Victoria Terrace is located in the Willowbank Residential Heritage Precinct and the five houses that make up the Terrace were built in 1897 by builder and developer William King. The terrace complex has historic, architectural and aesthetic significance as a notable example of vernacular, brick terrace style, residential dwellings popular in the Victorian colonial era and is important to the streetscape of the historic precinct.

Both iwi history and archaeological evidence show Māori occupation in the Ōtākou / Otago region since the 12th century. Today, Kāi Tahu mana whenua is recognised over a large part of Te Wai Pounamu. Kāti Māmoe and Waitaha shared occupation are always acknowledged. The hapū Kai Te Pahi, Kāti Moki, and Kāti Taoka still maintain their presence and responsibility as kaitiaki in this region. Traditional Māori place names include Ōwheo (the Water of Leith), a river that runs in North Dunedin nearby to the property, would have facilitated travel by waka from the coast to places further inland and the mouth of Ōwheo, known as Te Tutai o Te Matauira, was likely a valuable settlement area for accessing kaimoana and other resources.

By the 1870s Pākehā settlement at this end of George Street saw breweries and flour mills established with the access to the fresh water source. George Duncan owned the sections originally with a flour mill from 1858-1873 when he sold all his property. Well Park Brewery was also established by Duncan in Block 34 in 1862 and later operated by James Wilson until 1894. William Royse owned section 15, and part sections 16, 17 and 24 with the flour mills from 1875-1892, with James Wilson owning section 17 and 18 with the brewery until he went bankrupt in 1894. Alan Steven, miller, purchased the sections of 15, 16, and 17 in 1892 before selling section 16 and 17 to Peter Shea, stevedore, Port Chalmers in 1897. Victoria Terrace was built in 1897 by builder William King. Shea let the houses out from 1898.

King was selling land and new brick buildings in the 1890s and he operated initially from the corner of Duke and George Street. He first entered into partnership with Richard Pope and George Albery. After their deaths King continued, operating on a large scale in buying and subdividing blocks of land and building on some, particularly from 1894-1898.

King applied for a permit to build “a terrace of 5 brick houses” with arched porches and recessed front doors. The distinctive façade of tuck-pointed red brick, highlighted with openings painted white to imitate quoin work, is covered by an iron roof. Despite considerable internal modernising which was been carried out over the years, the general Victorian character of the houses remains. The cornice is corbelled and there is a separating brick wall between each unit. The similarities of this terrace block to nearby cottages of 1008 (List no. 4731) and 1014 George Street (List no. 4732) are apparent.

Shea only had the property briefly as Miss Isabella Gow purchased the Terrace in 1902 and owned them until her death in 1924. From local directories and newspapers there are a mix of people living in these houses. The land was subdivided after Gow’s death in 1924. The Victoria Terrace was bought by Charles Wilson (James Wilson’s eldest son), owner of the Wilson’s Malt Extract Company which was situated directly behind the Terrace. It is said that four of the houses were used as accommodation for workers employed there from this time. The northern most house was sold separately in 1925 to James Burrows. Three of the houses were converted into flats with one house remaining unchanged (1054 George Street).

In 1993 both 1046 and 1052 George Street were converted back into one house from flats created in 1958. 1050 George Steet had an addition of a parapet in 1924 and then was converted into flats in 1960, before being altered again in 1995. 1056 George Street had a washhouse added in 1925. The flats today are used as accommodation some as rentals for student accommodation.