According to provincial records, on 7 August 1901, John Pearson Hornsby, a Nelson accountant, purchased land in Weka Street (part sections of Section 258 and 260 and, later, Section 262. These sections already held two dwellings (now numbered 46 and 48) but then known as 36 and 38 Weka Street respectively. Originally, it seems, the larger two-storey house at 36 was the dwelling and residence of Mr Hornsby and his daughters (known as the Misses Hornsby. Then the single-storey house at 38 was used as a private boarding and day school for girls and "little" boys, as indicated by the 1910 Electoral Register.