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 | Wellington Parliament Buildings & Beehive Reviews | Tips 21 - 28 of 28 |  |
 | |  |  | Parliament Buildings & Beehive: New Zealand's biggest wooden Building | |  |  | |  |
The most fascinating thing about this Italian Renaissance style building is that it looks like made of cream-coloured stone cubes, but in fact it is made of wood! Kauri is the main timber used in this building, located opposite the now used Parliament House and the Beehive on Lambton Quay, and standing on the old seabed that was raised upwards in the 1855 earthquake. Hundreds of cubic metres of recycled timber, from demolished structures around the country, have been used for the restoration of this building to replace lost features. Other timbers used were rimu and matai. Originally the building had 22 chimneys but they were removed as earthquake risks. Not part of the current parliamentary complex, this massive mansion-like four-storey building was designed by William Clayton and finished in 1876. At the time it was New Zealand’s largest building. Today it is the second-largest wooden building in the world (after Tôdai-ji in Nara, Japan), and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. No longer used by New Zealand's Parliament, it houses Victoria University of Wellington's Law School. It has a visitor centre where you can get a map for a self-guided tour, and you can walk inside the building and admire the kauri walls and ceilings. You also have access to the former cabinet hall. Open Mon – Fri 9am – 4.30pm, Sat 10am – 3pm. Admission free. The building is beautifully illuminated at night. The statue in front of Old Government House shows Peter Fraser who was leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister from 1940 to 1949. Photo 2 shows interior kauri walls. Address: Lambton Quay, opposite the Parliamentary Buildings
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| | | | Parliament Buildings & Beehive: Get into the Centre of Power | | | | | |
This area is located at the northern end of Lambton Quay. Even if you only drive through Wellington, arriving by ferry, you drive past those spectacular buildings, and the one you always notice first is the so called Beehive. Although the buildings are of very different styles somehow they form an interesting agglomeration. On one side – the one closer to the harbour – you find the fantastic Old Government Building, made of Kauri wood, which is now mainly used as the university’s school of law. On the other side of Lambton Quay, and then along Molesworth Street, sit the buildings that are now used by the Government of New Zealand, at an elevated position above the street. The most unique building is the Beehive which houses the cabinet and the ministerial offices, so the site of the country’s executive power, a chopped cone consisting of seven segments that is made up of ten storeys inside. It is directly linked with Parliament House which was built in neo-classic style. Next in the row is the fairy-tale-like General Assembly Library, built in a mixture of Victorian and Gothic style. Thanks to the pastel colours it looks more like a moorish castle. An additional parliamentary building is – if you stand in front of and face the Beehive – to your left, across Bowen Street. Its name is Bowen House, a simple office building, and it is linked to the Beehive by a tunnel under Bowen Street. Some steps further up the hill and right into Aitken Street you find the Archives of New Zealand. The biggest treasure is conserved in the Constitution Room. There you find the original Treaty of Waitangi in the Maori language Te Reo. It was saved from rotting in the damp cellar of the Old Government Building in 1908. Open Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm, Sat 9am – 1pm, admission free. Address: ThorndonDirections: From Lambton Quay, cross Bowen Street, and there you are!
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| | | | Parliament Buildings & Beehive: Cabbage Trees light up Parliament House | | | | | |
This greyish building spreads rather a cold atmosphere but the row of big cabbage trees along the driveway give it a nice NZ style feeling. Watch the TV news and you see all the parliamentary reporters standing in front of those trees - if they are not chasing a minister inside the building ;-) Parliament moved from Auckland to Wellington in 1865. On 11 December 1907 a fire destroyed all – then wooden - parliamentary buildings but the library. The ballroom and conservatory of (Old) Government House, across the road, were an interim solution until a new Parliament House was built. Parliament moved into half unfinished premises in 1918 – and the other half of the neo-classic structure was never built, due to labour and material shortages during World War I. Government architect John Campbell was the designer. In 1991 Parliament House (and the library next door) were renovated and strengthened to make it earthquake-safe. It is said to have been New Zealand’s largest renovation project in history. Free guided tours Parliament House has a visitor centre which is open daily (Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm, Sat and public holidays 9.30am – 4pm, Sun 11.30am – 4pm; closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 1 and 2 Jan, Waitangi Day/6 Feb and Good Friday). Free guided tours start on the hour and take one hour. You must leave your bags and cameras in a storage area, so you cannot take photos of MP’s who poke their noses. Address: Parliament Buildings, Molesworth StreetPhone: (04) 471 9503Website: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/Visiting/Centre/b/0/3/b036ff2af1e54e4ab76939f8eb1224e3.htm
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Wellington
on April 17, 2008
on January 31, 2006
on August 6, 2005
