The living polis?: an architectural analysis of Wellington

Abstract

This report analyzes the architectonic fabric of the polis of Wellington in order to extrapolate and explore the ideas that have created and directed its growth and demise. Wellington was created in 1840 as a commercial and colonial venture by the New Zealand Company. The first plans were produced in 1839 and 1840. Only two plans seem to remain today that really elaborate or depict the dominant ideas during the conception of the early colony. Fortunately a lot was written about this early period. A lottery held in England earned the New Zealand company over 100,000 pounds as they sold this "dream" to the English citizens who longed to escape the slums of industrial England. However, the price of the dream soon proved to be far dearer than the 100 blankets the company paid for the site. Floods and Earthquakes were not the only problems that these "adventurers" were faced with. The colonialists, alienated from their culture and forced to live in conditions that were in many ways "worse" than the conditions they fled from, took consolation in the fact that they were now able to own private land. The desire and "preference" of the individual had to be satisfied if the venture was to be successful. A study of the polis/Wellington may at first appear a hard choice to understand. "The city" itself is a mere 150 years old. Therefore the complex layering of architectonic fabric in cities such as Berlin and Jerusalem is not found in Wellington. There are virtually none of the elements that denote monumentality in the city. The natural elements of the city with its rolling hills and beautiful harbour are probably the two most important features of the city. Why then would one choose to analyze the fabric of the Wellington polis?