Architecture of New Zealand

Buildings in New Zealand tell a unique story of immigrants - from both Polynesia and Europe - coming to a strange land and adapting known building forms to new conditions and materials.

The immigrants found large, forested islands which had a temperate but highly variable and sometimes extreme climate.

Combined Traditions

The earliest buildings in New Zealand were the humble huts of the first Polynesians. By the time of European contact, the Maori had evolved a particular building type, the meeting house, which is the only building unique to New Zealand. In form it was a simple, gable-ended structure with an open porch at one end, but it was a building integrated into its setting, the marae-atea, and a building which is, in a real sense, the ancestor after whom most are named.

By the mid nineteenth century the meeting houses were generally highly carved. These wharenui, or meeting houses, play a role in community life unlike the role played by any European-derived buildings, even churches. Some of the most exciting and original buildings in New Zealand (the Futuna Chapel in Wellington and the Arthur's Pass Chapel for example) marry the form and spirit of the Maori meeting house with traditions drawn from European architecture.

Combined Traditions

New Zealand's first European architects began to practice in the early Victorian period. Though 12,000 miles from the sources of the styles they used for their buildings, through books and magazines and by way of travel, New Zealand architects maintained their membership of a broader British architectural community. Rather than being seen as copying finer British buildings and "failing" because they did not develop quickly a distinctive New Zealand styles, New Zealand's architects of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century are better seen as working within an architectural tradition that spanned the world and as producing notable buildings within that tradition.

New Zealand ArchitectureBut buildings in New Zealand did, rather early on, start to look different from buildings in Britain, or even nearby Australia. This was partly because New Zealand has always had a relatively small population and lacked the resources or concentrations of private wealth that would support the building of larger, finer buildings.

Another reason for early differences between the architecture of New Zealand and those of other countries was the abundance of wood available as a building material. Stone and brick quickly became available in New Zealand, but the early wooden buildings are more typical of the country than the early masonry buildings. The use of timber for buildings in the Gothic style gave New Zealand what are perhaps its finest buildings, Old St Paul's in Wellington pre-eminent among them.

New Zealand ArchitectureThere has been a tendency in the past to regard the vernacular cottages and farm buildings of pioneering days as the "true" New Zealand architecture and the Gothic churches, Italianate commercial buildings and Edwardian Baroque public buildings in the country's towns and cities as merely pale copies of finer overseas examples. The argument has been that after a promising start, New Zealand architecture lost its way through long years when architects simply mimicked what was being built in Europe and the United States, and that a true New Zealand architecture, as opposed to "architecture in New Zealand", emerged only when, after World War II, some architects, especially of houses, looked back to the simple buildings of New Zealand's colonial origins.

But it is quite wrong to dismiss as uninteresting the large numbers of buildings in New Zealand designed by architects of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries who saw themselves working as members of a world-wide British architectural community. Wonderful Gothic churches, in timber, stone and brick, fine classically inspired commercial buildings and imposing Baroque public buildings can be found throughout New Zealand.

What to Look ForWhat particularly should people interested in architecture travelling round New Zealand look for? First, the buildings of the Maori marae, the only truly indigenous buildings in New Zealand; then the churches in several places in the North Island which are European in form but decorated in traditional Maori ways, buildings which express the fusion of Polynesian and European that is one of the most remarkable features of New Zealand history. Many surviving simple colonial buildings, cottages, woolsheds and other farm buildings, tell the story of pioneering days.

The fine commercial and public buildings of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras speak of a time when New Zealand was flourishing and confidently independent, but also proud to belong to a world-wide British Empire. Many buildings of the first half of the twentieth century reveal other overseas influences, several of them American, having an impact on New Zealand architecture.

What to Look ForDevastation in an earthquake gave Napier a remarkable collection of Art Deco buildings, but other centres too have their share of buildings in this style.

Some buildings of the post-war years indicate a concern among some architects to create a distinctively New Zealand architecture, but others continue to tell the story of New Zealand architects responding creatively to developments in architecture in Europe and America, producing buildings, in Modern and then Post-Modern idioms that both reflect trends overseas but have features that make them unmistakably New Zealand buildings.

In the 1960s Christchurch became the place to find fine modern architecture. The buildings of Warren and Mahoney exemplified the style which emerged. It utilised precast concrete and white painted concrete block with timber roofs and exposed rafters.

What to Look ForWhat you should not expect to find in New Zealand are great architectural monuments buildings comparable in age to the older buildings of Europe or in size and magnificence to the greatest buildings of Europe and America. But there are many buildings of great architectural distinction and interest and buildings, which tell the story of a society developing and changing, taking its cues from Europe and America, but becoming something different in the particular social and physical conditions that have prevailed in the South Pacific.

Samples:

Old St Pauls Church Mulgrave Street, Wellington.

A notable example of timber-construction Gothic Revival by architect Frederick Thatcher, Old St Pauls dates from 1866 and was Wellington's Anglican cathedral church before the new cathedral in Molesworth Street was consecrated.

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Public Trust Building Lambton Quay Wellington

The Public Trust was established in 1872 to provide an honest agency for administering wills. This exuberant Edwardian baroque building was built in 1909. It was designed by the government architect, John Campbell, and has a riveted steel frame to help withstand earthquakes.

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New Brighton Library New Brighton Coastal Road, Christchurch.

A "new" Brighton Pavillion designed by Andrew Barclay of Warren and Mahoney . (1999)

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Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum State Highway 1, Waiouru.

The Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum at the Waiouru military camp is the best place in New Zealand to gain an overview of the country’s military history. It covers both military events and construction in New Zealand itself and service by New Zealand soldiers overseas. Displays at the Army Museum help bring sites throughout New Zealand to life.

The fortress like building was designed by Miles Warren.

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Sarjeant Art Gallery Queens Park

Lively special exhibits complement the permanent collection in this well established gallery. Gallery space is due to be expanded with a new building. The new design was the outcome of a competition won by Steve McCracken of Warren & Mahoney,

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Wellington Cathedral of St Paul Cnr Hill & Molesworth Streets

The grandeur of the Cathedral space was realized when the 1935 design by Cecil Wood was completed by Sir Miles Warren in 1998.See the historic wooden chapel .

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Christchurch Railway Station Off Blenheim Road

A bleak site is enlivened by a sculptural form.Architect - Tom Craig of Warren & Mahoney,(1993). Also on the site is a water tower constructed in 1883 when there was a major railway workshop on this site. The water tower was one of the world's first ferroconcrete structures.

Samples:

Christchurch College University of Canterbury. (College House) Waimari Road

College House is New Zealand’s oldest and most traditional University College.Warren & Mahoney (1964) were the architects of the Ilam buildings. The Chapel of the Upper Room dates from 1966- 67 and the library from 1968 - 70.Built during the brutalist phase of the modern movement the concrete beams and white block walls derive from Warren's earlier work in Christchurch. The Dining Hall at Christ's College by Cecil Wood has served as a model for the wooden roofed chapel.

See Architecture NZ July/August 1999.

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Ohinetahi Governors Bay Road

Sir Miles Warren has developed his spectacular Ohinetahi garden over several decades. Sculptures have been integrated into the design. The garden is open to the public on week days seven months of the year (admission charge). It has an architectural character with " a sequence of clearly defined spaces or garden rooms leading into one another and arranged about interlocking axies". A small art gallery displays objects in Sir Miles' collection which have overflowed from the historic house.

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Christchurch Town Hall Victoria Square

One of New Zealand’s most famous and successful “ modern” buildings, the Christchurch Town Hall, opened in 1972, combines modern materials and forms with echoes of Christchurch’s earlier building traditions. It was the work of a practice, Warren and Mahoney, which was one of the most important in New Zealand’s late twentieth century architectural history.

The James Hay Theatre is part of the Town Hall complex.

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Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden Caroline Bay, Timaru

A formal rose garden designed by Sir Miles Warren features a world scale collection of 1150 old roses. Admission is free. The garden is named for Trevor Griffiths, who lived and worked in South Canterbury most of his life and became a rose grower of world renown.

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National Aquarium of New Zealand Marine Parade

An aquarium has been an attraction in Napier for over forty years. The National Aquarium is now in a new building on the waterfront..

Architect was Warren and Mahoney (2000)

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Shortland Street Studios 74 Shortland Street

The former 1YA studios in Shortland Street symbolise the high point of New Zealand’s radio, or wireless years, as they would have been called then. They were completed in 1934 to a design by Norman Wade. In 2001 the building was refurbished by Warren & Mahoney to accommodate the Unversity of Auckland's School of Creative & Performing Arts.

The building now houses the Gusfisher Gallery.

Samples:

Westpac Trust Stadium Wellington

Wellington's Westpac Stadium is colloquially known as the cake tin. It has proved a popular and highly successful venue for major sports and entertainment events in Wellington including home games of the Hurricances rugby team.

The architects were Warren and Mahoney in association with Bligh Lobb Sports. (2000)

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Academy of Performing Arts at the University of Waikato Knighton Road, University of Waikato

Warren & Mahoney were the architects.

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Academy of Performing Arts at the University of Waikato Knighton Road, University of Waikato

This post modern building by Warren and Mahoney was built for the Lyttelton Harbour Board to reflect its position as the principal authority in the port town. It was designed to be in sympathy with the basic 19th-century of Lyttelton. The architects say the three-storey building is about the size and proportion of a grand English country house. (1985-1986)

Samples:

Television New Zealand Cnr Victoria & Hobson Street.

The 'Hi-tech' image conveyed by this building and its associated antennae and satellite dishes is consistent with its role as the headquarters of Television New Zealand. Warren & Mahoney (1985 - 1989) were the architects.

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Bornholdt House 100 Hill Street

This Warren & Mahoney designed three-storey house has weather boards and iron to meet the guidelines of the historic Thorndon area. (1985 - 88).Town house units on either side complement the development.

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Wigram Park 1 Park Terrace

This complex of eleven terrace houses and a headmaster's house was built to a Warren & Mahoney design for Christ's College. (1985). Each house has a view of the park and a private walled garden.

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Paraparaumu Library

Warren & Mahoney as the architects added substance to the Paraparauma townscape with this fine .library building. (See "New Zealand Architecture", May/June 2004).

Energy efficiency has been sought with "the design of the building's envelope" eliminat ing "the need for traditional air-conditioning".

Samples:

St Augustine's Church (Anglican) 3-5 Cracroft Tce, Cashmere

Built on land given by John Cracroft Wilson, the original gothic St Augustine's dated from 1908 with a shingled spire being added in 1914. The church was enlarged and renovated in 1970 by Warren and Mahoney and thus is a blend of modern and traditional architectural styles.

The west end of the nave features a stained glass window commemorating those lost in both World Wars, and a font shaped like a giant clam shell.

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Timaru Library Sophia, Church & Banks Streets.

Warren and Mahoney (1974 - 80).

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Rotorua Civic Centre 1061 Haupapa Street

Warren & Mahoney (1982-5). All the functions of the Council have been grouped around a three-storied atrium.

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SIMU Building Latimer Square.

Deep precast concrete window units give rhythm to this fine office block built before the general use of air conditioning. (Warren and Mahoney 1966 - 1970)

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South Christchurch Library & Service Centre 66 Colombo Street

Andrew Barclay and Scott Koopman of Warren and Mahoney designed this library with an emphasis on sustainability. It is surrounded by a moat, with water as a central design theme. (2003).

The library building and its facilities which include a café is a popular community venue.

Samples:

Karori Library 253 Karori Road

Warren and Mahoney (2005) were the architects. Commentator Tommy Honey said. " The Karori library is a box of light that shines brightly in an overcast suburb. The relationship to the street is a model for all those who design for the outer city."

architecturenz Sept/Oct 2006 pp 72 - 75.

Samples:

Upper Riccarton Library Main South Road, Christchurch

The library (architects Warren and Mahoney 2005) serves both the community and Riccarton High School.

Critiqued by Ian Lochhead 'archtecturenz', Sept/Oct 2006 pp 69 -71.

Samples:

Michael Fowler Centre and Wellington Town Hall Wakefield Street.

Mayor/architect Michael Fowler invited Miles Warren of Warren and Mahoney to replicate the Christchurch Town Hall which he did but with better acoustics.

Wellington's Old Town Hall was to have been demolished but has been jutifiably retained. Its architect was Joshua Charlesworth.

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Summit Apartments Molseworth

Often an irregular site can prove the inspiration for a better than average building. This seems to be the case here. The architects of this 11 storey apartment block were JASMAX (Warren Young).

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Dorset Street Flats Dorset Street

In 1955 Miles Warren designed this now famous group of flats, They were became the forerunner for what is commonly referred to "the Christchurch style". It formed the basis for many single and multi-unit houses, generating a regionally distinctive domestic architecture.(Source - see link)

On the corner of Dorset Street and Park Terrace are two later mid-rise blocks of apartments. "Dorset Towers" is built in the typical Warren & Mahoney masonry style with walls of load-bearing reinforced concrete block cavity construction (1970 - 73).