By the early 1900s, the previously run-down reserve at Manor Place had been beautified, and a bandstand constructed.

The council considered that the urinals that had been built in 1876 were letting the area down, and new facilities were proposed after a public petition.

[1] The building was designed by the council surveyor, architect George William Gough, and built by August Ferry.

[1][3] The interior features wall-to-wall white tiles, including some Arts and Crafts-style feature tiles, marble surfaces, Twyford "Adamant" ceramic urinals and toilet roll holders made from kauri.

[2][4][5] The listing records that there are no other early urinals like this left in New Zealand with their original interior, and calling it "a rare surviving record of the major achievements and thinking of early 20th Century sanitation, public health, technology, and city design".