The building requiring strengthening
was one of a complex of five which make up the James Smith Ltd retail site in Wellington. It was constructed around
 1908 of solid masonry walls with timber floor and roof framing supported on steel beams and cast iron columns on concrete foundations. The building is five
 storeys in height and is located on the corner of Cuba and Manners Street
covering a total plan area of 620 sq metres. The building also has a basement which extends some 3 metres below pavement level. Flooring is tongue and groove timber with a flat timber sarked roof. As the other buildings in the complex were constructed around it the eastern boundary wall of the Winders building was demolished and its steel floor beams tied through to the new steel framed structures which had reinforced concrete floors, and the north boundary wall up to third floor level had large openings created in it. The facade walls have openings over
about 25% of the projected elevation area with the windows being formed by arched brickwork. When the building alongside was constructed in 1934 the parapet was modified to match the new facade adjacent, and following the 1942 earthquake when a significant degree of cracking was noted, a series of reinforced concrete horizontal bands and vertical straps was installed
to secure the facade against face loading. There were also reinforced concrete bands placed on the remaining north masonry wall. Apart from this damage which had
been attended to and other maintenance matters the building was generally in good heart with little sign of settlement or distress.