Blackstone Chambers is a late 19th century office building, housing Barristers and Solicitors continuously for almost 140 years. Without any doubt, the building has continuously been occupied by lawyers longer than any other building in New Zealand.

Built around 1871, 14 Wyndham Street, Auckland is the middle building of three all constructed on the site, when it was owned by Thomas Russell, a prominent Auckland commercial business operator and investor.  

Between 1873-74, there were six law firms in Wyndham Street including the future owner of Blackstone Chambers, William Thorne, a Solicitor, who purchased the building in 1901.   William Thorne named the building Blackstone Chambers after William Blackstone (1723-1780) a noted English academic who gave the first regular lectures on English Law at Oxford University.  He is also noted for “Commentaries on the Law of England (1765-1769) which was an attempt to reduce the whole of English law into a single volume.  William Thorne died in 1923 and the ownership of the building passed to his son, Frederick William Thorne, also a Solicitor.  

In 1961, the building was leased to George Clark-Walker, Kenneth Pascoe, Wilson & James Clifford Chamley.  Jim Chamley started work in the building in 1946 and become a partner of the firm in 1953.   Jim Chamley, was later joined by his daughter Anne and operated from Blackstone Chambers under the name of Thorne, Thorne, White & Clark-Walker until 2012.  At this stage, much of the original features of the building were intact.

Blackstone Chambers was purchased by the current owner, a Barrister, in October 2013.  During 2014/2015, an extensive refurbishment was carried out by N Cole Ltd.  Under the guidance of Antony Matthews, of Mathews & Matthews Architects, the heritage features of the building were maintained where possible, whilst updating facilities to the requirements of 21st century legal professionals.

Today the building is registered by Heritage New Zealand as Category 2 and the life of this beautiful building continues on as a Barristers Chambers