Site History
The St Georges Terrace side of the site was formerly occupied by several buildings. The site adjacent to Trinity Church was opened as a branch of the Union Bank in 1885. The seven-storey New Zealand Insurance Company building was constructed at 100 St Georges Terrace in 1927, followed by the neighbouring six-storey Airways House in 1933. The Union Bank became ANZ Bank, and in May 1963 it vacated its building to allow for the construction of a modern replacement building on the same site. The replacement ANZ Bank was 14-storeys tall and was opened in November 1965 by Premier David Brand. The site also became home to the National Mutual Arcade.
The Hay Street side of the site was home to department store Sandovers. The original building on the site designed by architect J. Talbot Hobbs was destroyed by fire in 1907 and replaced with a new building. This remained the home of Sandovers until the company closed down late in the 20th century, and the facade remains standing to this day.
The ANZ Bank Building was demolished in the late 1980s, and the National Mutual Arcade was demolished in early 1991. This was to make way for a A$100 million development retail arcade and 39-storey office tower, however due to a market downturn the plans never eventuated. Instead, the St Georges Terrace half of the site was landscaped into a park and the northern half saw construction of a Toys "R" Us store.
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