Woodside was built in 1876 as the home of the nationally prominent New Zealand lawyer Henry Chapman. Woodside was designed by Francis Petre, an architect renowned for his work in concrete, and for his buildings for the Roman Catholic Church. Woodside is one of Petre's first buildings in concrete, predating later notable structures such as St Dominic's Priory and Cargill's Castle. Henry Chapman (1803-1881) was born in Kennington, Surrey in 1803 and educated at a private school in Kent. In his teens he started work in London at a Banking House, and then for a Dutch financial agent. He had been a journalist in Canada, founding the Montreal Daily Advertiser. He became interested in liberal reforms for representative government. He studied law in the 1830s in London. He was deeply interested in Wakefield's New Zealand immigration project. In 1840 he married Catherine Brewer, and was appointed to the Bar. In February 1840, under the influence of E. G. Wakefield, Chapman began publishing the New Zealand Journal as proprietor-editor. The newspaper was the unofficial organ of the New Zealand Company, which subsidised it. It was published fortnightly for the next three years. Chapman's interest in New Zealand led in 1843 to his appointment by Lord Stanley, secretary of state for the colonies, as judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand for the southern district, which included Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth and later Christchurch. With his wife and two-year-old son, Henry, Chapman arrived in Auckland on 23 December 1843 on the Bangalore. He was the first puisne judge in New Zealand. In January 1852 Chapman was offered the position of colonial secretary of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), which he accepted. Released from the constraints of a position in the judiciary, he was soon involved in controversy. He followed local opinion and his own convictions in opposing further transportation of convicts, against the policy of the governor. He was dismissed by the Colonial Office. In 1854 he went to Melbourne to practise law. He entered politics, being elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in February 1855. For periods between 1857 and 1862 he was a member of the Legislative Council and an influential and active figure in government. He also lectured on law at Melbourne University and was the Melbourne correspondent of The Times of London. In 1862 he was appointed a temporary judge in the Supreme Court of Victoria. In early 1864 Chapman was offered a post as judge of the Supreme Court in New Zealand. He accepted and returned to preside over the Court in Dunedin. Here he settled and was to remain for the rest of his life. In 1866 he lost his wife and three of his children; they were drowned in a shipwreck while returning from a visit to England. He was Attorney General for four years, and Member of Parliament for a short time. On 11 April 1868 at Avoca, Victoria, Australia, he married Selina Frances Carr. One son, Frederick Revans became a distinguished judge in New Zealand, and another son, Martin, founded the Wellington legal firm now called Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young. Chapman was a member of the council of the University of Otago from 1869 to 1881 and its chancellor from 1876 to 1879. He had progressive views on education: in August 1871 he presented to the council Learmonth Dalrymple's petition requesting admission of women to the university. His wife, Selina Chapman, was the first signatory to the petition. After his retirement in 1875 Chapman pursued business interests, lent assistance to community projects and gave lectures. He retired on a pension of £750 in 1875, and living on the earnings of his Central Otago sheep station. Woodside was to be his retirement house. Judge Henry Chapman commissioned Francis Petre to design the substantial house in Dunedin. The house was built to take advantage of views of the city, bay and bush surrounds. It was noted for its splendid interior, and was highly regarded. A newspaper report of the time declared: "One of the surest indications of the prosperity of a young country is the growth of a refined taste in architecture. In the early settlement of a colony, people are not over particular as to the sort of dwellings which they live in: but as things calm down, and the excitement attendant on the founding of a new settlement ceases, sensible folk look out for comfortable homes. In this respect the settlers of Otago have not been behind their neighbours. The cosy snuggeries and fine mansions which are springing up around us every day serve to illustrate the progress which we are making in the march of civilisation and refinement. We have been induced to make these remarks by a visit which we paid a few days ago to Woodside, the new residence of our respected fellow citizen, Judge Chapman...The building is of concrete and the style of architecture is Tudor Renaissance. The castellated gables and parapets which ornament the exterior of the structure give it a rather imposing appearance, and the octagonal chimneys and tower windows are in strict keeping with the entire design. As illustrating the superiority of concrete over other building materials, we may state that one wall which runs to the extreme length of 37 feet [11.1m] is only 5 in [125mm] thick, whilst the thickness of the strongest wall in the house is but 9 in [225mm], yet not the slightest symptom of a crack is perceptible in any portion of the building. One of the principle features of the structure is the entrance hall with its tessellated pavement of fancy coloured encaustic tiles. In the centre of this pavement, the crest and coat of arms of the Judge's family are elegantly wrought in mosaic. The hall goes right up to the roof in height and it has a recessed gallery on three sides. In conclusion, we must compliment Judge Chapman on his taste and enterprise in erecting such a dwelling and too much praise cannot be bestowed on the architect Mr F.W. Petre for his skill and judgement in designing of such a building." On his retirement from the bench he went into private practice. After his retirement he continued to lecture and involve himself in community issues. He died at Dunedin on 27 December 1881, aged 78 years. Following his death, his sons Martin and Frederick sold off four adjoining sections. His family stayed in the house until 1905. James Park and Eardley Reynolds bought the house in 1905. The house was later owned by R. Brinsley, the proprietor of a local iron-foundry firm. During the First World War he leased it to the Red Cross as a hospital. It operated as a Jaw Hospital until 1921. In 1922 it was sold to Dr Thomas Fergus. The Phillips family bought the house in 1923. During the Phillips ownership the property was converted into flats. The layout was changed and the rooms divided into a "hotpotch of kitchenettes, bathrooms, toilets and bed-sitting rooms." The current owners renovated the property in 1996, and the house has been used as accommodation for visiting lecturers and post graduate students since then. The house has 12 bedrooms, a shared lounge and kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities. Surface cracks were re-plastered, windows repainted, and the conservatory repaired and restored.

Woodside is a substantial two storey plain concrete residence built on a prominent site overlooking North Dunedin, and adjoining the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. The surrounding residences are mostly villas, used for student accommodation. On its opening Woodside was described as Tudor Renaissance style. According to Apperly et al, with reference to Australia, the Tudor style was popular its evocation of British qualities of the picturesque and for its scale. Victorian Tudor drew from the English and Scottish architecture of the sixteenth century, with ideas of the Renaissance grafted on. The style aimed at evoking the images of the battlemented country mansion. The parapeted gable was a notable feature of the period, as are the bay windows, the string course demarcating the ground and first floors, and the tall chimneys. Buildings were usually brick. Woodside's roof plan reveals a series of five transecting steeply-pitched gables. Its four main elevations are noted for their castellated and crow stepped parapeted gables and spare and elegant detailing. The west elevation is notable for the conservatory that projects from the side of the main house. The north elevation provides an imposing street frontage further emphasised by the raised site. The façade is symmetrical with the angled bay windows echoed on both the ground and first floors, and finished with castellation, repeated on the crow stepped gables above. The main entrance is marked by a partially enclosed porch which echoes both the detailing on the window heads and the castellation on the bay windows. The window detailing is also an indication of the Tudor style, in their detailing and form. The masonry mullions, as well as the mullioned windows were an important element. The double hung sash windows are notable for their form which further mirrors the crow stepped gables on the gable ends. The original interior layout describes a library on the left of the entrance hall. Through the library were the drawing room and a small sitting room facing the city. The dining room looked towards the Botanical Reserve. On the first floor there was a suite of rooms and several bed-chambers. There were several bathrooms on that floor. The large entrance foyer with its mosaic tile floor, stair with decorative balustrading and the gallery above is also representative of the Tudor style which was sometimes noted for its large interior spaces. Petre was, according to Ian Lochead "a pioneer in the use of concrete in New Zealand architecture, he employed this material more extensively and more imaginatively than any of his contemporaries." Ian Lochead identifies Petre's first important architectural commission as St Dominic's Priory in Dunedin, begun in 1877. It was a large building, of monolithic concrete construction, was "executed in a simplified Gothic style adapted to the innovative use of materials." St Dominic's Priory is registered as a Category I historic place. The interior is plain without much detailing with the exception of the tile work in the foyer. The layout is largely unchanged. Two large rooms have been partitioned, and the internal access to the conservatory has been blocked, with the doors left in situ within the wall. The bathrooms have been modernised. The original fireplaces are still in place. Comparisons Woodside is an early example of concrete construction, and particularly for a domestic dwelling. According to Geoffrey Thornton, the oldest extant concrete building in New Zealand is Invermay (1862) in Otago (Category I No.2350). Thornton cites Woodside as one of the important surviving examples of concrete construction from the 1870s, and describes Francis Petre as doing "more than any other architect of the period to further the interest in this material [concrete]." Chris Cochran also notes Judge Chapman's house [Woodside] as an important house from this period. Clifton (1871) (currently considered worthy of Category II, NZHPT reference No. 2623) is also an important early example of concrete construction, this time additions to an existing timber dwelling in the form of a four storey concrete tower and additional rooms. Its early date of construction and use of concrete seems to give it more importance than is currently indicated. Abbotsford Farm Steading (1870), the largest and earliest concrete farm steading in the country, designed by Mason and Wales, is also registered as a Category I historic place (No.7579). Also notable is the Warden's Court (1875) in Lawrence, designed by David Ross (Category I, No. 5184) Petre's own St Dominic's Priory (1877, Category I No. 372) is predated by Woodside. Woodside stands out as one of the most substantial and important early concrete dwellings in New Zealand, and is also the first concrete building constructed by Petre, contemporary with Cargill's Castle (Cargill's Castle Ruin, Category II, No. 3174).