The row of shops across the main street from the Post Office and Devonshire House was built in the 1850’s to service Mintaro’s commercial needs. The traditional ground floor commercial layout was complemented by upper floor living accommodation.
In 1853 Joseph Gilbert sold Allotment No. 37 to shoemaker John Huxtable and then sold the northern section to James McWaters, a farmer, in March 1857. Lot 36, to its north, was originally owned by Frederick Leighton, a blacksmith who operated a forge and had stables behind the main building, the sections of the buildings over time were used for a variety of services and retail enterprises including fodder stores, a fruit and vegetable shop, a delicatessen that provided lunches to the Slate Quarry workers, a butcher and a branch of the ES&A Bank.
Various families occupied the living areas until the 1980’s when both buildings were purchased by ‘entrepreneurs’ and renovated and converted to a small general store, tearooms, a restaurant and small conference centre and Bed and Breakfast accommodation, incorporating the attic bedrooms.
Slate, a feature of many Mintaro buildings, has been used extensively to construct walls and paving on the ground floors and verandas. Stone horse mounting steps, originally located in front of the Post Office, are now a feature at the front of the shops, between an incredibly old Pepper tree and equally ancient Moreton Bay fig tree.