Parliament buildings have been modified, destroyed by fire, half-built and restored; the parliamentary places and spaces have formed an important part of New Zealand's history.
New Zealand's first state house was formally opened on 18 September 1937. But the government has provided rental housing for New Zealanders for more than a century. Explore the history of this country's various state housing schemes and their contribution to the New Zealand way of life.
Self-contained communities are being built on the outskirts of our cities. This project at Trentham is designed so that the houses will surround a park.
Auckland was a bustling place in 1854 when Parliament met there for the first time. The buildings were located in paddocks on what was then the edge of town, Constitution Hill, between Official Bay and Mechanics Bay, close to the present-day University of Auckland.
In 1911, a competition was held for designs for a new building to house Parliament. From the 33 proposals, John Campbell's was selected and building began, although it did not all go as planned.
New Zealanders have called many structures home. Some have been solid and permanent: kauri villas set in lawns and gardens, row houses on cramped Dunedin sections, sprawling state house communities in Otara, mock-Tudor mansions with three-car garages in Remuera, penthouse apartments in inner-city Wellington
New construction materials and equipment fashioned the cafe culture rising in the 1950s. Wellingtonians were introduced to the espresso machines as European styled cafes emerged.
Railway stations came in all shapes and sizes, ranging from imposing big-city monuments to elegant wooden provincial structures and tiny rural shelter sheds.
The design of state houses has been fodder for armchair and professional critics since the beginning. Detractors slagged the first workers' dwellings for bei'too swell' and called for simpler shelters. Half a century later the complaint was the exact opposite
The old Departmental Buildings were photographed from Parliament grounds in 1955. The building survived plans for demolition in 1908, and today it serves as the Victoria University Law School.
