Parliamentary Library (Wellington)
The Parliamentary Library in Wellington , New Zealand is the library of the New Zealand Parliament . The building that houses the library bears the same name.
geography
The building is located in the Thorndon district of Wellington , on the site between Hill Street , Molesworth Street , Lambton Quay , Bowen Street and Museum Street , north of Parliament House and thus directly on Hill Street . The front of the building faces the park in front of it and Molesworth Street .
The building
The Parliamentary Library has a floor space of around 63 m by 33 m with a small annex at the rear and a connecting passage to the Parliament building on its left. The building was designed by the architect Thomas Turnbull in the Victorian Gothic style and built in two phases. Like the Parliament House, the Parliamentary Library was renovated between 1992 and 1995 and the foundation made earthquake-proof. The structure was in a complex process to vibration of rubber set, the earthquake to a thickness of MM 8 on the Mercalli to cause, without structural damage to the building, to cushion and to thickness MM still get the substance of the building despite structural damage 10 can.
history
The Parliamentary Library building was built in two sections. The western part, which is now the rear part of the building, was built in 1883 and the eastern part, which is now the front part of the building, in 1899. However, the building was not used as a library until 1901 and was called at that time still General Assembly Library .
When what was then Parliament House burned down in 1907, the fire also damaged the Parliamentary Library, but it was repaired again. The foyer was damaged again by fire in 1992. Since the renovation and reconstruction of the foundation between 1992 and 1995, the building has remained undamaged to this day.
On July 20, 1989, the building was the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in the Historic Place Category 1 classified and has since been listed building.
The library
When the seat of parliament was still in Auckland , the library was built in the early 1850s. It was called the General Assembly Library , was in a small room and had to be shared with the Auckland Provincial Council , the council of the province. In 1860 the library had 750 books and after its expansion three years later it was 4,000. After Parliament was moved to Wellington, the number of books in 1872 increased to 8,000 works and newspapers in new rooms.
After the completion of the new library, today's building, the collection was expanded to include photographs and documents, and paintings were also added to the inventory. In the fire that destroyed Parliament House and parts of the adjacent library in 1907, however, the holdings were secured and saved.
In 1926 the library owned 100,000 archived copies, and 40 years later the archive had grown to around 300,000 works. During renovations between 1992 and 1995, all of the library's holdings had to be moved to Bowen House , where the MPs have their offices. It was reopened in 1995.
Today the Parliamentary Library not only serves parliamentarians as a library and reading room, it also offers a service for research and research. However, the public is denied access to the archived works. As a visitor, you can only take part in guided sightseeing tours, which, however, do not allow you to see the archived inventory.
See also
Web links
- John E. Martin: History of Parliament's buildings and grounds - Parliamentary Library. New Zealand Parliament, March 28, 2012, accessed October 20, 2014 .
- Parliamentary Library. Heritage New Zealand, accessed October 20, 2014 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Parliament's buildings - Parliamentary Library. New Zealand Parliament, September 16, 2011, accessed October 19, 2014 .
- ^ New Zealand House of Representatives (ed.): Base Isolation Earthquake Proofing used in Parliament Buildings . Wellington 2010 (English, information sheet for visitors to the Parliament Buildings published by the Visitor Service).
- ^ Parliamentary Library. Heritage New Zealand, accessed October 20, 2014 .
- ↑ a b c Parliament Buildings - Library. New Zealand History Online, accessed October 21, 2014 .
Coordinates: 41 ° 16 ′ 38 ″ S , 174 ° 46 ′ 36 ″ E