The University Lodge Glasshouse at St Leonards is part of a group of buildings now used as the residence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago. Originally the land was used as the country retreats of successful Dunedin businessmen, one of whom – Isaac Stevenson – had the existing imposing lodge building erected to a design by H. McDowell Smith (1887-1965) around 1930. However, the Glasshouse predates this building by as much as 50 years and is the oldest existing building on site. The University Lodge Glasshouse has both aesthetic and historic significance.

Both iwi history and archaeological evidence show Māori occupation in the Ōtākou / Otago region since the twelfth century. The harbour, which was shallow before European arrival, provided abundant resources for hapū. Awa Ōtākou / Otago Harbour was an ara tawhito for access to the north, south, and inland for access using waka hunua to tauraka waka where there were sites for mahika kai and nohoaka.

After a brief use of the area as a fête/picnic grounds in the early-1870s, the land was purchased by Basil Sievwright (1835-1902), a lawyer and businessman of Dunedin. Sievwright built a grand house on land uphill of Scotland Street (now called Takahe Terrace), with stables, a dairy, an orchard and a large glasshouse or ‘vinery’ on the land below. This vinery, now known as the Glasshouse, is the last survivor of Sievwright’s vision for the site, which he named Pa Waitaha.

The Glasshouse is approximately 18m (60ft) long, oriented northeast to southwest. It features a masonry base topped with a predominantly timber and glass structure, and has decorative finals, ridge cresting and bargeboards. Some of the atrium’s glass panels are coloured red and blue.

In 1894, Sievwright built a new residence adjacent to the Glasshouse. In 1900, he sold the property to Isaac Stevenson, an engineer and businessman who had made a success through partnership in the engineering firm Stevenson and Cook of Port Chalmers. In 1905, Stevenson had the current Lodge’s Ball Room, which was connected to the 1894 residence. As the twentieth century progressed, a new main residence was needed; the old residence was demolished in about 1928-29, and the current Lodge (List No. 2223, Category 2 Historic Place) was built circa 1930 to H. McDowell Smith’s design. The vinery and Ballroom were retained.

Following Isaac Stevenson’s death in 1946, his daughter, Annie, gifted the Lodge and grounds to the University of Otago in 1950 – on the condition that she could portion a small part of the site for a small residence of her own. She lived on site at this new residence, the inheritor of the name Pa Waitaha, until her death in 1985. Between 1966 and 1973, the Glasshouse was ‘refurbished…at some expense’; as of 2011 the glasshouse bore a vine believed to be over a century old which still produces a good annual yield of muscat grapes.

As of July 2024, the Lodge and accompanying Glasshouse were awaiting their latest tenant, the new University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Vice-Chancellor the Hon Grant Robertson.