Otago Boys’ High School

Otago Boys’ High School - 1863 Dunedin’s early settlers aimed to provide a system of free education based on the Scottish model. In 1863, long before other centres established public high schools, Otago Boys’ High School opened in Tennyson Street. Girls joined the boys there in 1871 after a campaign, led by Learmonth White Dalrymple, to give equality in education to girls.

With rolls increasing, the boys moved to a spectacular original building in 1885. Designed by Robert Lawson in the Gothic Revival style, it most resembles a castle with its four, square pinnacled towers, which are visible from many parts of the city. The building materials of Port Chalmers breccia, Leith Valley basalt and Oamaru stone combine to give produce an air of dignified solidity, very much at one with the founding fathers’ goals. Prominent Dunedin architect Ted McCoy designed the newer buildings of the school.

A war memorial designed by the school's art master displays a sobering list of old Boys who did not return from the Great War. This High School has educated some of New Zealand's greats in all fields, including All Black captain Richie McCaw.