Amber House

Amber House is one of the older two storey villas in New Zealand's third founded city of Nelson in the top of the South Island at 46 Weka Street.It is a traditional colonial-style construction using native Rimu and Matai timbers with an external brick chimney that originally served four large fireplaces.The original, highly decorated, cast iron sewage vent pipes are still intact and visible on the exterior of the building.Cabragh House SchoolFrom 1906 until 1927 Amber House housed a "Boarding and Day School for Girls and Little Boys" known as Cabragh House School operated by the Hornsby family from Ireland. Edwardian photographs of both the scholars and the school have been preserved.Original wallpaperAmber House preserves a small section of its original unfaded wallpaper from the late 19th century that was revealed during recent renovations.Because New Zealand has had for the last two centuries (and continues to have) the highest ultra violet exposure levels of any populated region on earth it is extremely rare to find used (as opposed to unused roll) examples of Victorian era wallpaper in New Zealand that have not faded badly.