This site was originally occupied by cabinetmaker Simeon Moss (1821-1903), who emigrated from England in 1850 with his wife Anne (née Thompson, 1826-1886). The following year he paid £30 to acquire this site for his furniture business.  He later converted it to a general store and drapery.  In 1877 the family moved to Stirling, where Moss opened the Stirling East Jam Manufactury (actually located across the road from the Crafers Telegraph Office) supported by ten acres of orchards.

After the Moss family left Mount Barker, the block was divided in two and simultaneously leased to let to a draper (James Pritchard) and a homeopathic doctor (Hartley Dixon), until in 1885 the whole site was leased to the Commercial Bank of South Australia.

The bank had been founded State-wide in 1878 and a branch office had operated in Mount Barker since 1882, managed by H.A. Howison. But the branch was facing increasing competition for customers. The National Bank had been a respected presence in the town since 1866, and the Bank of Australasia had commenced building its stately new branch on the corner of Gawler Street and Walker Street. The Commercial Bank responded with a revamp of their branch within in Simeon Moss’s old premises, as described in The Courier on 25 September 1885:

The improvements being carried out for the Commercial Bank are  in a very forward condition. The premises leased by them were once the most unsightly buildings in Gawler Street, but the skilful hand of the architect has so transformed them that they now have a very ornamental appearance. The blank walls in front have been broken with pilasters, string courses and cornices, and the whole is surmounted by a tasteful balustrade. Much greater ingenuity was needed to make this old building presentable than was required to design the classic front of the new bank opposite.

In order to give the revamp its best chance to compete against its immediate opposition, the Commercial Bank engaged the same architect, Edward Davies, who was working on the new Bank of Australasia.  The Courieradjudged that he had “proved himself equal to his task in each instance,” and conceded that “internally the premises have also been revolutionized, and a very commodious banking chamber has been provided.”

Today these enhancements to the building’s façade are still visible, as seen in the photo below.  Although they are obscured by awnings at street level, from across the road one can see the results of the attempt to “bankify” the original shops.

The renovated branch opened for business on October 16, 1885, beating the start date of the Bank of Australasia by a couple of months.  Disastrously, however, in February 1886 the Commercial Bank of South Australia collapsed as a result of fraud and mismanagement.  By 1893 all its assets had been liquidated, including the Mount Barker branch.

Recently-widowed shop owner Mary McKenzie (1839-1931) sensed an opportunity, and acquired the site from Simeon Moss.  In 1892 she announced that “MRS. R. MCKENZIE, having taken the premises known as the Commercial Bank, Gawler-street, Mount Barker, will OPEN them as a DRAPERY ESTABLISHMENT on Saturday next, August 27.”  The site was conducted as a drapery for the next twenty years, first under Mrs. McKenzie’s management, and then under lease to David Bell & Co. (see 35 Gawler Street; also https://mtbarkernationaltrust.org.au/history-post/paltridge-family/.)

In 1912, chemist Walter Herbert Blades (1876-1960) found himself in need of new premises when A.W. Richardson’s long-standing chemist shop closed down, and he bought this shop from Mary McKenzie for his new business (see 15 Gawler Street).  Although he moved on after three years, the site continued to be run as a pharmacy. It was sold into the possession of the Wilkinson family of chemists, who retained into the 1950s.