The two-storeyed house at 236 Papanui Road in Christchurch was constructed in 1920 by architect Edward Herbert England as his own home and has architectural and aesthetic significance due to its English Domestic Revival design with Californian Bungalow influences.

Edward (Eddie) England became a partner in the well-known architectural practice of England Brothers in 1906. After his brother Robert’s death in 1908, Eddie continued the practice and developed a reputation as a designer of large Domestic Revival houses. He appears to have established a pattern of designing houses in a speculative manner, living in them for a few years before selling. In 1919 Eddie purchased a corner Papanui Road property already containing a house from Charles and Julia Calvert, and part of an adjoining section, and designed a new house on these land parcels for himself. E H England was living at 236 Papanui Road by 1920.

The house at 236 Papanui Road is part of a precinct of large architecturally designed early twentieth century houses on Papanui Road that contribute to the streetscape. Set back behind a medium height timber fence, the house is on the corner of Murray Place and fronts the east side of Papanui Road. The ground floor is weatherboard, above which sit timber shingles on the gables and roof. A prominent stone chimney breast is a dominant feature on the western façade. The building’s asymmetry, building materials, roof forms and fenestration reflect an influence of the California Bungalow style on E H England’s usual interpretation of the English Domestic Revival style.

England sold the house in August 1923. The dwelling has since had a number of owners. Under the ownership of Kathleen Carvell, wife of solicitor Arthur Hamilton Cavell, it was divided into two flats in the 1940s and remained as such through until the late 1970s. The Carvells lived in one of the flats. In 1978 Wayne Wright, antique dealer, purchased the house and turned it back into one large family home. The sculleries at the back were removed and a cellar was turned into a small swimming pool. A number of other families have lived in the house since this time. In 1995 a garage was built beside the eastern boundary of the property. At the time it was damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-11, it was operating as a bed and breakfast. It has since been repaired and now operates as Merivale Medical Practice.