The Bank of New Zealand (Former) in Plimmer Street, Shannon was built in 1914 and operated as a bank until 1995. Designed by noted Wellington architects Crichton & McKay, the building possesses historical significance as a representation of regional development in the early twentieth century as symbolised by the construction of purpose-built banks. It has local architectural significance as a substantial two-storey masonry building combining neoclassical and Edwardian design elements.

Shannon was founded after the Wellington ̶ Manawatū railway line, which opened the Horowhenua district to Pākehā settlement, was completed in 1886. A short-lived agency of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) Palmerston North branch operated in Shannon between 1893 and 1895 before the bank was established there on a more permanent footing in 1912. Land in Plimmer Terrace, the town’s main street, was purchased for a purpose-built local branch in January 1914. Designed by noted Wellington firm Crichton & McKay, architects of the Bank of New Zealand in nearby Foxton (1913), the two-storey building was completed by the end of the year. The bank itself occupied the ground floor with manager’s accommodation on the first floor. Described in 1915 as an ‘imposing’ building, it projected a sense of stability and confidence in the town’s prospects and functioned as a symbol of successful regional development.

One of Shannon’s largest commercial buildings, the bank is a structure of two stylistic halves. The neoclassical ground floor is clad in rusticated masonry on the main façade, which contains two entranceways and three arched windows, all of which are surmounted by decorative keystones below a simple cornice. The Edwardian first floor contains five double-hung sash windows with the top sashes divided into 12 mullioned panes. The three central windows are divided by four smooth pilasters and all five windows have small decorative keystones at the apex. The parapet is embellished with the legend ‘Bank of New Zealand’. The original triangular pediment has been removed. The wheelchair access was added in circa 1992.

The Shannon branch of the BNZ operated until 1977, when it became an agency of the Levin branch with reduced services. The agency closed in 1988, during a period of change in the national banking sector, and the building was sold to a group of local residents. In the wake of a successful community campaign to reinstate the town’s banking services, the building was occupied by the ANZ-owned Postbank between 1992 and 1995; it housed Legacy Antiques from around 1997 to 2017.