Lambton Quay is named after John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, the first chairman of directors of the New Zealand Company.[1] Lambton Quay was the site of the original European settlement in 1840 (following initial settlement on flood-prone land at Petone), which grew into Wellington.[5] The first European settlers referred to the narrow strip of land along the shore as 'The beach',[6] but the name Lambton Quay was in use by the end of 1840.[7]
Setting
Originally, as the name implies, Lambton Quay was on the high-water line of the harbour. Dense bush originally covered much of the area down to the harbour's edge, and at high tide it could be difficult to get round the rocks at Windy Point (also known as Clay Point, now the intersection of Lambton Quay and Willis Street).[8][9] The point was dug away between 1857 and 1863[10] to reclaim almost 8 acres (3.2ha).[11] Development began along the foreshore of Lambton Quay and Willis Street, with buildings on the landward side and many small wharves on the seaward side. Above Lambton Quay is The Terrace, a street developed on a terrace on the bluff behind Lambton Quay. Kumototo Stream used to flow from the Terrace, down what is now Woodward Street and across Lambton Quay to the waterfront. This stream was culverted in the late 19th century.[12]
History
19th century
In the mid-19th century Kumutoto kainga (village) was sited on the Terrace near the Kumutoto Stream, and Pipitea Pā was at the extreme northern end of Lambton Quay – the section of road in this area is now known as Thorndon Quay.[13]On 22 October 1840 Barrett's Hotel, a two-storeyed public house, opened at the north end of the quay,[14][15] and by 1866 there were 33 hotels along Lambton Quay.[16]:70 Other businesses and public buildings were built along the foreshore of Lambton Quay, and it became the business heart and main street of the new settlement.
Large earthquakes in 1848 and 1855 damaged newly built brick buildings and caused small tsunami which flooded many of the buildings along the quay.[17][18] The Wellington Hotel had been opened at the north end of Lambton Quay by 1843 and later extended. It was a brick two-storey building described by a visitor in 1853 as "the most pretentious building we have yet seen in New Zealand".[19] Its owner, Baron Alzdorf, was the only Wellingtonian killed in the 1855 earthquake, when a chimney of the hotel fell on him. After this the hotel became the Criterion Hotel, a name it kept until at least 1887.[19][20] The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake uplifted land along Lambton Quay. Land uplift caused by the earthquake and further reclamation have left Lambton Quay some 250 metres from the current shoreline.[1][21]
John Plimmer, known as "the father of Wellington", was a plasterer and builder who worked in the timber trade after demand for masonry buildings fell following the 1848 earthquake. He had a timber yard and a house above Lambton Quay reached by what is now called Plimmer Steps. In 1850 Plimmer bought the Inconstant, a ship which had foundered while entering Wellington Harbour. He towed the hulk to the foreshore at the southern end of Lambton Quay, added a roof to the hull and used the old ship as a building and jetty which was accessed via a small bridge from Lambton Quay. The ship became known as 'Plimmer's Ark'. The ship tipped over in the 1855 earthquake. Although it was righted, the water level around the ship had become too shallow for ships to dock. As land was reclaimed, the ship became landlocked. In 1883 it was demolished and buildings built on top of the site near the corner of Lambton Quay and Willis Street, which is now known as the Old Bank Arcade. Remnants of the hull were uncovered in 1997.[22]
Lambton Quay about 1880 showing the reclamation, T. Mountain's store at 80 Lambton Quay, Cutler & Moore piano shop, James Gear's butchery and the Criterion Hotel (rebuilt after the 1855 earthquake damaged the Wellington Hotel)Whitcoulls Building at 312-316 Lambton Quay, built 1907
Buildings were erected in wood for a time after the 1855 earthquake but this presented a fire risk. In 1877 Wellington City Council ruled that in a specified central city area that included Lambton Quay, all new buildings had to be clad in incombustible materials.[16] By 1900 many substantial buildings had been built on both sides of the Quay: shops including Kirkcaldie & Stains, hotels,[24] banks, insurance companies, the central police station,[25][26] the government printer and Government Buildings.[27][28]
Early twentieth century
Although 1877 regulations specified that new buildings should be fire-resistant, many older wooden buildings remained on Lambton Quay. In 1906 a large fire destroyed 18 buildings on both sides of Lambton Quay between Grey Street and Hunter Street.[29][30] One of the new buildings built after the fire was the former Whitcoulls Building, built in 1907, which has since been gutted and rebuilt with the façade retained. The five-storey Public Trust Building at 131 Lambton Quay, opened in 1909, was said to be the first large public building in New Zealand with an earthquake-resistant skeleton-rivetted steel frame.[16]
The two-storey Kirkcaldie and Stains building on Lambton Quay was built in three stages: the central part was built in 1897, and the two end sections were built in 1908–1910. During 1927–1928 the central section was remodelled to match the façades of the two end sections.
Wellington City Council had set a maximum height limit for buildings of 102 feet (about nine storeys) in 1908, but it wasn't until the 1920s that tall buildings became more common in Wellington.[31] New, taller, steel-framed buildings were less prone to damage in earthquakes, and new technology such as electric power, lifts, central heating, telephones and fire-fighting equipment could be incorporated into new builds.[31] The first building over 100 ft high on Lambton Quay was Druids Chambers, completed in 1923.[31][32] This was followed in 1926 by the Australian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society Building (also known as the Harcourts Building), a nine-storey building at 203-213 Lambton Quay with a steel frame and reinforced concrete floors.[33] This building was converted to become a Doubleday Hilton hotel in 2018.[33] The D.I.C. (now Harbour City) building was built in 1928, followed by the Prudential Insurance Building in 1933.[31] The Prudential Building was constructed on a site previously occupied by the 1877 Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute,[16] a major landmark on Lambton Quay in its time. The Great Depression in the 1930s and World War 2 stalled further building along the street.
1970s
An earthquake in November 1968 caused minor damage to many central city buildings. Surveys of the earthquake damage and general condition of over 400 buildings were made by government agencies and Wellington City Council, leading to categorisation of city buildings into three groups: those that should be demolished, those needing further examination, and those which could remain. In 1970 there was a variety of buildings on the west side of Lambton Quay, mostly two or three storeys high and dating from the early twentieth century. Many had been designed in late Victorian or Edwardian Classical style by prominent architects and housed shops, hotels, banks and offices. As a result of the earthquake surveys, changes in planning rules, a desire for modernisation, and demand for greater return on property investment, 69 of these older buildings that existed in 1970 were demolished during the 1970s and early 1980s and replaced with 18 much larger office blocks, dramatically changing the character of Lambton Quay.[34]
Department stores
During the twentieth century there were several department stores on Lambton Quay. These included the D.I.C. (1891–1984)[35] and Haywrights (opened 1969,[36] later becoming James Smiths and then Farmers). The premiere department store on Lambton Quay was Kirkcaldie and Stains. In 2016 Kirkcaldie and Stains closed and David Jones opened in the building. David Jones closed in 2022.
Golden Mile
Lambton Quay, Willis Street, Manners Street and Courtenay Place form what is known locally as the 'Golden Mile'.[37] The city's retail trade has spread further south to also include Cuba Street, but Lambton Quay remains a major commercial thoroughfare. In 2020 it was estimated that about 70,000 people travel on Lambton Quay and Willis Street each day, mostly on foot or by bus.[38]
On 11 February 2025, Wellington City Council confirmed that it would begin pedestrianising the Golden Mile between Lambton Quay and Courtenay Place in April 2025. This project would include removing cars, widening footpaths and building cycling lanes in the area. Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Arcus expressed concern that these changes could affect local businesses and emphasised the need for consultation.[39]
Sculptures
The length of Lambton Quay is punctuated by various sculptures.[40] A bronze statue of John Plimmer and his dog at Plimmer Steps was voted the most popular public artwork in Wellington in 2013.[41]Woman of Words, a 3.3 metre-high stainless steel statue of author Katherine Mansfield at Midland Park, has words from Mansfield's writing laser-cut into the metal of the work.[42][43]
Ruaumoko,[44] at the corner of Lambton Quay and Stout Street, is a sculpture by Ralph Hotere and Mary McFarlane. Rūaumoko is the Māori god of earthquakes and volcanoes. The sculpture consists of broken columns and a jumble of letters salvaged from the front of the nearby State Fire Insurance Building when it was demolished, and which look like the result of an earthquake.[45]
Whipping the Wind by Paul Hartigan consists of 200 flashing neon tubes on ten panels around the turret of a building housing the Old Bailey pub at the corner of Lambton Quay and Ballance Street. Hartigan's vision was for "a spinning neon merry-go-round concept that mimicked the volatility and unpredictability of weather patterns in Wellington. It is an elemental thing". The work was created in 1988 as part of a Wellington City Council scheme where developers were allowed to add extra floors to new buildings if they included an artwork. Hartigan believes his sculpture is one of the biggest neon works in the world. In the 1990s the sculpture was turned off, but in 2007 it was repaired and had its electrical system upgraded.[46]
↑ Holmes, William Howard; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Lambton Quay, 1856". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
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