Corstorphine House was built by John Sidey (1823-1915), a successful early-Dunedin businessman and landowner. The grand residence, set in scenic gardens, housed a dynasty of significant members of the Sidey family, including John’s son, Sir Thomas K. Sidey MP. As such, its conservatory has aesthetic and historical significance.

John Sidey arrived in Otago on the ship Blundell in 1848 and set up as a businessman and general merchant, trading out of his town section at the corner of Princes Street and High Street. By the late-1850s he sold his town business to cultivate and reside on land, bought ‘two years previously,’ at Corstorphine. Here he built a modest residence, where he lived from about 1857 to 1864.

An 1884 photograph, taken from a great distance, shows that the conservatory had probably not been built at this time. The Hocken Collections holds a drawing of a heating system for John Sidey by well-known Scottish designers of glasshouses, James Boyd & Sons. This drawing is stamped with the date 7 September 1886, which could indicate that the construction of the conservatory occurred at about this time. A plan for a ‘fernery,’ held by the DCC, was submitted in 1911 – although the glasshouse structures on site today differ markedly from that shown in the plans.

The property was sold by John Sidey’s grandson, Stuart, to the Presbyterian Church in order to ‘establish there a home for mentally-deficient women’ in the late-1950s. This institution remained operating out of the residence until the property was sold in 1993. It then operated as a boutique hotel. From about 2011, extensive works were carried out on the conservatory building, which included replacing structural elements. The property currently is run as a venue for weddings and corporate functions, with the conservatory forming an important role as part of the venue.