Lennel provides a particularly fine example of a large Victorian house and its gardens. Built in 1880 Lennel has architectural value and outstanding historic values as the home of John Turnbull Thompson, a significant figure in the settlement of Otago and Southland during the 19th century.

Lennel is situated between two rivers, the Waihopai and the Ōtārewa Creek. Waihopai is the Māori name used today for Invercargill. Ōtārewa is the traditional Māori name for Ōtepuni Creek, which flows in a westerly direction through Invercargill and into the Waihōpai River. Southern Māori travelled extensively throughout the region via rivers. Traditionally, the river was a valuable food source for tuna (eels) and inanga as well as the shellfish found in the estuary. Other important resources included harakeke (flax) and tī kōuka (cabbage tree) used for clothing, footwear and weaving.

The arrival of European colonists saw the development of the area for permanent settlers. John Turnbull Thomson (1821-1884) surveyed Invercargill in 1856 and had himself purchased several blocks in the late 1850s. He had surveyed areas in Singapore and the jungles of Penang before he was offered the position of Chief Surveyor of Otago in the 1850s. His first priority in this role was to choose the site for the proposed town of Invercargill, where his subsequent plans included making the main streets twice the normal width. The system was so popular that it was adopted for the whole of New Zealand and Thomson was made Surveyor-General. When it was time for him to retire in 1880, he wound up his affairs in Wellington and moved to Invercargill to build a house, Lennel, similar to a house on a Northumbrian farm of Glororum where he was born. He died in 1884, two years after Lennel’s completion.

The original Thomson estate covered the area known as Gladstone which was later brought within the Invercargill City boundary in 1919. Tenders were advertised for the dwelling house on 16 July 1880 and a separate tender was advertised the next year for the outhouses and additions to Lennel. The architect and engineer of Lennel is uncertain and has been attributed to both Thomson himself and/or possibly the notable architect, Frederick William Burwell (1846-1915). The bricks were transported along the Waihopai River.

The house is two storied and extends back from the relatively narrow front which is the width of two rooms and a hall. The bottom floor consists of a drawing room, dining room, study, nursery, kitchen, scullery, wash house, garage and about six storerooms. The upper floor, which was reached by two staircases, and originally contained ten bedrooms, dressing rooms and bathrooms. The two front rooms still have their original fireplaces, black marble in the dining room and white marble in the drawing room. Both rooms have coffered ceilings - dark varnished wood in the dining room and white plaster in the drawing room. The hall was originally floored with Minton tiles and today the floors have been taken back to wood and polished in the hall and the drawing room. The exterior is largely unmodified except for the addition of a bay window to an upstairs bedroom before 1927. The walls are double brick plastered over. The roof was originally slate but has been recently reroofed and repaired. The back staircase in the servants' quarters has been removed at some point.

The gardens at Lennel are an integral part of the story of the house and the historic development of the original Thomson estate. The surviving portion of gardens are a direct remnant of the original planting scheme laid out by the Thomson family and head gardener Albert Newman (1852 - 1931), and as such hold as much historic significance as the house. The garden was used frequently for charity and public events as well as parties. The house still has approximately one and half acres of grounds with mature rhododendrons, limes, copper beeches, horse chestnuts and other trees.

Following the death of Turnbull Thomson’s wife Jane in 1908, two of their daughters remained in the house. Lennel went up for sale in 1925 and it was purchased by FG Hall-Jones. Majorie Hall-Jones was John Turnbull Thomson’s granddaughter, and the house remained in the family until 1992.

Jocelyn and Denys Finlayson, bought the house in 1998 for $90,000 ($168, 090 today) at a bank auction, and focused largely on renovating its interiors. Jocelyn envisaged passing the house on to subsequent generations, just as the Turnbull Thomson family had done. Their son Will and wife Laura Thompson purchased the property in. Laura has digitised historic garden records detailing more than 600 plants in the garden that Patricia Hall-Jones, the wife of John Turnbull Thomson’s great-grandson, had inventoried, and have added what now remains in the garden to these records.

Overall, through its architecture Lennel demonstrates a very significant example of late nineteenth century taste and affluence, which survives in a very intact and interpretable state today. It provides tangible evidence of the influence (even possibly design) and preferences of its original owner, John Turnbull Thomson, and with the garden, makes a significant contribution to the story of Invercargill and the Thomson family legacy.