This two storey timber building was built for Edward Steane Harley, an accountant who had arrived in Christchurch in 1864. Harley was the manager of Maling & Co for some years, and was a prominent member of the Opawa Catholic parishes, St Mark's and St John's. He was also involved in the preliminary meetings that established the Canterbury Frozen Meats Company. His house was built from matai and the floor was lined with baltic pine.

Opawa is a derivative of the Maori name for the Heathcote River, Opawaho. The suburb, Opawa, began as a place of small dairy farmers. People began to move there in greater numbers to escape the industrial suburb of Woolston from the turn of the century. Whilst later factory workers from Woolston also moved into Opawa it remained a middle-class suburb with a few large houses. In 1877 Harley sold the property to Bower, a merchant's clerk for £745. The property was subdivided and this building is now surrounded by modern suburban houses. Despite these changes the house retains its colonial character and is a link to the area's early Pakeha settlement.