Premier House

Construction

The original house was built in the early days of the New Zealand colony in 1843 for Wellington's first Mayor, George Hunter. This house, or at least a portion of it, is still located at the southern end of the current building. It has been greatly expanded over the years. Later the residence of Nathaniel Levin the house was bought for use by the country's Premier in 1865. A Wellington newspaper, elated by the city’s new status, thought the £2900 price "cheap". An Auckland paper called it a "monstrous waste of public money".

Official residents

1864–1865 : Hon Sir Frederick Weld, 6th Premier

1865–1869 : Hon Sir Edward Stafford, 3rd Premier

1869–1873 : Hon Sir William Fox, 2nd Premier

1873–1875 : Hon Sir Julius Vogel, 8th Premier. The house changed little until Julius Vogel and his wife, Mary, arrived in 1873. Within a year they had turned it into an eight-bedroom mansion complete with conservatory and ballroom. The grounds featured what is thought to have been the country's first tennis court. The Vogels were noted for their lavish entertaining resulting in the house acquiring the nickname of "The Casino".

1876–1876 : Hon Sir Julius Vogel, 8th Premier.

1879–1882 : Hon Sir John Hall, 12th Premier

1882–1883 : Hon Sir Frederick Whitaker, 5th Premier

1883–1884 : Hon Sir Harry Atkinson, 10th Premier

1884–1887 : Hon Sir Julius Vogel as a cabinet minister in the government of Hon Sir Robert Stout, 13th Premier More extensions were made to the house due to Vogel's poor health. His recurring gout resulted in an extra office being added for Cabinet meetings and in 1886 the construction of New Zealand's first lift.

The country entered a Depression in the late 1880s and after the Vogels moved out, the new government tried to sell the property. MPs’ salaries had been cut, and the Liberal ministers of the 1890s had to live cheaply. But the press and public fought back. Wellington people valued its spacious grounds as a public amenity. Only the furniture was sold. Some suggested turning the site into an old men’s home or a university, but it stayed empty.

1887–1891 : Hon Sir Harry Atkinson, 10th Premier

1891–1893 : Rt Hon John Ballance, 14th Premier

1900–1912 : Rt Hon Sir Joseph Ward Bt, as a cabinet minister then Prime Minister from 1906. Now called Awarua, the name of Ward's electorate, the house again became one of the capital's main social places, hosting many formal and informal parties, especially after Ward became Prime Minister following Seddon's death in 1906. One party of particular note was the farewell party given by Miss Eileen Ward, daughter of Sir Joseph Ward, to farewell near neighbour Katherine Mansfield a few days before she left New Zealand for the last time in 1908.

1912–1925 : Rt Hon William F Massey, Prime Minister renamed it Ariki Toa, ‘home of the chief’. During the First World War the Masseys used it for patriotic activities.

1925–1928 : Rt Hon J Gordon Coates, Prime Minister. The last Prime Minister to live there. Further extensions were made to the building in 1926 when Gordon Coates lived there including rebuilding the conservatory and adding an enclosed veranda above it but major maintenance work seems to have been deferred again.

1928–1935 : Rt Hon George Forbes, Prime Minister lived in a flat at Parliament House. Parts of Premier House's floor had subsided up to 30 cm. The ground floor was occupied by the Unemployed and Transport Departments and the upper floor as a ministerial residence by the families of Mr Masters, a former leader of the Legislative Council and Minister of Public Works, Mr Ransom. Following a number of parliamentary debates it was decided by popular demand to not subdivide the land or build Ministerial flats on the grounds. The garden continued to be the location of subscription garden parties raising funds for major charities like YWCA and Girl Guides.

Dental clinic

In 1935 Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage faced with rebuilding the Country's economy in the midst of the Great Depression lived in Seddon's former residence at 47 Molesworth Street later purchasing a house high in Northland. Premier House was turned into a school for dental nurses and a children's dental clinic with 40 later 50 chairs known to all as the murder house. Before fluoridation the molars of the nation's children were soon cored with amalgam. At the time Mr Langstone, the Minister of Lands, was living there and a new house was built for him in the grounds on the site of the stable. During the war the garden grew vegetables for the forces Service Clubs.

Restoration

By the 1980s after many years of institutional use the building was in a battered state. It was rescued from this decline by Dr Michael Bassett, Minister of Internal Affairs, who initiated moves for the restoration of the building to its early grandeur.

The restoration was undertaken by Auckland's Grant Group Architects and L.T. McGuinness Construction between December 1989 and 1991. Considerable slumping had occurred over the years so the building had to be brought into square and levelled. Walls were stripped, straightened and re-lined, and old fire-damaged and rotten timbers were cut out and replaced. Old finishing timbers were replaced with timber cut to an identical profile. A new fire sprinkler system, heating and air conditioning systems were installed along with a new hydraulic lift.

Since May 1990 it has again been the Prime Minister's official residence when in the capital. The new decor includes a considerable collection of New Zealand art both old and new. The interior decoration, while carefully reproducing many missing original features, does not resemble or evoke a 19th-century house in any way. The pale colour scheme gives some shape to the agglomeration of disparate structures.

The conservation of Premier House, as it was renamed, was a 1990 Sesquicentennial project. That year Geoffrey Palmer and his wife, Margaret, became its first official residents.

Official residents continued

1990–1990 : Geoffrey Palmer

1990–1990 : Mike Moore

1990–1997 : Jim Bolger

1997–1999 : Jenny Shipley

1999–2008 : Helen Clark

2008–2016 : John Key

Value

The property has a land area of 1.5 hectares (14,569 square metres) and a rateable value (in 2012) of NZ$13,800,000.

64-66 Harbour View Road

From 1939 Michael Joseph Savage (until 1939 at 47 Molesworth Street) lived in a house “Hill Haven” at 64-66 Harbour View Road, Northland, Wellington, which was subsequently used by his successor Peter Fraser until 1949. It was purchased for Michael Joseph Savage "because it is now not necessary (to be within easy walking distance of Parliament) and a Prime Minister is no longer bound to the lowly areas of the Thorndon flats".

41 Pipitea Street

From 1950 Sidney Holland lived at No 41 Pipitea Street, Thorndon. The house was subsequently used by Walter Nash, Keith Holyoake and Geoffrey Palmer, and as a ministerial residence by Jim Sutton and Nick Smith. The house was also used for the Pacific Island Affairs Ministry.

Vogel House

From 1976 to 1990 Vogel House in Lower Hutt was the official residence of the prime minister. It was used by Robert Muldoon and others.