page_title: New Zealand Parliament Buildings
section_title: Replacement building
hierarchical_section_title: New Zealand Parliament Buildings / Parliament House / Replacement building
caption_attribution_description: English: Crop of File:Corner of Bowen Street and Lambton Quay, circa 1929.jpg
context_page_description: New Zealand Parliament Buildings house the New Zealand Parliament and are on a 45,000 square metre site at the northern end of Lambton Quay, Wellington. They consist of the Edwardian neoclassical-style Parliament House; the Parliamentary Library; the executive wing, called "The Beehive"; and Bowen House, in use since 1991. Whilst most of the individual buildings are outstanding for different reasons, the overall setting that has been achieved "has little aesthetic or architectural coherence".
context_section_description: A competition to find a replacement design was announced by Prime Minister Joseph Ward in February 1911 and 33 designs were entered. The winning design, by Government Architect John Campbell, was selected by Colonel Vernon, former Government Architect for New South Wales. As another of Campbell's entries won fourth place, the actual design is a combination of both entries. The design was divided into two stages. The first half, a Neoclassical building, contained both chambers and the second half Bellamy's (the parliamentary cafeteria) and a new Gothic Revival library to replace the existing one.
  Despite cost concerns, Prime Minister William Massey let construction of the first stage begin in 1914, but without much of the roof ornamentation or the roof domes. The outbreak of World War I created labour and material shortages that made construction difficult. However, members of Parliament (MPs) were so desperate to get out of the run-down old Government House that they moved into the unfinished building in 1918. In 1922, the first stage was completed (the second stage was never built). The building was finally officially opened in 1995 by Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, after its comprehensive strengthening and refurbishment. The intention of the Liberal Government was for the design to be implemented in stages, eventually resulting in a coherent architectural setting. Instead, as Heritage New Zealand remarks, the setting that has been achieved "has little aesthetic or architectural coherence", especially through the construction of the Beehive instead of completion of Parliament House.
caption: Parliament House in 1929, shortly after completion. The building to the left is Government House.
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