The Kurow Hotel has provided accommodation and refreshment for travellers and locals since the 1860s and in this building since 1905. Designed by Oamaru architect John Megget Forrester who reinstated the building after a fire, the building has historical, architectural and social significance.

This business has its origins in the 1860s when Christian Hille opened his accommodation house in what would become Kurow, and operated a punt over the Waitaki River. In the 1880s William Goddard took over the business. Yorkshire-born Goddard, whose family had followed gold to Victoria, Australia, came to New Zealand where he drove a coach service between Palmerston and Oamaru, and later between Duntroon and Omarama. He went into partnership with Delargy in the Bridge Hotel at Kurow, before building the Kurow Hotel. He built the hotel and stables adjoining the hotel as well. Goddard’s Kurow Hotel provided 24 rooms, a billiard room and extensive stabling. In 1892, the hotel was rebuilt following a fire. The new premises consisted of ‘a handsome two-storey building of Oamaru stone.’ It had twenty-eight rooms, eighteen of which were bedrooms, and five sitting rooms. The dining room seated thirty. There was also a billiard room and large stables. Goddard leased the premises and moved to Victoria, Australia.

In 1905 the hotel suffered a serious fire. Proprietor A.W. Simmonds discovered the fire upstairs, and despite his efforts and the help of volunteers, the building was badly damaged. The Oamaru Mail reported that ‘so thoroughly did the flames do their work that there is every probability that even the stone walls and chimneys left standing, being badly bulged, will have to be pulled down.’ Simmonds shifted into temporary premises in the adjoining hall. By February 1905, work was underway dismantling the hotel and it was expected to be ‘ready for the builders in a very short time.’ In February 1905, Oamaru architect John Megget Forrester advertised for tenders for the ‘RE-INSTATEMENT of the KUROW HOTEL.’

Photographs show that the hotel was enlarged again, probably before the 1940s. Since that time, Kurow Hotel has had many changes in ownership and publicans, but has continued to provide a meeting place for locals and travellers in the Waitaki Valley. In 2016, it Kurow Hotel continues to offer accommodation, with sixteen rooms, a restaurant, bar and function room.