In 1989, the Hannah's building was granted historic place category 2 status by Heritage New Zealand.

Irish immigrant Robert Hannah established his bootmaking business in Charleston in 1868, but moved to Wellington as gold production declined, opening his first footwear store on Lambton Quay in 1874.

[1] In the 1920s, the retail centre of Greymouth was gradually moving from Mawhera Quay to Mackay Street,[2] and in 1926, plans were drawn up by Wellington architect Henry Johns for a new two-storey building for R. Hannah and Company, on the corner of Mackay and Tainui Streets.

[1][3] Johns had previously designed a new four-storey plastered brick factory for Hannah's in Wellington, completed in 1923.

[6] The new Hannah's building in Greymouth included two shops, and was constructed with plastered double-brick walls, concrete piles, and a corrugated iron roof.