Villa d'Este was built as flats and retail outlets in 1929 for Hastings barrister James Kirk and was designed by architect Albert Garnett. The building was presumably named for the celebrated house and gardens built at Tivoli, near Rome, by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572). Pope Julius appointed Cardinal d'Este as Governor of Tivoli and gave him the villa as a gift. He had the entire property reconstructed to the plans of Pirro Ligorio. The house and the gardens are together considered a masterpiece of Renaissance design and are listed as a World Heritage Site. The reason for Kirk giving his building this name is not known. The building was badly damaged in the Hawkes Bay earthquake and had to be partly rebuilt. Although some sources say the building was demolished, the plans make clear that this was not the case. The building survived but the façade had badly cracked and was removed. There is also one reference on the plans to the removal of existing windows to allow new concrete to be poured. The original design was, understandably, augmented with extra strengthening. This time the design was attributed to Davies, Garnett and Phillips, who were collaborating in the aftermath of the earthquake. James Kirk remained the owner until his death in 1945. The building was transferred to solicitor Albert Lawry and Horace Kirk, a company director, who were presumably the executors of James Kirk's will. After Lawry's death Horace Kirk became the sole owner. He sold the property to P.A.W Properties Ltd in 1965. Four years later it was bought by Allan Jones, a farmer. In 1980 it was bought by Arthur Smith, described as a businessman, and his wife Coral. Following their deaths in 2003, the property was passed to Jon Philip Smith and Jon Bower Smith. Listing of occupants of Villa d'Este is not a definitive exercise, at least for the first two decades of the building's existence, as it is not certain what street numbers applied to the building. The numbering also changed over the decades. There were originally four shops on the ground floor although the configuration of the first floor is more difficult to follow. Directories indicate that there were at least three flats. Mary Garden was one of the early shop tenants, moving into the building some time after setting up her business 'Mary Garden Creations', a dress shop, in 1926. In 1940, Wises Directory lists seven names, some of whom were clearly flat tenants, although they are not explicitly described as such. I & C Galbraith, milliners, F.E. Culy, furniture dealer, Norman Kelly, furrier, Ms E Fergusson, hairdresser, Kate Dalley, draper and William Scott, traveller were listed. Also listed was Elizabeth Horne, a mantle (a short, sleeveless cloak) manufacturer and retailer. Elizabeth Horn(e) had purchased Mary Garden's business in 1935, having worked for her for a number of years. Elizabeth also lived in one of the upstairs flats until she built her own home. Today Elizabeth Horne is Hawkes Bay's oldest women's fashion shop and still an occupant of Villa d'Este. By the mid-1940s Villa d'Este was appearing in the name of one business - Villa d'Este Salon, at No.333. Galbraiths was also in evidence, along with J.E. Fregley, draper, Lockyer's Electrical Ltd, Vogue Lingerie and Ms Ferguson-Smith. Lockyer's, a name that has also survived in Hawkes Bay retailing, owned and ran a radio station in Hastings in the 1930s, until (like all private radio stations) it was nationalised by the first Labour government. The Villa d'Este Flats were first mentioned in street directories about this time and in 1950-51 the tenants were Mrs M. Wilmot, an upholsterer and F.H. Reid, an orchardist. (At other times, three names were listed.) In 1959-60, the Villa d'Este Salon occupied the building along with Alexander Martin Ltd, jewellers, Vogue (Hastings), Elizabeth Horne and Lockyer's (who remained in the building until at least the 1970s), and the flat tenants. Di Stewart and Associates stated that an early occupant was Mary Gardiner, the 'first manufacturer of women's clothing'. More recent tenants include Red Copper Takeaways, West End Takeaways, EMI Records, Wrightson Real Estate, Duckworths, and Cut Above hairdressers. The current tenants are Miller's Fashion Club (341), Boardzone (341) and Elizabeth Horne (351). There have been numerous alterations to the building's interior, mainly for retailing purposes. Consents for known work were issued in 1967, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1997 and 2001. A façade enhancement grant was made to the owners in 1994 and the building was repainted that year.

Villa d'Este is a two-storey concrete building, almost square in plan. The ground floor is divided into four deep retail spaces, each with a narrow street frontage, these now having been modernised. Above the verandah, the façade is a well articulated composition in the Spanish Mission style. Its main feature is a central section made up of an arcade of four semi-circular arches; the attached columns between the arches are in a delicate Stripped Classical style. It is interesting to note that the design of 1929 shows decorated Corinthian column capitals, which were rebuilt in 1932 in the very plain Doric style that one sees today; the cornice mouldings were simplified too, while the cornice itself has delicately incised Classical decoration. These subtle changes perhaps made Villa d'Este more in tune with the style of buildings then under construction post-earthquake. A balcony is formed by the exterior wall behind being set back from the arcade, and the concrete floor being cantilevered forward out over the verandah roof. A wrought iron balustrade provides decorative interest to this central part of the façade. The bays to either side, set slightly back, each have a set of three narrow window openings. Access to the first floor of the building is via a stair in the middle of the street frontage; it gives access to four apartments, one in each corner. These were quite generously laid out, each with a living room, two bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom (toilet, bath and wash hand basin). The front units had access to the balcony overlooking Heretaunga Street West, and there was a back balcony too, very plain but providing outdoor space to the two back units. Bedrooms without an exterior wall are lit from a large central skylight. In the original design, the shops each had a small one-bedroom flat at the rear, with kitchen facilities in the living room, and small bathroom; these spaces have long since been converted for office space or staff rooms. A dividing wall has been removed to make one large shop from the two central shops.