Bank of New Zealand Building, Akaroa

So I'm standing here at the Bank of New Zealand Building in Akaroa, right on the corner of Rue Lavaud and Rue Balguerie. It's a two-story timber building, and you can really see that Italianate style in its design, which apparently was a big part of the bank's look back in the day. It's got these cool arched windows with ornamental keystones, and the entrances have pediments and arches too.

The original Bank of New Zealand presence here goes all the way back to 1863, though they didn't build on this specific site until later. They even had an eight-year absence before coming back in 1873. The building that was here before this one was a one-storey timber structure from 1874, also in the Italianate style, but it had to be torn down in 1904 because of water problems. This current building, designed by England Brothers of Christchurch, opened in 1905. It was built with the bank offices downstairs and the manager's residence upstairs. It's even gone through some restoration work after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.