[2] The house was built in the 1840s probably for Edward Joseph Lowe who moved to live there shortly after his marriage on 2 January 1849.

Lowe was a noted meteorologist and astronomer and had already installed some meteorological instruments and also his own 11 feet (3.4 m) refracting telescope, and he modified the building to include a rotating cupola roof.

As well as the usual meteorological instruments it included an Earthquake Pendulum, which ascended 33 feet (10 m) to the top of the building.

The pendulum rod was of deal wood and terminated in a loaded bulb of brass and lead of 2 pounds (0.91 kg) in weight with a steel point which acted upon a smooth surface of hard baked chalk.

These were fed to two gilded balls and cylinders for determining the negative and positive character of the electricity and the relative amount.