Description of the attraction
The 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, which houses the Debating Chamber, the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the visitor center and committees. 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 listed as a New Zealand Historical and Cultural Heritage Category 1.
Of particular interest is the building known colloquially as the Beehive, a very original structure built in the 1970s by the famous British architect Sir Basil Spence in the modernist style 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 is home to the Cabinet of Ministers, the Prime Minister's Office and a number of ministries, as well as 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, is listed as a Category 1 Historic and Cultural Heritage of New Zealand.
Bowen House is a 22-story office building that houses the offices of small parties, some ministers and their assistants, 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 its sole 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 back in 1899. Due to the fact that the building was erected from refractory materials (unlike other 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.
