At the beginning of the 20th century the Liberal Government was determined to weaken the monopoly of private financial institutions which were largely controlled by overseas interests. In 1903 it established the State Insurance office which opened for business two years later on 4 January 1905 in premises on the corner of Grey and Featherston Streets.
Business flourished. In 1919 State Insurance moved to a new building designed by the architectural firm Hoggard, Prouse and Gummer, on the corner of Lambton Quay and Waring Taylor Street. As State Insurance continued to grow, larger premises were needed. In 1937 an adjacent site, on the corner of Lambton Quay and Stout Street (which was occupied by the Arcadia Hotel) was purchased. Two years later the hotel was demolished to make way for State’s new building. The original architects (now Gummer and Ford) also designed this building. Fletcher Construction completed the large eight storey structure in less than two years. At the time the enormous Departmental Building on a neighbouring site was also under construction. World War II had an obvious effect on the local construction industry, and few significant or grand buildings were built in this era - the Departmental and State Insurance Building are notable exceptions to this general rule.
The State Insurance Building is one of the finest, and earliest, Modernist commercial buildings in Wellington, and is one of several high-quality buildings designed by Gummer and Ford. The building is a “natural successor” to the ‘Dingwall Building’ designed for a prestigious Auckland’s Queen Street site by the same architects. It owes much of its success to a “collaboration between Gummer and Ford’s older, more historicist-inclined founding partners and its more recently appointed younger architects.” This collaboration was due in part to Gummer’s awareness of the “shift towards modern architectural expression...” tempered with his concern that modernism would “deprive architecture of its character and distinction.” This critique of Modernism allowed Gummer and Ford to create a new building style that was more than a slavish copy of an overseas exemplar. The State Insurance Building is a particularly well-resolved example of this design philosophy.
In 1968 the first State Insurance building (1919) was found to be an earthquake hazard and was eventually replaced by a high rise tower, completed in 1979, and the adjoining 1942 building was destined for a similar fate. Plans build a tower-podium scheme on this site were put on hold both because of the 1987 share-market crash and the ensuing recession. By this time there was a growing public awareness of the significance of the State Insurance building, especially of its unique undulating or ‘corrugated’ street faces led the NZ Historic Places Trust to place a protection notice on the building. The building is now protected by a Heritage Order.
In 1990 State Insurance was sold to Norwich Union, ending nearly 90 years of state involvement in this industry. The new owners preserved Gummer and Ford’s modernist icon but added a three-storey roof-top addition designed by Athfield Architects. The 1997-1998 addition, once described as a ‘zephyr grill’ and a post-modern radiator, attracted a considerable amount of criticism. Significant refurbishment of the interior was also undertaken at this point. Following the project’s completion, Te Puni Kōkiri (The Ministry of Maori Affairs) became the building’s occupants, and renamed the building Te Puni Kōkiri House. The building has since undergone two further interior refurbishments, with little of the Athfield internal fit-out now remaining.
The installation of a (controversial) sculpture outside the building’s front doors in 1998 has added to the building’s cultural value. ‘Ruamoko’, by Ralph Hotere and Mark McFarlane, used columns and brass lettering from the demolition of the original State Fire Insurance Building to evoke the aftermath of an earthquake (Ruamoko is the Maori god of earthquakes and volcanoes). The sculpture is fitting for a Wellington sculpture located outside the former state insurance provider.
The State Insurance Building’s most dominant heritage values lies in its architectural and historical significance.
