Constructed in 1912, Stevenson House (Former) is a visually well-preserved transitional villa with strong Queen Anne Revival influences, built and occupied by its owner in central Gisborne. Created during a period of expanding suburbanisation, this single-storey, timber residence has aesthetic and architectural significance. It has a strong street presence and its prominent front elevation featuring grander elements such as a tower and stained glass reflects the increasing incorporation of elements utilised in higher status residences into dwellings created for people of more modest means in the early twentieth century. The fertile lands around Tūranganui-a-kiwa, now known as Gisborne, have long associations with several iwi with ancestral links to the waka Te Ikaroa-a-Rauru, Horouta and Tākitimu. The area was extensively settled by Māori including the nineteenth century palisaded village of Heipipi, north of Turanganui River. The earliest European settlers moved to the area in the 1830s and the government formally laid out the town of Gisborne after acquiring the Turanganui No. 2 block in 1869. William Leonard Williams, Archdeacon of Waiapu, purchased several sections in the early township where he built his residence Te Rau Kahikatea around which Te Rau College, a Māori theological college, was subsequently established. After subdivisions of Williams’ land in the early twentieth century Lot 13 DP 1594 was purchased by Joseph Stevenson, a carpenter and builder, in 1911. Stevenson had immigrated to New Zealand from Australia in 1900 and married Martha Harnett in Auckland in 1903. By 1908 the family were settled in Gisborne and in December 1911 Stevenson submitted plans to the local council for approval to build a residence on his new lot. As the owner and builder, Stevenson refined the design during construction and the residence as built varied from the approved plans with a taller stud height and a single rather than double gable on the front elevation. The design was strongly influenced by American Queen Anne Revival architecture, which was primarily known for its homely aesthetic and use of architectural details from a wide range of English architectural traditions. The richly decorated front elevation incorporated Queen Anne influenced elements including a wide central porch and portico with lattice details, a projecting square bay window, a low tower with conical roof and a front door sunrise stained glass window in the pictorial tradition with fan and side lights. The design featured elements such as the distinctive corner tower and stained glass windows which were often associated with grander residences. Another prominent decorative feature was a woven pattern detail of the front gable and around the upper portion of the tower. The side elevation included a second gable and a short verandah. The house was clad with plain weatherboard and had a corrugated iron pyramid roof and plastered chimney. A low post and rail fence allowed full view of the property from the street. Internally, rooms were laid out around a T-shaped hall off a central reception space with the bedrooms on the north side and the living areas on the south side and included decorative mouldings and plaster ceilings roses. In 1918, less than a decade after construction, the Stevensons moved back to Auckland and the house was purchased by Edgar Ross, a pharmacist. The Ross family continued to own the property into the twenty-first century. Among the few changes to the place over the twentieth century was the construction of a large shed in the northwest corner of the back-garden by 1948 and in 1979 Ross had a garage erected immediately south-west of the residence. Internally one of the fireplaces was replaced in 1981. Remaining a well-preserved example of its type, the place continues in use as a private residence (2021).