Mahara is one of a pair of elegant timber mansions in Dunedin designed by E.W. Walden in 1905 and built for prominent businessman Andrew Lees’ daughters. Of enormous aesthetic appeal, architectural grandeur and historical associations, Mahara makes a significant contribution to our understanding of turn-of-the century residences and Dunedin’s elite.

Andrew Lees (1833-1904) arrived in 1859 in Dunedin and ‘established one of the most successful firms in New Zealand’ specialising in paint, wallpaper and glass. On Andrew’s death in 1904, his married daughters Catherine Smith Melville (1869-1953) and Annie Millar Blakely (1865-1918) kept two sections from his estate bordering Tweed Street. They commissioned noted architect Edward Walter Walden (1870-1944) to design two adjacent residences.
Annie Blakely’s residence, like her sister’s next door, was designed in the Queen Anne Revival style, distinguishable by its pointed turret. The grand interior showcased stained glass art, designed and created by Robert Fraser (1868-1947). Fraser was ‘a highly skilled artist’ and one of the first artists in New Zealand to produce painted and fired stained glass windows. The house was complete by October 1905 and named ‘Mahara’ (meaning to remember or recall). Catherine named her house ‘Leebank’.

On 13 January 1918 Annie, aged 52, was found dead on the floor of her bedroom. In her will Annie left most of her estate to charity; nothing was left to her husband. Three weeks later, Mahara and all its furniture and furnishings were advertised for sale. Described as a ‘Magnificent Residence. Beautifully Situated in Littlebourne, Commanding Lovely View of Harbour and City…Fashionable 9-roomed residence, full quarter-acre Corner Section, Motor Garage, Greenhouse, all Modern Conveniences, Electric Light, Gas…’.

Over the intervening century, Mahara has passed through various hands - yet it remains an elegant and grand mansion. Gracing the Littlebourne hill with its sister house Leebank, they stand as a testament to the Lees’ family wealth.