This timber villa, probably built for printer George Joyce in the early 1880s on Teviot Street in Invercargill is a representative example of a residence from this era, and has historical and architectural significance.

Section 2 was one of twelve sections owned by Invercargill butcher John Smith in 1877. In September 1877, Smith offered these town sections for sale on deferred payment. Invercargill gardener Albert Newman bought section 2 for £56, a price probably indicating an unimproved section, with the title issued in December 1878. Newman sold the property to George Roderick Joyce (then resident in Leet Street) in September 1880.

Street directories show Joyce living on Teviot Street by 1883 – and the style of the house is consistent with this period with its mock quoins imitating stone on the timber villa. The Joyce family lived in the house until around 1900. Joyce was born in Victoria where his father owned a large sheep run. He was educated in the printing trade in Adelaide before landing in New Zealand in 1874 where he worked in the printing business in Hokitika. In the late 1870s he moved to Invercargill where he was employed at the Southland Times, where he became manager of the printing department. According to his obituary, Joyce moved to Timaru in 1907, retiring in 1929. He died in 1932.

In 1900 the property (by this time recorded as 49 Teviot Street) was sold to sisters Jane and Janet Hamilton. The sisters sold the house to William Phipps in July 1904. The property changed hands several times in the first decade of the twentieth century, and is still a residential dwelling today.