This prominent two-storey reinforced concrete building is located on the north-east corner of Devon Street East and Eliot Streets.
A permit was issued to Mr James McNeill on 1 June 1925 for the building at an estimated cost of £3,000 (Town section 1451). The contractor was listed as J.C. (John Clayton) Rowe and he also designed the building. James McNeil was a well-known New Plymouth businessman. The building was described in some detail in this Taranaki Daily News article, noting that it was an example of the expansion of the town east toward Strandon.
Two further permits for the building were issued on 23 December 1925 (£1,000) and 3 February 1926 (£1,200 for town section 1452).
The 1995 New Plymouth CBD Heritage Study describes the building as, "being built in the Queen Anne style, a style not otherwise represented in the central city."
The first-floor facade remains largely unchanged, while the shops on the ground floor have been modernised over the years.
One of these was Burton's Fruit Shop which traded from about 1950 to 1972 on the Devon Street East side of the building.
In the early 1980s Rafters Restaurant (later Pennies) opened on the first floor.
In May 2020 signboards dating from the mid-1950s were revealed at the start of a maintenance project on the verandah above the ground floor shops.
Related documents:
Intimate setting draws diners (Taranaki Herald 5 December 1985)
Restaurant Changing (Taranaki Herald 28 January 1986)
Pennies caters for the times (Taranaki Herald 17 April 1986)
You'll get your kicks on Rig 66 (Taranaki Daily News 17 December 2012)
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