List of tallest buildings in Wellington

The Majestic Centre, the tallest building in Wellington

The Aon Centre, the 2nd tallest building in Wellington

Dimension Data Tower (left), Forsyth Barr House, and Bayleys Building

Bowen House (left) and the Beehive

This list of tallest buildings in Wellington ranks the tallest building's in the New Zealand capital city of Wellington by height. This ranking system, created by the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat includes the height to a spire but not to an antenna. ^[1] The Majestic Centre is the tallest skyscraper in the city at 116 metres (381 ft).

Tallest buildings

The list below contains the top 60 buildings in the city at 50 m (164 ft) high and above. All are High-rises except for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranked buildings which are skyscrapers.

Name		Height [2]	Floors [2]	Built [2]	Purpose	Notes
1	Majestic Centre	116 m (381 ft)	29	1991	Office
2	Aon Centre (Wellington)	103 m (338 ft)	27	1984	Office	Originally opened as the BNZ Centre
3	HSBC Tower	101 m (331 ft)	25	2003	Office	Is 94M to roof height and 101M to the Spire [3]
4	NTT Tower	93 m (305 ft)	25	1998	Office	Formerly Mobil on the Park, Vodafone on the Park and Dimension Data Tower [4]
5	Bowen House	90 m (295 ft)	22	1991	Office
6	James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor	88 m (289 ft)	26	1972/1998	Hotel
7	Plimmer Towers	84 m (276 ft)	25	1975	Hotel	Originally opened as the Williams Centre
8	125 The Terrace	77 m (253 ft)	21	1986	Office
9	Morrison Kent House	76 m (249 ft)	21	1969	Office	[5]
10	The Beehive	72 m (236 ft)	10	1981	Office
11	113 The Terrace	72 m (236 ft)	19	1988	Office	Formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower; currently the home of Wellington City Council [6]
12	111 Dixon Street [7]	70 m (230 ft)	20	2019	Residential
13	Maritime Tower	70 m (230 ft)	18	2006	Office
14	Grant Thornton House	70 m (230 ft)	18	1983	Office	Formerly known as ANZ Tower
15	Westpac Tower	70 m (230 ft)	18	1978	Office
16	Chews Lane Tower	70 m (230 ft)	19	2009	Office/Residential
17	Aurora Centre [8]	68 m (223 ft)	19	1968	Office	Was the tallest building in Wellington when completed. Underwent a major facelift in 2016-17
18	Equinox House [9]	68 m (223 ft)	16	1987	Office
19	Radio New Zealand House	68 m (223 ft)	13	1963	Office	[10]
20	Fujitsu Tower	66 m (217 ft)	18	1985	Office	Formerly known as Caltex Tower[ original research? ]
21	Novell House	66 m (217 ft)	17	1975	Office
22	No.1 The Terrace	66 m (217 ft)	17	1978	Office	Headquarters of the New Zealand Treasury
23	Vogel Building	66 m (217 ft)	17	1966	Office	Was the tallest building in Wellington and the 2nd tallest building in New Zealand when built [11]
24	Reserve Bank of New Zealand [12]	66 m (217 ft)	16	1972	Office	[13]
25	AXA Tower	65 m (213 ft)	17	1989	Office
26	The Freyberg Building	65 m (213 ft)	15	1979	Office	The adjoining 7 storey Freyberg House (2007) was demolished after the 2016 earthquake. [14]
27	20 Customhouse Quay [15]	62 m (203 ft)	14	2018	Commercial	Replaced BP House, which was originally built in 1968 and demolished following the 2013 Seddon earthquake. [16]
28	Charles Fergusson Building	61 m (200 ft)	17	1976	Office
29	New Zealand Police National Headquarters	60.47 m (198 ft)	17	1979	Office	[17] Formerly FAI Insurance House.
30	Bolton Hotel	60 m (197 ft)	20	2004	Hotel
31	Sovereign Insurance Centre	60 m (197 ft)	17	1984	Office
32	Bayleys Building	60 m (197 ft)	16	1989	Office
33	Two Hunter Street	60 m (197 ft)	16	1991	Office
34	City Tower	60 m (197 ft)	16	1991	Office
35	Jellioce Towers	60 m (197 ft)	16	1965	Residential	Was the tallest Residential building in Wellington when built [18]
36	Forsyth Barr House	60 m (197 ft)	16	1989	Office
37	Pastoral House	60 m (197 ft)	15	1978	Office
38	Rydges Hotel	57 m (187 ft)	16	2006	Hotel	Originally opened as a Holiday Inn
39	Alcatel Lucent House	57 m (187 ft)	15	1988	Office	Formerly Telecom House
40	Quest on Johnston	55 m (180 ft)	18	2000	Hotel
41	Terrace Heights Apartments [19]	55 m (180 ft)	17	1999	Residential
42	Stafford House	55 m (180 ft)	14	1977	Residential	Originally an office, now university housing.
43	Avalon Studios	55 m (180 ft)	11	1969	Office	Tallest building in Wellington outside of the CBD
44	Sir Robet Jones Tower	52 m (171 ft)	14	2019	Office	[20]
45	National War Memorial	51 m (167 ft)		1932	Bell and clock tower
46	20 Oriental Parade	50 m (164 ft)	16		Residential
47	Mercer Tower	50 m (164 ft)	15	1989	Office
48	Public Trust Building	50 m (164 ft)	15	1982	Office
49	Investment House	50 m (164 ft)	15	1977	Office
50	Simpl House	50 m (164 ft)	15	1987	Office
51	Willeston Centre [21]	50 m (164 ft)	14 [22]	1984?	Office	Originally the Colonial Mutual Life Insurance Building. [23]
52	AMI Plaza [24]	50 m (164 ft)	14		Office
53	Rutherford House	50 m (164 ft)	14	1975	Office	Originally the headquarters of the NZ Electricity Department. [25]
54	Sovereign House	50 m (164 ft)	14	1988	Office
55	Castrol House	50 m (164 ft)	14	1987	Office
56	Westpac Trust Investment House	50 m (164 ft)	14	1982	Office
57	Technology One House	50 m (164 ft)	13	1987	Office	Formerly known as the Renouf Centre and Terenco Finance House
58	BNZ Trust House	50 m (164 ft)	13	1985	Office
59	Guardian Trust House	50 m (164 ft)	13	1984	Office
60	Optimation House	50 m (164 ft)	12	1979	Office	[26]

Under construction, approved or proposed

Name		Height [2]	Floors [2]	Built [2]	Purpose	Notes
1	One Whitmore Street [27] [28]	63 m (207 ft)	14	2023	Commercial	BNZ's Wellington office.
2	Pinnacle on Victoria	50 m (164 ft)	17	2020/2021	Residential
3	Willis St concept tower [29]	134 m (440 ft)	32	?	Mixed-use

Demolished

Name	Height	Floors	Built	Purpose	Notes
Revera House	50 m (164 ft)	10	1990 [30]	Office	Formerly AT&T Tower and Hitachi House. Demolished 2018 [31] following damage due to the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. [32]
61 Molesworth St	37 m (121 ft)	10	1965	Office	Formerly ICI House. Demolished 2016-2017 [33] [34] following damage due to the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

Cancelled

Name	Height*	Floors*	Notes
NZ1	263 m (863 ft)[ failed verification ]	63	A high rise commercial and mixed use building proposed for Lambton Quay. Project was scrapped after the developer went bankrupt. If completed, the building would have been New Zealand's tallest. [35] [36]
Lambton Tower	≈120 metres (394 ft)	31	Proposed in 1991 for the Wellington Waterfront. [37]

History of the Tallest buildings in Wellington

Name	Height	Years Tallest	Other Facts
MLC Building	45 m (148 ft)	1939-1961	9 stories high. Was arguably the tallest in NZ when built
Shell House	46 m (151 ft)	1961-1966	Tallest office building in NZ when built. [38]
Vogel Building	66 m (217 ft)	1966-1968	Was the 2nd tallest in NZ when built
Aurora Centre	68 m (223 ft)	1968-1969	Was the 2nd tallest in NZ when built
Morrison Kent House	76 m (249 ft)	1969-1975	Was the 2nd tallest in NZ (to 1 Queen Street, Auckland) when built
Plimmer Towers	85 m (279 ft)	1975-1984	Was the tallest in NZ when built, is 106m and 31 floors from the Lambton Quay side of the tower
AON Centre	103 m (338 ft)	1984-1991	Was the tallest in NZ when built and is one of Wellington's most iconic buildings
Majestic Centre	116 m (381 ft)	1991–Present	Is the furthest South Skyscraper in the world. Was the tallest in New Zealand when built until the ANZ building opened in Auckland a few months later.

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Auckland
• List of tallest buildings in Christchurch
• List of tallest buildings in Oceania

References

1. CTBUH Height Criteria. CTBUH. Retrieved on 4 March 2013.
2. "Buildings of Wellington". Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
3. "Google Earth". earth.google.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
4. "Google Earth". earth.google.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
5. "Morrison Kent House – Emporis". Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
6. "Emporis- PWC Tower". Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
7. "111 Dixon Street- Emporis".^{[ dead link ]}
8. "Emporis- Aurora Centre".^{[ dead link ]}
9. "Equinox House- Emporis". Archived from the original on 7 September 2021.
10. "Emprois- Radio New Zealand House". Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
11. "Emporis- Vogel Building". Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
12. "Reserve Bank building". Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
13. "Emporis- Reserve Bank of New Zealand". Archived from the original on 13 September 2021.
14. "The Freyberg Building- Emporis". Archived from the original on 13 September 2021.
15. 20 Customhouse Quay – Official site
16. Schouten, Hank (28 March 2015). "$80m hi-tech tower to replace Wellington's BP House". The Dominion Post . Retrieved 13 January 2020.
17. "New Zealand Police Headquarters". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018.
18. "Jellioce Towers". Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
19. "163 The Terrace, Wellington". Property Values NZ.
20. "Emporis- Sir Robert Jones Tower". Archived from the original on 9 December 2021.
21. The Wellington Company – Willeston Centre
22. Emporis – Sovereign Centre
23. Julie Iles (6 June 2017). "Top floor with waterfront views for sale in central Wellington". Stuff.co.nz.
24. "AMI Plaza, Wellington". Emporis.
25. Friends of Te Papa – Rutherford House Art Collection
26. "Emporis- Optimation House". Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
27. "One Whitmore Street".
28. Marta Steeman (12 December 2019). "Base-isolated and Green star building to be developed for the BNZ HQ in Wellington". Stuff.co.nz.
29. Wingate Architects (20 September 2021). "Wellington project". Wingate Architects.
30. "AT&T Tower Emporis". Archived from the original on 9 December 2021.
31. "Revera House in Wellington to be demolished, says spokesman". Stuff. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
32. "Revera House slated for destruction". RNZ. 3 April 2017.
33. Melissa Nightingale (24 November 2016). "Demolition work of earthquake-damaged 61 Molesworth St building in Wellington to begin today". The New Zealand Herald.
34. John Weekes (2 February 2017). "New chapter for 61 Molesworth St as demolished building handed back to owner". Stuff.
35. "Lambton Quay NZ1 Tallest Building Design Proposal". Architecture Design NZ.
36. Chloe Winter (7 March 2016). "Terry Serepisos companies owe millions, despite sale of all available assets". Stuff News NZ.
37. Kate Chapman (13 July 2015). "Wellington's waterfront – 20 years in the making (Picture 6 of 13)". Dominion Post.
38. "Shell House (Former)". Wellington City Council – Wellington City Heritage. Retrieved 15 October 2021.

External links

• Emporis.com Wellington High-rise Buildings