150 Years - A Sense of Place I
Our first purpose-built Public Trust building in Lambton Quay has been a landmark in Wellington for over a century.
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Public Trust building on Lambton Quay
Our first purpose-built Public Trust building in Lambton Quay has been a landmark in Wellington for over a century.
A decade after money was first allocated by government for the establishment of a purpose-built head office, construction of this five-story Edwardian Baroque building on the corner of Lambton Quay and Stout Street began in 1907.
Designed by the government architect John Campbell, the construction was notable due to its early use of a steel frame. The decision to use steel was influenced by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire and after an earthquake in Wellington had badly damaged the leased offices in which Public Trust staff worked.
Public Trust’s first head office in Wellington, praised in the Evening Post under the heading 'A NOBLE LAND-MARK', was opened with considerable fanfare by Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward on 9 June 1909.
The Lambton Quay building served as the head office of Public Trust for the next 70 years and the building became a much-photographed Wellington icon and the backdrop to significant moments in New Zealand history. One of the most famous is the photograph taken by John Dobree Pascoe of women celebrating Victory in Europe (VE Day) on 8 May 1945.
In November 1982, Public Trust vacated its historic building at 131 Lambton Quay and moved on up into the neighbouring modern purpose-built glass skyscraper at 129 Lambton Quay. Notable for its vertical glass façade so enigmatic of 1980s commercial architecture, it housed Public Trust’s head office and the Wellington customer centre, while the six-storey block to the south of the site and 13-storey tower to the north were leased. In 2006, Public Trust moved to 141 Willis Street and, in 2020, to Public Trust Tower at 22 Willeston Street.
The old Public Trust building came under threat of demolition but a public campaign to save the building resulted in its listing as a Historic Place Category 1 in 1981. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga noted that,
This building is a superb example of a public and commercial building of the Edwardian period. Its corner site and powerful blend of architectural styles combine to create an outstanding piece of townscape. Historically the building's importance lies with its use as the Public Trust Office which when established in 1872 was the first of its type in the world.
It is also believed to be the only surviving public building made of native New Zealand granite, Tonga stone, from Tonga Bay in Able Nelson National Park.
Today, Public Trust's head office is located on Auckland’s Queen Street. Wellington’s renovated Public Trust building, now called Public Trust Hall, houses the restored Rolls of Honour for Public Trust staff who died in the Great War and the Second World War in the foyer and stands as a reminder of the original inhabitants.