Wellington from Kelburn

The quality of Christopher Aubrey’s architectural drawing suggests that he might have been trained as an architectural draughtsman. This panoramic painting gives a clear idea of the relationship between the city of Wellington and its harbour, and is a particularly valuable record of the capital as it appeared in 1888.

On the right are the Government (Departmental) Buildings (1876), designed by Colonial Architect William Henry Clayton (1823–77). At the time, they formed the largest wooden structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and they remain standing. Clayton’s Italianate Government House (1871), no longer extant, is shown at the centre of the painting. Its site is today occupied by the Beehive. To the left is his Gothic Parliament House (1873), which burned down in 1907 and was replaced by the present House of Representatives.

The large wooden Gothic church on the far left, under the tree branch, is Saint Mary’s Cathedral (1851), designed by Christian Julius Toxward (1831–91). It burned down in 1889, just one year after the completion of this painting, and was replaced by the Basilica (later Cathedral) of the Sacred Heart, designed by Francis William Petre (1847–1918) and built more substantially in brick and Oamaru stone.