Venetian Gothic was a style that was predominant in High and down Hereford in Christchurch.  It’s a very beautiful design that reflects the design of many of the beautiful palazzo buildings  in Venice with its decorative striped voussoirs over the windows and use of limestone and brick and coloured greystone in between to accentuate the design of the building.

Jenny May

This store was built for A. J. White (1838 -1895), who arrived in Canterbury in 1861 and established a prosperous business as a furniture and furnishing retailer. The building was significant because of its unusually fine Venetian Gothic façade with facings of Oamaru stone and Bluestone, and because of its continuing links to the furniture retail trade in Christchurch.