Standing on Ross Place, the main street of Lawrence is F. Martin’s Building, from which Frederick Martin ran his bakery business from 1912 until 1941.

The land on which the F.Martin Building stands was originally granted to Joel Boulton and Thomas Parry in 1863-64. The land was later subdivided and then first granted to Lawrence miner Thomas Hinde in February 1877. On Hinde’s death in late 1883 the part of the section fronting Ross Place was transferred to Elizabeth Williams. In 1886 the land was leased to Alexander Macdonald. Macdonald and his wife operated a bakery from the premises.

On Elizabeth William’s death in September 1888 George Beaumont and Nicholas Potts were listed as registered proprietors, still subject to the existing lease. In December 1894 the title was transferred to Matthew Potts, Elizabeth Norman and Nicholas Potts as tenants in common.

On 6 February 1912 the land was bought by Lawrence baker and confectioner Frederick Martin. Martin took out a mortgage on the property in 1913. It is possible that the building was built around this time. The building displays “F Martin” on its façade and has the remains of a baker’s oven to the rear, which could relate to the earlier tenancy.

According to the NZHPT file Martin was first listed in the Stones Directory in 1905 as a journeyman baker. His listing continues into the 1940s. Martin died in mid 1941. His widow Margaret leased the property to Jessie Dimmock, wife of Lawrence baker John Dimmock for five years from June 1942. The lease was transferred to Percival Adams in October 1946 and to Adams Bakery for a renewed term in May 1949.

In 1965 Leslie Shackleton, a Waitahuna contractor bought the property. It was sold to Lawrence medical practitioner Ada Gilling in 1967, who ran her general practice there. Gilling sold it to Edwin Weatherall, Francis Oliver and Stewart Cross in May 1972 (OT164/220). In the late 1980s and early 1990s the building was used by the Red Cross as an opportunity shop. The building was restored in 2003.

The building is of double-brick construction with plaster facings to the cornice and fan-shaped corbels on either side of the main parapet, as well as pilasters and window surrounds. It has a bull-nose corrugated iron, lean-to verandah with posts at the street edge, and vertical planks to the sides. Pressed metal ceilings have been used inside. The shop frontage appears to be largely intact. Solid plaster columns divide the street frontage into two separate sections. A pair of windows to the right hand side of the street frontage perhaps indicate a work-place, the shop frontage to the left hand side has a recessed door and plaster up-stand beneath the nearly full-height windows. The plaster signage associated with the original owner has been retained in the centre of the parapet. There are stone retaining walls to the rear of this property, associated with the former stables on Peel Street.

In 2013 the F. Martin Building is home to retail premises.