Built in about 1881, probably to a design by architect David Ross for Thomas Walter Hungerford, the grand villa known as Rockwell Hall, its adjoining billiard hall, and Italianate fountain, are a reminder of the ostentatious inclinations of the Dunedin elite during the late-19th century. It has historical heritage significance.

Kāi Tahu whānui comprise people of Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe and Waitaha descent, who hold manawhenua over an area that covers the entire Otago region including the area now covered by Dunedin city. Ara Tawhito (traditional travelling routes) crossed the landscape providing annual and seasonal pathways to permanent pa sites and temporary kāinga. The bays and inlets of the Otago Harbour, along the coast of Otago Peninsula and south to Taieri Mouth were popular sites for settlements. There were numerous mahinga kai sites where Ngāi Tahu gathered and utilised natural resources. The attributes of shelter, easy access to fishing grounds, and bush-clad hills with an abundance of bird life, building material and edible vegetation available in the ngahere and repo, complemented the strong kaimoana resource that abounded. Following the arrival of Pākehā and alienation of the land, the first owner of the land in the early-1850s was James Smith, the land passed through the hands of Thomas Calcutt and George Hately, before being sold to James McKerrow (1834–1919) in 1863. By this time a cottage had been built on the land; it was then known as ‘Burnside’. From the late-1860s into the 1870s the property appears to have been leased to various people, until the lease was acquired by Thomas Walter Hungerford in 1881.

It is likely that the extensive house and villa were constructed for Hungerford in the early-1880s. Hungerford appears to have been known as a great entertainer, especially for hunt meetings; given his quasi-aristocratic background it would not be a surprise for his tastes to run to the ostentatious. In 1882 a call for tenders, from architect David Ross, was advertised for ‘Brick additions to Villa, Wakari, for T. W. Hungerford’. It is likely that the villa and billiard hall currently present on site closely match the hall and villa as constructed for Hungerford. The villa is of timber construction, with verandahs displaying a repeated circular motif at eave level; there is evidence that the timber finials on both the billiard hall and villa were joined by decorative cast iron fretwork running along the roofs’ ridgelines. The billiard hall is constructed of masonry/concrete, with distinctive moulded quoins and a central lightwell. In 1887, the building was described as a ‘splendidly furnished family residence of nine rooms, large billiard room…two large vineries, three-roomed cottage, splendid orchard, pond, fountain’.
Hungerford applied for bankruptcy in 1888; he had attempted to sell Rockwell Hall the year prior but had been unsuccessful. Following acquisition by mortgagees, the house and property was sold to a series of owners, including William Dawson, of Speights Brewery. There have been no major changes at the property since the late-19th century, although parts of the interior have been often redecorated and updated; the vineries, mentioned in 1887, do not appear to be present any more. The three-roomed cottage no longer exists as an above-ground structure. In 2023, Rockwell Hall remains a potent example of the tastes of the aspiring landed gentry of Dunedin at its peak.