14 Harbour Street

The Loan and Merc ....."The Monster Store" —standing at over 19 metres tall, it is equivalent to a five- to six-storey structure. By comparison, the town clock stands at 28 metres high.

The Loan and Mercantile Building was the largest grain store in the country when it was completed in 1882. The first buildings on this site were the concrete stores of the New Zealand and Australian Land Investment Company, constructed in 1875.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, incorporated in 1865 as produce, financial, and general commercial agents, later took over the site but found the existing buildings too small.

The new building was designed in a Florentine Renaissance style by civil engineers and architects Dennison and Grant, and built by John McCombe.The new “monster store,” as it was described in the North Otago Times on 10 January 1882, was capable of holding 100,000 sacks of grain. The first floor is supported by bluestone and ironbark pillars with cast iron shoes and caps. The upper floor pillars are made of red pine, as are the joists and beams.Four grain elevators (still in the building today) carried bags from the ground floor to the top storey on an endless link chain powered by four water engines. The interior detailing is of a high standard, highlighted by the elaborate kauri staircases and rope moulding details above the windows on the Harbour Street sideThe Loan and Merc was

The end wall has been left with its quoins jutting outwards to key in a future addition.

Trust History

The Loan and Mercantile building came into Trust ownership in 1989. The building was re-roofed in the mid 1990, this also helped with earthquake strengthening the building 

Tenants:
Housekeepers Design
Housekeepers Pantry
Loan and Merc function centre
Moke