IT'S taken less than two years for 'The Bank' to become a dominant feature of retail life in Eltham, and the business' popularity is showing no sign of abating.
Business owner/operator, Barbara Valintine could not be more pleased with the decision she and her partner, photographer Mark Bellringer made to buy the old Bank of New Zealand building around 20 months ago; its huge and elegant interior suiting her plans to run a designer second-hand store to a tee.
It's rear apartments offering chic living in heartland Taranaki.
"There was a lot of work to do when we moved in as over time, with changing fashions, many of the building's beautiful original features had been modified, covered-up or damaged," says Barbara.
"However, we could see so much potential in the building that we just had to have it.
We were prepared to do what we could, when we could to realise this potential."
Operating as a retail business six days a week did make things a little hectic for Barbara and Mark, but with dedication, many of the projects that needed doing were completed.
"One of the most important projects to get completed was renovating the old bank manager's office to the left of the front door.
"I'd wanted to develop it into a specialist part of the store, but it was in a real state and needed some serious work."
With cracking paint, peeling and faded wallpaper, glue covering original tile work and a covered-up original fireplace, the manager's office was always going to be a daunting project.
"One of the worst jobs was ripping out old carpet pins that were embedded in the floor. We had to tear them all out before the sanders could get in and polish the original heart Matai that had fallen into disrepair, and there were holes in the floor too.
"We were fortunate to find some reclaimed Matai from an old church that we could slot in the gaps."
It wasn't all about being smooth and pristine though – a little bit of cracked paint above the picture rails of the manager's office actually turned out to be quite a beautiful feature once preserved – to Barbara's eye, a little homage to classical Rome.
Externally, more Romanesque features were waiting to be brought out; a series of female plaster heads sitting atop the building's Doric columns had lost their prominence and needed highlighting.
"We've highlighted these, and other external features with a little gold and it's really working; you can see them more clearly now.
We've got someone researching what it is they might symbolically mean too."
Rain has slowed down external renovations for the moment, but just like the inside, the potential is slowly being realised and the couple are extremely pleased with how everything is going.
"Out the back, we'll be looking to develop the gardens when the weather improves. Again, there's so much potential just waiting to be realised," says Barbara.
The Bank: beauty in progress
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