Жаңа Зеландия Парламенті ғимараттары комплексі

Government complex in Wellington, New Zealand

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. From north to south, they are the Parliamentary Library building (1899); the Edwardian neoclassical style Parliament House (1922); the executive wing, called "The Beehive" (1977); 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".

The main building of the complex is Parliament House, containing the debating chamber, speaker's office, visitors' centre, and committee rooms.

The first Parliament was housed in the wooden two storey Provincial Council Building (1870s addition by William Clayton). It was replaced by the 1880s three storey Gothic Revival building by Thomas Turnbull) and containing many indigenous timbers but was destroyed by fire in 1907 along with all other parliament buildings except the library. The library had an iron fire door that saved its collections. Following the destruction of the building the Parliament occupied the adjacent Government House (where the Beehive now sits) for ten years.

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 dining facility) 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 protestors set fires and caused damage to the lawns, and vandalised Parliament Buildings.

The land intended for the second stage of Parliament House is occupied by the Executive Wing. This building conceived by British architect Sir Basil Spence in 1964, largely designed by the Ministry of Works, was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1977. The first parliamentary offices moved into the building in 1979. Due to its distinctive shape, it is referred to colloquially as "The Beehive".

Completed in 1899, the Parliamentary Library is the oldest of the buildings. It stands to the north of Parliament House (to its right, looking from the front). The library was designed in Gothic Revival style and was fire resistant, being constructed of masonry. The third storey of the design was not built, to save money. It had an iron fire door separating the library from the main entrance section. This saved the library from the fire of 1907, which destroyed the rest of the timber parliament buildings. It still houses Parliament's library.

A 22 storey office building across Bowen Street from the Beehive, Bowen House houses MPs' offices and support staff and has been leased by Parliamentary Services since 1991. It is connected to the rest of the parliamentary complex by a tunnel under Bowen Street which contains a travelator.

Not part of the current parliamentary complex and on the other side of Lambton Quay, this four storey building was designed by William Clayton and built in 1876. The former Government Buildings currently house Victoria University of Wellington's Law School as part of Victoria's Pipitea campus. Several rooms featuring displays of the building's history have been set up for public viewing.