New Zealand Parliament Buildings description and photos - New Zealand: Wellington (Topic)

New Zealand Parliament Buildings description and photos - New Zealand: Wellington. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is New Zealand Parliament Buildings.

Photo and Description

New Zealand Parliament Buildings are a complex of structures in the heart of the business center of New Zealand's capital city of Wellington on Lambton Quay (formerly known as Beach Street). The complex includes the "Parliament House", the so-called "Beehive", the Parliamentary Library and Bowen House. In general, this is a rather specific architectural "ensemble", but each of the buildings is interesting in itself.

The main building of the complex is the Parliament House, where the discussion chamber, the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the visitor center and committees are located. The impressive neoclassical structure was built in 1914-1922 by the Scottish architect John Campbell to replace the old parliament, which burned down in 1907. The Parliament House is included in the list of objects of Historical and Cultural Heritage of New Zealand, Category 1.

Of particular interest is the building known in common parlance as the "Beehive" - a very original structure, built in the 1970s according to the famous by the British architect Sir Basil Spence in the style of modernism and resembling in its shape a traditional English straw bee hive, which is why the building itself got its name. The Beehive is home to New Zealand's executive branch and houses the Cabinet of Ministers, the Prime Minister's Office and a number of ministries, conference rooms, a banquet hall and the National Crisis Management Center. This is perhaps one of the most recognizable buildings in the country and like the Parliament House, it is listed as a New Zealand Historical and Cultural Heritage, Category 1.

Bowen House is a 22-story office building that houses the offices of small parties, some ministers and their aides, etc. The building is connected to the rest of the parliamentary complex by an underground tunnel under Bowen Street. The New Zealand Parliament has been renting Bowen House since 1991, being the only tenant for security reasons. In front of the building stands the Wellington Cenotaph - a War Memorial erected in honor of those killed in the First and Second World Wars.

The oldest of the four buildings in the complex is the Parliamentary Library, a two-story building in the neo-Gothic style, built in 1899. Thanks to, that the building was erected from refractory materials (unlike the rest of the buildings of the old parliament, erected mainly of wood), and the entrance to the sections with books was securely closed by a massive iron door, the library and its treasures survived in the devastating fire of 1907. Today it is an important architectural and historical monument and one of Wellington's most famous landmarks.

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Topic: New Zealand Parliament Buildings description and photos - New Zealand: Wellington.