The land on which Company Director House stands was part of a grant to John Terry Hughes and Henry Ludwig Miller in 1839. The primary application shows an agreement dated 1885 between William Gardiner and his neighbour concerning a party wall. This could imply that the building was constructed about that time.
The firm of Sargood Gardiner Limited is listed on the earliest title (1931) as the owner of the site, and continued to own it until at least the 1940s. In 1932, architects Scott Green & Scott converted the basement areas to a garage, installing ramps and roller shutters. They may also have been responsible for the surround to the present main entrance which is of 1930s style. The building was last upgraded in 1984, at which time the aluminium windows were installed.
The building has historic and scientific significance as one of only about half a dozen former warehouses with surviving cast iron column structures and one of a small and diminishing number of Victorian commercial buildings which retain most of their original facade at street level. It has aesthetic significance deriving from the high degree of intactness on all floors of the stone facade and cast iron and timber structure, and details such as the restaurant foyer with its fine traditional doors, pressed metal ceiling and timber panelled joinery.
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