The Public Trust Office Building is an office building in central

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, completed in 1908. It is the only (surviving) building "made of a true New Zealand granite – from Tonga Bay in north-west Nelson." It is also believed to be New Zealand's first steel-framed office building.

History

Design and construction

In 1894, Government Architect John Campbell was asked to start drafting plans for the building. It was eventually opened by Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward on 9 June 1909. The Minister in charge of the Public Trust,

Āpirana Ngata Sir Āpirana Turupa Ngata (3 July 1874 – 14 July 1950) was a prominent New Zealand statesman. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have served in Parliament in the mid-20th century, and is also known for his work ...

, invited a number of Members of Parliament and Wellingtonians to the opening event. The event included a lunchtime banquet, concert, and dance in the evening. The cost was estimated to be £40,000.

Occupation by Public Trust and Creative NZ

The building was occupied by Public Trust from 1909 to 1982. In 1982, the Public Trust moved to a building next door. Subsequently

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

were the main occupiers of the building from 1985 to 2013. In 1975 a public campaign successfully saved the building from demolition.

Period of vacancy and renovation

Doubts about the building's future were (again) raised following the

2013 Seddon earthquake The 2013 Seddon earthquake measured 6.5 on the scale and was centred in New Zealand's Cook Strait, around east of the town of Seddon in Marlborough. The earthquake struck at 5:09:30 pm on Sunday 21 July 2013 (05:09 UTC) at a depth of ...

. Most of the building's tenants were evacuated following the earthquake.

's Wellington office had been in the building since 1985. After the building's body corporate (Creative New Zealand; Stout Street Chambers; Julian Parsons and Reedy Holdings) commissioned an assessment by engineering firm Dunning Thornton, they decided to sell the building to a party better placed to strengthen the building. In 2013, Wellington City councillor

Andy Foster Andrew John Whitfield Foster (born 21 December 1961) is a New Zealand politician who served as Mayor of Wellington from 2019 to 2022. Foster served on the Wellington City Council for nine terms from 1992 until 2019. Biography Early life Foste ...

said the Public Trust building was one of the heritage buildings he would most like to see strengthened and saved. After it was largely evacuated, the building was bought by Maurice Clark, who was labelled a "hero" for taking on one of Wellington's largest heritage strengthening projects. From 2014 to 2015, the building was renovated and earthquake strengthened. The restoration work was undertaken by Maurice Clark's construction firm McKee Fehl with architects Warren & Mahoney. The two companies also collaborated on the restoration of Defence House across the road on Stout Street. In May 2016, the restoration won two awards at the New Zealand Institute of Architecture Awards for 'Heritage' and 'Interior Architecture'.

Post-strengthening life

Following the strengthening of the building and its opening on 27 October 2015, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has occupied most of the building. A Jamie Oliver restaurant was also planned for the large downstairs room, but the venture did not proceed and alternative uses were sought. In October 2019 the large downstairs room was officially opened as an events venue called the Public Trust Hall, with capacity for 300 guests.

Heritage status

The building is listed by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

as a Category 1 historic building. When the building was first listed by Heritage New Zealand, the citation said that: The Wellington Architecture Centre describes the building as:

References

External links

{{commons category, Public Trust Office Building, Wellington
Profile of the building
Architecture Centre Wellington
Information on the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's website
Buildings and structures in Wellington City Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Wellington Region 1900s architecture in New Zealand Chicago school architecture in New Zealand John Campbell (architect) buildings Buildings and structures completed in 1908