The Bank of New South Wales (Former), designed by pre-eminent architect Robert Arthur Lawson in 1882, stands as a landmark building on Thames Street in Oamaru.
The first Bank of New South Wales opened in Tyne Street, close to the bustling harbour precinct in the mid-1870s, and by the early 1880s had negotiated for a new and prominent site in Thames Street, adjoining Lawson’s earlier architectural masterpiece, the National Bank (1870).
Designed with the commercial operation on the ground floor, with an additional basement level, and manager’s level on the first floor, the Bank of New South Wales operated in these premises until closure in 1979.
The bank was designed by Dunedin architect R.A. Lawson, who was renowned for his church architecture but who also completed substantial commercial commissions as well, including the Bank of Otago, next door to the Bank of New South Wales site.