalled family residence", (N.Z. Times, 20.1.1893).

In 1890 MacDonald became a Member of Parliament for Wellington, and for the next few years Inverlochy entertained many of the country's leading personages. Carriages would turn off Abel Smith Street and pass through an imposing pair of gates into "the Avenue", a fir and sycamore tree lined route which curved its way past the mansion, around the stables, vinery and orchard, and out to the back gates on Vivian Street. Visitors to the house were often treated in summer to a walk through the conservatories, past the fountains, into the fernery and up to the summer house on a slope at the back which commanded a wide view of the city. For the athletic there was a tennis court.

In the early 1890's MacDonald fell on hard times and was forced to sell Inverlochy and moved with his wife Frances and only daughter to a smaller, though still imposing, house which still stands at 192 The Terrace (the two pots standing at its front entrance once stood at each side of the fountains of Inverlochy and bear witness to the MacDonald's lasting affection for the property).

At the turn of the century the house was divided into 2 luxury flats - 1 on each floor, and has since then gradually undergone further renovations. From then on, the building was further divided into 9 flats, with one more in the outbuilding. Since the sale of Inverlochy in 1893, a vast number of people have resided in it. Over the years Inverlochy has inspired a strong communal spirit among its tenants and the neighborhood, coming to a head in 1980 when its residents banded together to save the house from demolition. On 25th November, 1980, Williams Development Holdings Limited announced that Inverlochy House and its property would be gifted to a trust, for the use of the Williams School of Art at Inverlochy Incorporated.

In 2006 the New Zealand Historic Places Trust registered Inverlochy House as a Class 2 Historic Place.