Architecture
The first known dwellings of the ancestors of Maori were based on houses in their Polynesian homelands. In New Zealand these buildings were semi-permanent as people moved around looking for food sources. Houses had wooden frames covered in reeds or leaves with mats on earth floor. To help people keep warm, houses were small, with low doors, earth insulation and a fire inside. Around the 15th century communities became bigger and more settled. People built wharepuni (sleeping houses with room for several families and a front porch). Other buildings included pataka (storehouses), sometimes decorated with carvings, and kauta (cooking houses). The first whare whakairo (carved meeting house) were probably built in the mid 19th century. It was a time of great change for Maori and larger houses let communities meet to discuss issues. Typical architectural plan for buildings, and in particular meetings houses, was to represent a god-like guardian or ancestor who watches over the people gathered within. At the apex of the roof is the guardian’s head, the ridgepole is the spine or backbone, the bargeboards are the arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture and inside the rafters represent the guardian’s ribs.
The buildings of early European settlers followed British architectural fashion. Commercial and church buildings were designed in classical revival and gothic revival styles. These styles were associated with permanence and stability.
Auckland and the far north of the North Island
The centre and west of the North Island
Wellington and the south of the North Island
Blenheim and the north of the South Island
Christchurch and Queenstown in the central part of the South Island. I have created a separate section on the earthquakes which affected Christchurch and Kaikoura.
Dunedin and the far south of the South Island and Stewart Island
