Dorset House in Richmond, built around 1872, has architectural significance as an intact example of the carpenter gothic style characteristic of the Nelson region in the nineteenth century. Built for prominent local businessman and future mayor of Richmond George Talbot and his large family, it has historical significance as a representative of the town’s early development.

Māori have occupied the Nelson region since the 1300s. Nelson city was founded as a New Zealand Company town, with the first Pākehā settlers arriving in 1842. The land purchase was marred by controversy - the Company’s claim that it included the Wairau Valley was contested by Ngāti Toa and survey attempts resulted in the Wairau affray, in which 22 Pākehā and at least four Māori were killed. Nearby Richmond was surveyed that year and initially called Waimea East. In 1871 business partners and merchants Thomas Hodder and George Talbot bought 16 acres in the town and Talbot acquired Hodder’s share in 1873 after their partnership was dissolved in 1872. In June of 1872 Talbot solicited tenders for the construction of a house in Richmond and it is highly likely this refers to Dorset House. Nelson builder John Scott is said to have been the contractor.

Frances and George Talbot, who was the first major of Richmond (1893-1903), had nine children, most of whom were born by the time the house was built. Known as Dorset Place during the Talbots’ tenure (1873-1918), the two-storied, 16-room timber house was designed in the regionally-characteristic carpenter gothic style, with steep gables and decorative bargeboards. The spacious grounds were ‘tastefully laid out with rare trees and flowering shrubs, with orchard, flower and vegetable garden[s]’ and the property also contained a tennis court, stable, coach-house and workshop. It was named after the English country the Talbots hailed from. Nurse Martha Gill ran it as a boarding, convalescent and rest home in the 1920s and 1930s; it was during this period that it became known as Dorset House. Gill subdivided the property the following decade and new houses were subsequently built on the garden.

In 1963 Dorset House was divided into two self-contained flats, one on each floor. In the 2000s and 2010s it was run as a bed and breakfast. The building contains many of its original architectural features, including the carved circle decoration on the bargeboards, steeples on the gables, verandah with delicate fretwork and double-hung sash windows.