Buckingham Street is Arrowtown's restored main street, lined with nineteenth-century cottages, stone buildings, shop verandas, cafes, and small galleries. It is pretty, but not quite frozen: locals still use it, and the best of the old buildings have practical new lives.
Walk it slowly and look down the side lanes rather than only at the shopfronts. The street is busiest in autumn and on Queenstown day-trip afternoons; early morning is quieter and better for seeing the architecture without tour buses in the background.