Built circa 1915, the house at 55 Bryce Street, Shannon, is of historical, aesthetic and architectural significance as a well preserved example of a transitional building which demonstrates the shift in predominant architectural style from villa to Californian bungalow in early twentieth century New Zealand housing. This house in particular shows a more ready shift to the new bungalow style emerging in New Zealand at this time.

The land on which Shannon sits was part of an endowment of 215,000 acres acquired by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) around 1881. After opening a railroad, the WMR proceeded to develop and open up the endowment area, establishing the township of Shannon after auctioning land in 1887. Shannon at this time thrived on farming and the flax milling industry. Lot 363, previously owned by Charles Weston of New Plymouth, was sold by John Rainbow Stansell to Charles Henry Gardiner, a Clerk from Shannon in early 1913. The Horowhenua County Council Valuation Roll shows this property in 1913 as having a capital value of £70 and an unimproved value of £70, meaning no house was here at or before this time. Gardiner’s mortgage taken out with the Palmerston North Co-operative Building Society in 1915 likely indicates the actual building of the house. The house was located just over the railway lines from the town’s centre and across the street from the former site of the Venerable Bede Church.

From around 1910, villas began to give way to the Californian bungalow style of housing with the bungalow becoming the prominent architectural style in New Zealand by the 1920s. The years in were a transitional phase, resulting in houses featuring architectural elements of both the villa and bungalow. These transitional houses were largely still planned as villas, though the roof was typically lower pitched and the boxed eaves were replaced by exposed rafter ends without fascia boards. The veranda remained in its traditional position, although it was deeper and under the extension of the main roof, which was supported by plain posts with solid tapering wooden wings rather than the previously elaborately decorated ones. The change from villa to bungalow reflected the more informal lifestyle, with the open plan and focus on indoor/outdoor flow.

The design of the transitional house at 55 Bryce Street featured a hipped and gabled corrugated iron roof, with the lower pitched pyramid style and porch with basic decoration reflecting the bungalow architectural type. The house is clad in weatherboard and has two bay windows fronting either side of the main entrance under the long, partly enclosed porch that over hangs at the sides.

The house has had a few owners since its original construction, but it has continued to be in the Hennessey family since 1927, as was the neighbouring house at 57 Bryce Street from 1917-1936. The house is very well maintained. The corrugated iron roof was replaced with decramastic tiles sometime between 1895 and 1995. This house is virtually the same design as one at 37 Ballance Street, Shannon; both are believed to have had the same builder, however, 55 Bryce Street has retained more of its original exterior features.