The Wallaceville Animal Research Centre, built in 1904, is a significant reminder of the importance of agriculture in the New Zealand economy and the key role that government has played in its development. In 1892 the New Zealand Government formed the Department of Agriculture. Part of the new department's work was to undertake research on livestock which could then be applied to help the farming community. Initial laboratory research was carried out in makeshift accommodation in Wellington. In 1904 the land at Wallaceville was acquired and a small research laboratory was built to designs prepared by the first Government Architect, John Campbell (1857-1942). The Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory was for a time the diagnostic and research centre for animal health in New Zealand. In 1939 the Animal Research Division was formed and the building was renamed the Wallaceville Animal Research Station. It was also for a time the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture's Veterinary division. The laboratory building is now part of the AgResearch - Wallaceville Animal Research Centre, a division of the New Zealand Pastoral Agricultural Research Institute. This is a Crown Research Institute which aims to 'provide innovative solutions and opportunities to the food, fibre, biotechnology and pastoral livestock industries'. It also aims to be New Zealand's 'centre of excellence for animal health and disease control'. The Wallaceville Animal Research Centre building represents over one hundred years of government-initiated agricultural research, and nearly a hundred years of this kind of research on one site. Its construction reflects the importance of the agricultural industry in New Zealand, and its association New Zealand's first Government Architect, John Campbell, is significant.