The Domain Wintergardens is a complex of gardens located within the Pukekawa / Auckland Domain. It is registered with the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust 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 I historic place.

Description

The Wintergardens consists of two large glasshouses: one non-heated Temperate House and one Tropical House (heated to an average of 28 °C). In between the two glasshouses there is an ornate courtyard with several neoclassical statues and a sunken pond in the centre. Off to one side is the Fernery which is situated in a former scoria quarry in the side of the small volcanic cone named ''Pukekaroro''.

History

The Domain Wintergardens were constructed following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

with funds generated from the Industrial, Agricultural and Mining Exhibition of 1913-1914 (which was held at the same site). Additional funding for the Wintergardens came from a variety of other local benefactors. Perhaps most significantly was local businessman Sir George Elliot, who was the chairman of the exhibition, and also chairman of the

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking), big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in D ...

. The Pukekawa / Auckland Domain had been a public park since 1844 but was considered to be an area that was frequented by "undesirables". The Wintergardens were considered to be part of the gentrification of the park, providing an attraction for people in the area during the winter months.

Construction

The gardens were designed by

Gummer and Ford Gummer and Ford was an architectural firm founded in 1923 in Auckland, New Zealand, by William Gummer and Charles Reginald Ford. It was among the country's best-regarded architectural firm of the first half of the 20th century, designing numer ...

, showing considerable influence from the English partnership of

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

and

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

and the Arts and Crafts movement. Initially only the Temperate House was built. This was opened and presented to the people of Auckland on 12 October 1921. The courtyard, the Tropical House, and the Fernery were added later in the 1920s. The initial stage cost £4000 to build. The second stage was constructed by

Fletcher Building Fletcher Building Limited is one of the largest listed companies in New Zealand, with a market capitalisation of nearly New Zealand dollar, NZ$4 billion. The company was split from Fletcher Challenge in 2001, formerly New Zealand's largest bu ...

at a cost of £19500. The

Mayor of Auckland City The Mayor of Auckland City was the directly elected head of the Auckland City Council, the municipal government of Auckland City, New Zealand. The office existed from 1871 to 2010, when the Auckland City Council and mayoralty was abolished an ...

George Baildon George Baildon (1868–1946) was a New Zealand businessman and Mayor of Auckland City from 1925 to 1931. Biography Born and educated in Auckland, George Baildon was a builder and contractor. He was on the Archhill Road Board for four years (one ...

, officially opened the completed Wintergardens on 2 May 1928.

Renovations

Many of the statues in the courtyard were added in 1945, and the sunken pond in the centre of the gardens was installed in 1954. A significant reconstruction project was undertaken during 1993 and 1994 to renovate the Wintergardens. On 1 December 2013, the Tropical House of the Wintergardens became the first place in New Zealand to have the giant

Amorphophallus titanum ''Amorphophallus'' (from Ancient Greek , "without form, misshapen" + ''phallos'', "penis", referring to the shape of the prominent spadix) is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the ''Arum'' family ...

in flower. This plant can take 10 years to flower, with the flower smelling of rotting flesh.

References

External links

New Zealand Historic Places Entry for the Domain WintergardensAuckland Council Parks Entry for the Domain Wintergardens
held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. *{{commons category-inline, Auckland Domain Wintergardens Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region Buildings and structures in Auckland Tourist attractions in Auckland Auckland Domain