This simple stone building was built for small-scale commercial use in about 1861, when such activity was characteristic of the back lanes of colonial Auckland. Built of locally available materials, the rectangular two-storey structure was terraced into a rising slope in a narrow urban backstreet, with an arched entrance to the ground floor and goods access above. It is located to the rear of Queen Street, and has always been surrounded by commercial activity, although the nature of that commerce has changed. The building has had a varied history, and was initially occupied by agricultural merchants and auctioneers. This was when it was close to a number of yards for the sale of livestock and other goods, which were brought in from the surrounding countryside. It was later used as a storehouse by a succession of manufacturing industries from the 1870s, when they were established in the centre of the city. These included a confectionery business, flour mill and the 'Kiwi Polish Company', while occupants since the 1960s have reflected a change to office work, retail and entertainment. Now known as the Bluestone Store, the building is considered to be the oldest stone building left in the commercial heart of Auckland, and one of very few mid nineteenth-century warehouses to survive anywhere in the city. Built only twenty years after the foundation of the town, it is unique in its ability to demonstrate the town's initial role as an agricultural market, and is important for reflecting the rise of manufacturing industries in the urban centre from the later colonial period onwards. It has links with a variety of unusual colonial businesses, from boiled sweet production to the distribution of early chemical fertiliser and is a valuable reminder of the scale and technology that commercial structures were built to at this time. The building is an important reminder of the use of urban backstreets, and adds greatly to the character of Durham Lane, along with associated buildings fronting Wyndham Street.