Charter House

In 1905, Carter & Brooks, engineers, and William Menzies, coppersmith & brazier, both operating from a single storey building fronting Breakwater Road (now Britomart Place), purchased the lease for the site next door fronting Breakwater Road and Customs Street East.

In 1920 Richards and Parker Upton purchased the leases for £7,625 and built the four and partly five storied Richards and Upton Building as major additions and alterations to the original single storey structure.  In 1922, 17 businesses leased space.

For almost 50 years – 1930 to 1976 – R & E Tingey operated their plant and wallpaper business from the building.

In 1968 there was a potentially serious fire in the basement of the building.  Chief Fire Officer L.F Wilson stated that “had the alarm been raised 15 minutes later, the whole building might have been lost”.