[8] Some time before that, he engaged the then leading architect Cecil Wood to design a stately house for him.

[9] By the time that Christchurch architect Cecil Wood received the commission for Weston House, he was regarded as Canterbury's leading designer of domestic buildings.

[9] Miles Warren, who had been apprenticed to Cecil Wood, was commissioned in 1985 to convert the service wing of the house to a self-contained flat.

Warren created a new entrance to the flat by adding a door in the south wall of the building, facing Peterborough Street, but took care to maintain the character of Wood's original design.

Damage was substantial after the February 2011 earthquake and the house was red-stickered by the authorities, meaning that access was prohibited.

Despite that, the owners continued to retrieve their possessions but stopped entering the building after the June 2011 earthquake, when further damage was sustained.

[18] The Christchurch newspaper The Press featured significant buildings damaged by the earthquake, with Weston House part of the page.