Elegance and excesses: War, Gold and Borrowings: New Zealand Architecture in the 1860s

Abstract

The 1860s were an eventful time for architecture in New Zealand. On the eve of the decade, in 1859, William Mason became the first person to be a registered architect in New Zealand. The scene was thus set for the English idea of architecture as a profession to more substantially impact on our land. From the decade's beginning were the start of civil wars and the discovery of gold, with New Zealand's first major gold rush in Otago. It was war and gold which crudely distinguished the decade's histories of the North Island and South Islands.