This building was built in 1906 by Sollitt Bros. to Ernest Larcomb’s design for the firm Holben & Kirk Ltd.
The building covered half of their one-acre site, with another quarter acre becoming the blacksmith’s shop, the nail and lead workshop and a large storage shed. The main building included showrooms, work space and offices. The building’s frontage measured 30 metres, and the façade rose to a height of 13.7 metres.
Holben & Kirk Ltd. remained there until the early 1950s. In 1937, Gough, Gough & Hamer Ltd. moved in and remained until 1978. Gough, Gough & Hamer sold Caterpillar tractors and roading equipment, tractors, and other machinery, The present owner, the electrical sales and service firm Leader & Watt, then moved in.
Larcomb’s substantial Edwardian façade was replaced in 1943, doubtless in response to the 1942 earthquakes. This new ‘moderne style’ façade, was designed by L.G. West & Son, and erected by McMillan Bros.
