The photographer is standing on the corner of Queen Street, looking towards Cuba Street and The Square. On the left of the photograph can be seen the two-storey, brick building occupied by Dawick's Buffet, now the Royal Tavern. On the corner of King Street and Rangitikei Street can be seen the two-storey, wooden, Phoenix Hotel, which was replaced by the Hotel Imperial in 1911. On the right is the two-storey brick building erected in 1903 by the N.Z. Loan & Mercantile Agency Ltd, The "Manawatu Carriage Works" (John Bett & Co Ltd) and the adjoining hardware business of Manson & Barr. The two-storey, wooden building on the corner of Cuba Street was replaced in 1927 by the present National Bank building. There is a vacant section on the opposite side of Cuba Street and then comes the three-storey brick building occupied by the Clarendon Hotel. The top storey of this building was removed after the 1931 earthquake. In the centre distance can be seen the band rotunda (on the site of the present clocktower) and the then two storey Bank of New Zealand, on the corner of Fitzherbert Avenue and The Square.