Highbury Buildings (14-20 Mokoia Road)

Seven years after William H. Payne opened the first commercial building at Highbury in 1927, he opened another across Mokoia Road from it. This structure was a simple art deco-style single-storey building with five step-down shops and a suspended veranda. The modern storefront cladding is in Summerhill stone, which was probably added in 1963 during a remodel.

The land for the new shops was originally purchased by W. F. Hammond in 1885 and subsequently sold to Charles John Linberg in 1899. Later, it became the property of Henry Medland Shepherd, who offered it to the Birkenhead Borough Council upon his death for use as a town hall. However, members of the public opposed the offer and the land was put up for sale.

One of the first businesses to move into the new complex was the Birkenhead Post Office, which relocated from near the wharf to the aspiring town centre. Other early businesses were a stationery store run by C. Neads, a Blue & White store, a drapery run by J. H. Clark, and an upholstery store run by W. G. Markham. In 1945, J. S. Yarnton took over the drapery business and eventually expanded to two other stores in the complex. KidzStuff toy store and Black on White The Salon rounds out the Highbury Buildings’ current occupants.

Continue along Mokoia Road.