The Mountaineer building, which sits on Shotover, Rees and Beach Sts in central Queenstown has been under reconstruction since 2007.
It was originally designed by architect Frederick W. Burwell in 1884.
The new-look Mountaineer has been four years in development by Queenstown-based company Westwood Group Holdings Ltd, which owns the building.
The new building, designed by Walker Architects of Auckland, draws on the original historic facades but gives them a modern "twist".
Walker Architects described it as a "modern response" to the historic building that was not a replica, but a natural progression of the concept set in place 100 years ago.
Ground-floor window sizes had been increased to give the building a light and airy look and feel, while new vertical columns support glass and steel sun shades to protect passersby from the elements.
Two new floors had been added to the upper level, and a new basement for ground-floor retailers.
The historic landmark has been masked since December 2007, by a life-sized pictorial representation, printed on hessian, of how the building would look in its restored state.
Westwood Group Holdings Ltd director Johnny Stevenson said he was delighted to see the protected building restored and finally revealed to the community.
"This is a significant milestone in the redevelopment of The Mountaineer and we feel privileged to have added such a quality building to the central Queenstown retail and office environment," he said.
The company worked closely with builders Rilean Construction and Heritage Architects Oakley Gray to follow a conservation plan throughout the project.
"The building is looking simply stunning, with its very distinctive original window frames on the first floor carefully restored and double-glazed, and much of the original stone walls preserved for future generations," Mr Stevenson said.
"We're on track to open The Mountaineer in winter 2009 and were thrilled with how it's looking."
Mr Stevenson said the redevelopment had "married" the old and the new to deliver what the company considered to be one of the "finest buildings in New Zealand".
Scaffolding on the Shotover-Rees St part of the building came down last weekend, while Rilean Construction crew took down the hessian sheeting covering the historic part of the building on Beach and Rees Sts yesterday.
It was expected the scaffolding would be down in the coming days.
