Build­ing marks a cen­tury, blue plaque unveiled

Rachael Comer
22 Nov 2025

Guests outside the Oxford Building celebrate its 100th birthday - Photo Geoff Cloake

Shaun Stock­man never meant to end up in Timaru.

The Christ­ch­urch-based prop­erty investor was on his way to a week­end in Queen­stown when he took a wrong turn and found him­self in the sea­side South Can­ter­bury town.

“One of the things that ori­gin­ally attrac­ted me to Timaru was the built her­it­age,” he said.

“I took the wrong turn and we ended up in Timaru and I think by the Monday I’d met Bruce Wilson [real estate agent] and bought a build­ing.”

That wrong turn in 2006 had been the town’s gain. Since then Stock­man had gone on to pur­chase a num­ber of her­it­age build­ings in the town, includ­ing The Oxford Build­ing which he described as his favour­ite in this port­fo­lio.

This week, the 100th birth­day of the four-storey build­ing on the corner of Stafford and George streets, which Stock­man became cus­todian of in 2012, was cel­eb­rated. The occa­sion was recog­nised with a din­ner at the ground floor res­taur­ant that took its name from the build­ing.

A his­toric blue her­it­age plaque, now affixed to the build­ing, was also unveiled at the cel­eb­ra­tions.

A His­toric Places Aotearoa national ini­ti­at­ive, rep­res­ent­ing local inde­pend­ent her­it­age organ­isa­tions, the blue plaque scheme was ini­ti­ated by former Timaru man Nigel Gilkison.

The Oxford was the third build­ing on the site to be built by the Turn­bull fam­ily, and was designed by archi­tects Turn­bull and Rule for DC Turn­bull and Co.

It was a sig­ni­fic­ant hon­our to receive the plaque, Stock­man told those gathered at The Oxford res­taur­ant.

“Tonight is not only a cel­eb­ra­tion of the build­ing turn­ing 100, but, in my view, and even more so, a cel­eb­ra­tion of the rich his­tory of the fam­il­ies who designed it, owned it and ran busi­nesses in it.

“Each of those fam­il­ies have a con­nec­tion to this site and to this build­ing, includ­ing the earlier build­ings that once stood here, one of which was sadly lost in the 1868 fire.”

Stock­man said he bought his first invest­ment prop­erty at the age of 24 – an 1880s cot­tage in Syden­ham.

“I was hooked when I researched the his­tory of that little cot­tage and found out that the guy that built it built it as his tem­por­ary house while he built his man­sion down the road.”

He lost all but one her­it­age build­ing in the 2011 Christ­ch­urch Earth­quakes, he said.

“Today, without a word of a lie, this build­ing [Oxford] is my favour­ite build­ing.

“I’ve been inves­ted in and loved Timaru for the last 19 years. I’ve made friends, built rela­tion­ships.”

He believed The Oxford was a build­ing the com­munity treas­ured. “I feel a respons­ib­il­ity to keep the main­ten­ance up and to keep it good for the next chapter.”

He acknow­ledged some of the guests at the cel­eb­ra­tions, such as Wil­liam Turn­bull, the eld­est son of James Turn­bull and Michael Nor­ris, grand­son of Percy Rule.

There were also other rep­res­ent­at­ives of the Turn­bull fam­ily and staff, and rep­res­ent­at­ives of DC Turn­bull and Co, for whom the build­ing was con­struc­ted.

Gabites fam­ily mem­bers, whose des­cend­ants traded on the site, were also there.

Timaru Civic Trust chair­per­son Josh Newlove said it was a “won­der­ful occa­sion to cel­eb­rate our shared built her­it­age”.

“Shaun Stock­man’s com­mit­ment to retain­ing and main­tain­ing her­it­age build­ings in his port­fo­lio is no small under­tak­ing, and he has demon­strated what is pos­sible with vis­ion and care,” he said.

He said the trust’s recent grant, which con­trib­uted to the exter­ior refur­bish­ment of The Oxford Build­ing and sup­por­ted the install­a­tion of its new blue plaque, was a “small but mean­ing­ful way we help ensure these import­ant build­ings remain in good con­di­tion, val­ued, and rel­ev­ant”.

In a state­ment, the exec­ut­ive of His­toric Places Aotearoa said the her­it­age blue plaque also high­lighted “the determ­in­a­tion of own­ers such as Shaun Stock­man who recog­nise the value of pre­serving her­it­age for the next gen­er­a­tion”.

Timaru researcher, and Civic Trust mem­ber, Roselyn Fauth also shared the his­tory of the site, which was prin­ted on placemats on the din­ner tables.

A cel­eb­ra­tion menu for the even­ing fea­tured dishes cre­ated from his­toric cook­books from the dis­trict, and researched by The Oxford res­taur­ant own­ers Michael and Clarissa Doran.

The first build­ing on the corner of Stafford and George streets was one of Timaru’s earli­est gen­eral stores, and was estab­lished by Richard Turn­bull and David Clark­son, in 1864.

Clark­son and Turn­bull were import­ers, drapers and mer­chants, and the first to export flour from Timaru to the UK.

But just two years later, the Decem­ber 7, 1868, the Great Fire swept through Timaru’s main street, des­troy­ing 30 wooden build­ings, about three quar­ters of the town’s com­mer­cial area, includ­ing the shop on the corner.

Fol­low­ing the fire, in 1869 the Bor­ough Coun­cil passed a bylaw requir­ing new build­ings in the cent­ral area to be con­struc­ted of stone or brick, and so the store on the corner was rebuilt, in local blue­stone.

George Gabites then became pro­pri­etor of the busi­ness and then partnered with his brother Robert, buy­ing the busi­ness in 1871. The store became known as Gabites Corner.

In 1880, dur­ing the depres­sion, George’s younger brother Arthur estab­lished men’s cloth­ing store The Corner in the build­ing, before he died from pneu­mo­nia, after a tuber­cu­losis attack in 1898, aged 53. The store was then run by his sons. It was not clear why the blue­stone build­ing was demol­ished but what was known was that the Oxford Build­ing was com­mis­sioned by DC Turn­bull and Co, designed by Turn­bull and Rule and built by A Kennedy in 1924 and 1925.

It was planned to be three storeys, but later expan­ded to four, becom­ing Timaru’s tallest com­mer­cial build­ing at the time.

In 1925, Gabites store reopened in the new Oxford Build­ing, named in hon­our of Richard Turn­bull’s birth­place in Oxford, Eng­land. After 110 years, the Gabites store closed its doors in the 1970s, and The Oxford Build­ing was sold in 1977.

The Oxford res­taur­ant was estab­lished by the Dor­ans in 2013, and in 2023 the Timaru Civic Trust con­trib­uted a her­it­age grant to the build­ing’s renov­a­tion.

AIMAN AMERUL MUNER / THE TIMARU HERALD

From left, Chris Turnbull, John Turnbull, Pip Sanders and William Turnbull.
AIMAN AMERUL MUNER / THE TIMARU HERALD

Shaun Stockman of Stockman Group - property owner - Photo Geoff Cloake

Guests hear from Oxford Building owner, Shaun Stockman. Photo Geoff Cloake

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Shaun Stockman of Stockman Group - property owner - Photo Roselyn Fauth

Grandson of architect Percy W Rule with eldest grandson of James Turnbull, William Turnbull, unveil the blue heritage plaque with building owner Shaun Stockman.

Grandson of James Turnbull cut the ribbon on the building to re-open it for another 100 years. Photo Roselyn Fauth

Michael Norris chats with Christopher Templeton and Roselyn Fauth - Photo Geoff Cloake

Guests enjoy a meal together at the Oxford Restaurant. Photo Geoff Cloake

Oxford Restaurant Co-owner Clarissa Doran - Photo Geoff Cloake

Oxford Restaurant Co owner - Michael Doran. They established the restaurant there in 2013. The award winning restaurant has held the top spot on Trip Advisor for many years.

Guest speaker Michael Norris, shares the history and stories of his granfather Percy W Rule of the archectural firm Turnbull & Rule, who designed the 1924-25 Oxford Building for owner David Clarkson Turnbull. Michael is also chair of the Akaroa Civic Trust. Photo Geoff Cloake

South Canterbury Museum Educator Keely Kroening, speaks about her new childrens book to help teachers share information about the Districts built history. The book is in all of the school libraries and available to purchase from the Museum. Photo Geoff Cloake.

Standing Canepes, and one of the main meals. Photo Roselyn Fauth

Standing Canepes. Photo Roselyn Fauth

 The 100th birthday celebration cake was gifted by Gabites decendants and business owners - Just Eat Cake, and Gabites Appliance Services. Photo Roselyn Fauth

The cake was cut by family historian Catheryn Gabites. Photo Roselyn Fauth

Catheryn Gabites shares her familys history and corner connection. Photo Geoff Cloake

Guests enjoyed a tour of the biulding. John Turnbull reminised about the top floor where his grandfather James Turnbull once had his office. - Photo Geoff Cloake

John Rolleston, representing D.C. Turnbull & Co, chats to Timaru Civic Trust members Leon Browning Dr Andrew Paul Wood at the Oxford unveiling

Tables setting included a placemat with the sites historic timeline threading together the history of the invited guests. Photo Roselyn Fauth