The stone Melanesian Mission Building is an early colonial structure that has a long association with education in the Auckland region. Built in 1859, it was originally part of St Andrew's College, which was an Anglican institution for the Christian education of Melanesian boys. Melanesia, an island group in the Western Pacific, was initially part of the Anglican Diocese of New Zealand. Constructed of basalt from nearby Rangitoto Island, the L-shaped building provided a dining hall, kitchen and storehouse for the college. It was part of a larger complex of structures, including a church and schoolhouse, which were arranged in a quadrangle. The steep-pitched roofs and square-headed windows of the Tudor Revival-styled Melanesian Mission Building recalled the architecture of late medieval and early modern educational institutions, as did the layout of the college. Tudor Revival design was frequently used for mid nineteenth-century schools in Britain, harking back to a major expansion of the educational system in sixteenth-century England, which was in turn linked to the creation of the Anglican Church.

Following the transfer of the Anglican mission to Norfolk Island in 1867, the educational functions of the complex remained. The building initially formed part of a naval training school, then an industrial school, teaching work practices to 'neglected and destitute boys'. It was subsequently used for Anglican services and Sunday school teaching, before being occupied from 1915 until the early 1920s by the Walsh Brothers' flying school, whose staff trained at least a third of the airborne New Zealand personnel in the First World War. With the incorporation of Mission Bay as a suburb of Auckland, public awareness of the building's history increased. This led to its restoration as the Melanesian Mission Museum in 1928, when substantial repairs and alterations were made. After being found unsuitable for the display of artifacts, it was taken over by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust/Pouhere Taonga in 1974, which has since leased it out as a restaurant.

The building has national and international significance for its role in the religious education of Melanesian peoples, and as a tangible example of colonial links between New Zealand and other Pacific Islands. It is of considerable value for its connection with changing forms of education during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including those of the Anglican Church. Its use reflects prevailing attitudes to race, class and gender within education, including an emphasis on boys' schooling. The building is also connected with developments in transport, as well as New Zealand's role in the First World War. Architecturally, the structure is significant for its connections with the British collegiate tradition, and is linked with prominent members of colonial society, including Bishop George Selwyn (1809-1878), the architect and Colonial Treasurer Reader Wood (1821-1895) and stonemason Benjamin Strange. Important as a remnant of a much larger site, the Melanesian Mission Building also has spiritual significance for its religious associations, aesthetic value for its setting in Mission Bay, and contributes greatly to the historic character of the area.