The architectural firm Gummer & Ford designed this building for the NZ Insurance Company in 1955, and it was completed in 1957. Gummer & Ford was New Zealand’s foremost architectural practice in the interwar period. William Henry Gummer formed a partnership with Charles Reginald Ford, who was essentially the firm’s business manager, although he did design.
This building is considered unique in Palmerston North. Known originally as ‘NZI House’, the firm’s logo still appears on the bronze portion of its two pillars. Since around 1990, this building has belonged to legal firm Innes Dean – and it is now named Innes Dean House.
