[1] The AJS Bank was the first financial institution to establish an office in Townsville, in March 1866, in a small timber building on the Strand.

Its construction, at a cost of approximately £7,000, reflected the business and building boom which accompanied Townsville's growth as the port for the Ravenswood and Charters Towers goldfields, and for the North Queensland sugar and pastoral industries.

[1] Stanley called for tenders for the AJS Bank building in December 1886, and the contract was let to Townsville contractors MacMahon and Cliffe.

Cedar screens divided the main chamber from the bill department and the accountant's office on one side, and the ledger clerks on the other.

The ground floor has double timber central entrance doors, with arched sash windows to either side which have been painted out and covered with steel grilles.

This space has a much higher coffered plaster ceiling, the central section of which is raised and blacked-out with a lighting grid below.

A western side verandah has been enclosed for a seating area and the rear of the building has single-storeyed concrete block staff amenities.

A disc jockey booth has been added to the eastern side, toilets inserted to the west of the foyer and a bar to the east.

[1] The former Australian Joint Stock Bank Building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

The Australian Joint Stock Bank Building, erected in 1887-88 as a branch of the Australian Joint Stock Bank, is important in demonstrating the pattern of development and evolution of Townsville as the principal town and port of North Queensland in the late 19th century, and is a reflection of the building boom which transformed the town's central business district in the 1880s and 1890s.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.