The house at 269 Ness Street, Invercargill was likely built between 1925 and 1927 by owner builder James Muir Black. The house is a modest example of the bungalow style that became popular in the 1920s and 1930s. The land on which the bungalow sits was part of a larger parcel belonging to the first European settler in the area, Peter Dalrymple (1813-1901), who settled there just prior to it being surveyed in 1856. The house has historical and architectural significance.

The first European owner of this land was Peter Dalrymple. Noted as Invercargill's first farmer, Dalrymple was a Scot from Wigtownshire. After some years in the drapery business in England, he travelled to Dunedin via Melbourne in 1855. Later that year, exploring near Bluff, local Māori recommended he look into a piece of land known as Wharira to the southwest side of Seaward Bush. Years later Dalrymple recalls he “applied for 100 acres of it on the 18th April 1856, and erected a little hut of a very modern style, under a large broadleaf tree, in a dense forest. I was the first person who settled in the locality.” He named the land Appleby after his sister’s farm in Wigtownshire. This part of suburban Invercargill was subdivided into mainly quarter acre residential sections the 1860s and Dalrymple sold off these sections over the next decade or so. The quarter acre allotments were described as, “beautifully situated on rising ground adjoining the township on the south”. Dalrymple settled in lived in Grace Street with his wide Rosetta and their two children. He was a noted figure in the community, interested in politics and the development of Invercargill. Once described as a “benevolent despot” and the “autocrat of Appleby”, he was the president of the Liberal Reform Association and involved in the establishment of the Southland Agricultural Association. Dalrymple sold land to James Alexander Allan (carpenter) and Andrew Ferguson Allan (painter) on 1 February 1873. In 1925, Sections 13 and 14, Block IV, were further subdivided, and Lot 6 on the corner of Janet and Ness Streets, was created. Residential development and intensification of the area continued into the early twentieth century. Using borrowed money James Muir Black purchased Lot 6 on 10 February 1927 and built a house – he and his wife were residing there in 1928 but did not stay long.

The house is a modest bungalow, a style inspired by houses on the west coast of the United States. Bungalows were noted for their low pitch roofs, street facing gables and prominent verandas and wide eaves. The bungalow at 269 Ness Street is an interesting example of the style. It is constructed of timber and clad in rusticated weather boards. The roof is corrugated iron roof with three brick chimneys (one is a double chimney). The roof form is an unusual combination of boxed gable with a Dutch gable end. The south and north elevations may originally have been shingled under the gable as the current weather boards extend proud of the wall above a series of projecting blocks. The eaves are not particularly deep but do display projecting blocks. The front door has two panels and with a lead light above and to the right of the door. The east elevation displays a deep porch glassed in at the southerly end, with a shingled gable end and sweeping scalloped edged bargeboards. The piers have a decorative bracket detailing. There is a large bay window on the eastern elevation; its fanlight and awning windows have lead lights. The north facing bedroom also has lead light fanlight and awning windows.

After Black owned the property, there were only four other owners. In June 2003 there was an application for consent to turn the house into a church meeting place which was granted. Council records reveal the house was in poor condition at this time. Substantial renovations to the exterior occurred sometime after this, including the rebuilding of the western elevation. Real estate advertising from 2016 shows a modernised kitchen, and many original internal features including: ceiling panelling, leadlight windows and door glazing, picture rails, fireplace surrounds, mantle pieces, and architraves. In 2020, the house is once again a private residence.