Among Akaroa’s early settlers were a Scottish couple, Peter and Elizabeth Brown. The Browns arrived in Akaroa in 1843, ran a bakery for some time, then went elsewhere on the Peninsula seeking work. They were back in Akaroa by 1856, the year in which the town’s first Presbyterian service was held in their home.
Widowed in the early 1860s, Elizabeth bought a section on Church Street on which she built a cottage. In 1876 she bought a second section on Church Street, on the corner of Aubrey Street. Three years later, she passed this section on to her son Campbell who ran a bakery on the site from 1880. In 1884, the premises burned down. A new building was quickly erected. This is the surviving two-storey, plain Italianate building. The bakery moved into the new building.
A number of businesses have occupied it since the bakery closed. Some recent changes have impaired the historical authenticity of the building, but when it was threatened with demolition in 1996, a spirited campaign was mounted to save it.
