Demolished in 1968 to make way for extensions to the legal offices of Park, Cullinane and Turnbull, this old house in Queen Street is thought to have been built in the first decade of this century.
In 1913, according to Mrs Francis Duguid, "Old Bob" a pensioner, lived in it and then about 1915, it was occupied by the McDonald family. Mr McDonald was a saddler and his only daughter, Mary, married local power board employee, Maurie Brown, who was a well-known cricketer. In the 1920s, Fred Proctor and his wife and two children lived in the house and it was then occupied for many years by the late Mrs Elizabeth Hornblow until she died there in November, 1948.
The property passed to her son, Mr S. Beetson who sold it to Otaki dental surgeon, Mr H. Jackson, in 1949. Besides Mr Jackson, Mr Boyd, the optometrist, had rooms there before moving to a property further along the street.
