Bank of New Zealand Building (No 1)

239-247 Lambton Quay, WELLINGTON

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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. The following text is the original citation considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. The Head Office Building of the Bank of New Zealand occupies the site of the first major reclamation of the Harbour, that of 7 acres carried out by the Wellington Provincial Government. It is also the site of Plimmer's Ark, the barque 'Inconstant' which was salvaged by John Plimmer in 1849 and converted to a warehouse. (Timbers from the 'Inconstant' were uncovered in 1899 and survive today in the form of the director's chair in the Bank's Board Room.) The Bank of New Zealand was founded in Auckland in 1861; it opened a Wellington branch in 1862 and its first permanent building in 1863. This stood on the site of the present building. The Head Office of the Bank was transferred to Wellington in 1894 and in 1899 plans were prepared by Thomas Turnbull and Son for a new Head Office Building. A contract was let to T. Carmichael on 4 April 1899 and the building opened on 1 July 1901. The facades of the building are divided horizontally into three parts. The ground floor is heavily rusticated. The first and second floors are joined with a giant order of Corinthian columns at the corners. Between them, the first floor has pediment and columned windows, the second floor round-headed windows with decorated corbels. A bracketed frieze and balustrade have been removed as an earthquake precaution. The interior has a fine banking chamber with a tesselated floor, highly finished Kauri furniture and elaborate plaster capitals and ceiling decoration, all of a standard of craftsmanship now rarely seen. It is an imposing structure in the Edwardian Baroque style, fashionable in England at this time for important commercial buildings. It occupies a prominent wedge shaped site at a nodal point in the City, its two neighbouring buildings being compatible in scale and character. It befits the self assurance expected of the Head Office of New Zealand's largest banking house at a time of economic prosperity in the country.

Bank of New Zealand Building (No 1). (CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence). Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org | Michal Klajban - Wikimedia Commons | 24/11/2014 | Michal Klajban
Bank of New Zealand Building (No 1). (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Licence). Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org | Gordon Haws - Wikimedia Commons | 30/01/2005 | Gordon Haws
Bank of New Zealand Building (No 1). Photo taken from Lambton Quay showing where BNZ building No 1 (right) joins BNZ building No 2 (left) | Chris Horwell | 22/11/2015 | Heritage New Zealand
Bank of New Zealand Building (No 1) c.1910. Image courtesy of the Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa. Reg. #PS.002948 | Zak (Zachariah, Joseph) | This image has No Known Copyright Restrictions

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Able to Visit

List Number

212

Date Entered

4th April 1983

Date of Effect

4th April 1983

City/District Council

Wellington City

Region

Wellington Region

Legal description

Lot 1 and 2, DP 85253

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