Thorndon – a timeline
Date
Pre1839
Event
Maori occupation of Thorndon.
The date of the first settlement by Maori in Lambton Harbour is not known but centuries of occupation preceded the arrival of
Taranaki Maori in the early 1820s. Pipitea Pa was originally occupied by Ngati Mutunga, who had journeyed south in 1824. The pa was
taken over by Te Atiawa after the former left for the Chatham Islands in 1835. There were other Maori settlements in Thorndon, at
Tiakiwai (Stowe Hill) and near the western end of Hobson Street.
1839
The first New Zealand Company ships arrived to settle in Wellington. Led by William Wakefield the Company made a controversial
purchase of Wellington. In early 1840 the settlers established themselves at Petone.
1840
After three months the settlers decamped to Thorndon, having been flooded out of Petone. Thorndon was named after the home in
England of New Zealand Company director Lord Petre.
Tensions began between Maori and settlers after key government buildings were built near or in the kainga of Pipitea Pa.
The Government Reserve was established where Parliament Buildings are located today and William Wakefield’s residence built. In
1848 this became the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor.
Brick making began in Thorndon and the city’s first hostelry, Barrett’s Hotel, was opened. Later that year, the Thistle Inn was opened.
The second pub with that name opened in 1866 on the same site and still stands.
The suburb (and city’s) first school (Miss Tilke’s) opened.
1843
Barracks were constructed on Thorndon Flat for the British Army.
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1844
The first St Paul’s Church was built in the Government Reserve.
1847
Wellington’s first hospital was established in Pipitea Street. It later relocated to Newtown in 1881.
1848
The first of two huge earthquakes rocked Wellington, causing considerable damage in Thorndon and elsewhere.
1850
Bishop Viard arrived in Wellington from France and built St Mary’s Cathedral on Hill Street the following year. Over time, two
schools (which later became a convent school and St Mary’s Girls College), a convent for Mercy nuns, and a hall, were all built on the
land acquired by Bishop Viard.
Miss Buxton’s celebrated school opened on the corner of Poplar Grove and Tinakori Road. Granny Cooper’s school opened in Ascot
Terrace in the 1860s.
1852
The Wellington Provincial Council was established.
The Church of England Education Society built a school room in Sydney Street (now Kate Sheppard Place). This was the forerunner to
both Thorndon School (which opened in 1873) and later the St Paul’s Schoolroom (1897), which was, appropriately, later moved to
Thorndon School in 1999.
1855
A second and even bigger earthquake struck Wellington, destroying many buildings in Thorndon and elsewhere and killing one
person.
1858
The Provincial Council buildings were constructed in the Government Reserve.
1862
The Wellington Town Board was established and relieves the Provincial Council of some of its minor responsibilities.
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1865
Parliament shifted from Auckland to Wellington and occupied the Provincial Council chambers. It led to a swift period of growth in
Thorndon and elsewhere in Wellington. There were 311 buildings in Thorndon at this point.
The Colonial Museum opened on a site behind Parliament buildings. It did not close until 1936, when the National Museum opened
on Buckle Street.
1866
The second St Paul’s Church (now Old St Paul’s) was built to a design by the Rev. Frederick Thatcher.
Staples Brewery was established on a site between Murphy and Molesworth Street by William and John Staples. It became part of
New Zealand Breweries in 1923. Beer making ended on the site in 1988 but a brewing tower (1915), still stands as part of a
supermarket development.
1870
The Wellington City Corporation was established, taking over from the Wellington Town Board.
Work began on turning the Town Belt between Thorndon, Kelburn and the city into a Botanic Garden. By the end of the 19th century it
had been transformed into the landscape recognisable today.
The Shepherd Arms Hotel opens in Tinakori Road. It still stands today, albeit greatly altered.
1872
Work began on constructing the rail line from Wellington to the Wairarapa; it reached as far as Petone in 1875. The first station was
built on reclaimed land in Thorndon and the main station remains in Thorndon to this day.
1876
The system of provincial government ended, reinforcing Wellington as the seat of government and boosting Thorndon’s prospects
through the quick growth of central government. Government Buildings, built to house the Wellington-based civil service, opened on
Lambton Quay.
1878
A swing bridge was built across Thorndon gully, linking both ends of Hobson Street.
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1879
Work began on a railway link to the west but construction ended in 1880 after the government cut expenditure.
1880/81
There were 854 building in Thorndon by this point.
1882
Private investors formed the Wellington Manawatu Railway Co. and restarted construction of the line to the west. It was completed as
far as Longburn in 1886. Passengers used a different station from the Wairarapa line, the terminus of which was itself moved to a site
near Government Buildings in 1880.
1883
Wellington Girls College opened in Abel Smith Street. It moved to a site on the corner of Pipitea and Moturoa Streets in 1887, where a
new main building was opened. The school remains on that site to this day.
1893
The Shamrock Hotel was opened on Molesworth St. In 1980 it was moved to a new site on the corner of Harriett Street and Tinakori
Road by developer and heritage enthusiast Rex Nicholls.
1899
St Mary’s Cathedral burned down and was replaced two years later by the Sacred Heart Basilica (later renamed the Cathedral of the
Sacred Heart).
1904
The electric tram began running to the Botanic Gardens via Tinakori Road, later travelling to Karori.
1907
A devastating fire destroyed the timber Parliament Buildings, leaving largely unscathed Government House and the masonry built
General Assembly Library.
1909
The government purchased the Wellington-Manawatu Railway Co.
1910
Anderson Park was formed by the levelling of a ridge and the filling of a gully on the corner of Glenbervie and Tinakori Roads.
1911
An architectural competition was held to select a design for the new Parliament Buildings and it was won by John Campbell (then
Government Architect) and his assistant Claude Paton.
1912
The Wellington Hotel opened on Molesworth St. Now known as the Backbencher, the hotel was extended in 1917.
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1914
Marist Brothers opened a school on Hawkestone Street. It was moved to Wilton in 1970 after the motorway required its demolition.
1916
Scots College opened in a house on Hobson Street once owned by Colonial architect William Clayton. Queen Margaret’s College
opened in the same house in 1919, after Scots College moved to Strathmore.
1922
A partly completed Parliament Buildings was opened. It was never finished to Campbell and Paton’s design.
1926
St Mary’s College’s was registered and its main building (in red brick) was completed in 1931.
1929
Work on forming Bowen Street began in 1929 with the conversion of Glenbervie Road into a broad thoroughfare. Work on the road
was suspended during the Depression but finished in 1940.
1933
Work began on a new Wellington Railway Station to combine both lines at Bunny Street.
1937
Construction of the Wellington Railway Station was completed.
A government centre was planned for the area surrounding and adjacent to Molesworth Street but it did not begin to form until the
1960s and was never properly planned.
Post1945
In the wake of World War II many families moved to the suburbs as Thorndon declined in appearance and population.
1961
The first proposal for a Wellington urban motorway, passing through Thorndon, was raised.
1964
The present St Paul’s Cathedral opened in Molesworth St. It was considerably extended in 1995.
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1965
Work began on the motorway. The route devised through Thorndon (from north to south) began with an excavation from Thorndon
Quay, via the Hobson Street gully, through houses and streets to the east of Tinakori Road to Hill Street, and then south through
Bolton Street Cemetery, to what was known as Shell Gully (the remnants of Kumutoto Stream) and a tunnel portal to the west of The
Terrace. The decision to take the motorway through the cemetery caused a big controversy. Some 3,700 burials were exhumed and
most were later reinterred in a large vault beneath a lawn in the Bolton Street Memorial Park (as the cemetery is now known).
1966
Over the preceding decade, Thorndon’s population had dropped from 6700 to 5000.
1967
Old St Paul’s was purchased by the government for the people of New Zealand.
1969
Molesworth Street’s first tall office buildings – ICI House and Vogel House among them – were completed. Over the ensuring
decades many more large office buildings followed.
1970
The former Government House was demolished to make way for a new Executive Wing, or The Beehive as it became known.
A restored Old St Paul’s was opened to the public. It was immediately successful and remains one of the country’s most visited
historic places.
1971
By this time only 3800 people lived in Thorndon.
1972
A group set up to save Granny Cooper’s Cottage the previous year formed the Thorndon Trust, which went on to save and restore
other properties, and remains active to this day.
1973
Out of the Thorndon Trust emerged the Thorndon Society, an organisation formed to advocate for the protection of Thorndon’s built
heritage. The Trust also remains active to this day.
1976
Thorndon became the focus of the first bid in New Zealand to protect an area through a local authority’s district scheme. That year,
the Residential ‘E’ Zone was adopted. It was later replaced by a character area (in 1993).
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1984
The Beehive was completed.
1988
Katherine Mansfield Birthplace, at the northern end of Tinakori Road, was opened to the public, after it was bought and restored by a
group led by art historian and heritage advocate Oroya Day.
1990
Premier House, the former home of many of the country’s leaders, was reopened as the Prime Minister’s residence after many decades
as a dental clinic.
1991
Just 2500 people lived in the suburb as this time.
1992
Work was begun on a four-year restoration, refurbishment and strengthening project of Parliament Buildings, including the
Parliamentary Library.
1998
Variation 14 to the proposed District Plan extended protection to pre-1930s buildings in inner-city suburbs by requiring a resource
consent prior to demolition.
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