Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value Otago University was opened in 1871 and is the oldest of the New Zealand universities. The Home Science School was founded in 1911 when its first director, Professor Boys-Smith began classes in the tin shed on the site of Marama Hall which had been recently vacated by the School of Mines. Colonel John Studholme has started its endowment fund with a donation of 300 pounds per year. The site of the new building was known as Tanna Hill and consisted of a large rock beside the Water of Leith. The rock had to be levelled for the foundations of the building. The School has been important in the training of dieticians for New Zealand's hospitals and institutes, and has carried out research in to the effects of iodine deficient foods on the incidence of Goitre, the presence of Vitamins A and C in different foods and low cost healthy diets.

Physical Significance

Architectural Significance: A part of the Gothic complex of University buildings built between 1878 and the 1920s, which constitutes a major example of nineteenth and early twentieth century Gothic in New Zealand, impressive in its size and completeness. Like Allen Hall and the School of Mines the windows are square headed. Townscape/Landmark Significance: The building faces across Union Street towards Allen Hall and the School of Mines and forms a secondary quadrangle to the main one under the clock tower.