Railway Workshop/Rolling Stock Depot

• unknown
• Alterations have been made to ground floor openings, with modern roller doors installed.
• unknown
• Early photos show smoke stacks to the roof of the western-most bay associated with the servicing of steam engines. These have now gone.

• unknown
• New Zealand Railways Department
• unknown
• New Zealand Railways Corporation/Ontrack

Not assessed

The workshop is divided longitudinally into 5 bays, each with a gable roof, the middle bay elevated above the two pairs of flanking bays with clerestory glazing in the upper walls. Each of the five bays, except the central bay has three roads; the latter has two roads. Although the north elevation is dominated by the motorway pier that penetrates the building, the south elevation is relatively unaffected by the motorway.

The structural materials are concrete end frames and dividing walls with steel roof trusses spanning across the bays supporting the moderately pitched roofs. The roof and gable cladding is corrugated iron. Roofs to the four smaller bays have extensive sky-lighting in the form of clear corrugated sheets worked in to the main roofing.

At ground level, the ends of the bays have roller doors; the rail tracks (“roads”) run through the building, over long pits used for servicing. The gable ends have multi-paned windows, while the middle bay has a huge steel-framed window made up of small panes 30 wide by 8 high. Some attention to detail above the purely functional can be seen in the pale pink render originally applied to the concrete (now painted over), and the stepped profile of the broad and tall concrete columns that separate the bays.

Internally, there is variation in the fit-out of each of the bays, including a variety of gantry cranes, elevated working platforms and the like. One of the small bays is principally given over to storage. The central bay is distinctive for its tall proportions, clerestory glazing and riveted lattice-work columns supporting the roof trusses; this space has abundant natural light and is principally used for servicing locomotives.

The Railway Workshop is a large concrete and steel industrial building, almost square in plan, situated in the middle of the Wellington railway yards.

The Railway Workshop building is located at the northern end of the railway yards near Thorndon Quay at the foot of Tinakori Hill. The immediate setting of the building is this large open area, which is bounded by major roads to the east and west. There are smaller workshop buildings nearby, including a distinctive Quonset type arched shed just to the west, and a timber administration building just to the south, perhaps of early 1930s vintage but considerably altered.

The broader setting includes another group of workshop buildings further south, the Wellington urban motorway which sails over the railway yards and directly over (and into) this building, with piers strategically placed between the tracks and into the structure of the building, the adjacent commercial area of Thorndon Quay, and the working wharves at Aotea Quay. The surrounding areas have a long historical association with the railways.

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  The Railway Depot it is a good example an industrial building designed within the functional tradition, and is well suited to its rail yard site and engine maintenance function. It is given some architectural elaboration that elevates it above the merely utilitarian and it has architectural value for that.

• Group

  Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

  This building is a part of the group of buildings that make up the Wellington Railway station and is located within close proximity to the Wellington Railway Station – Bunny Street Heritage Area.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important historic event, theme, pattern, phase, or activity?

  This building is significant as a major part of the railway yard re-organisation that occurred in the mid-1930s, which included the construction of the Wellington Railway Station itself. It is the second largest building in the yard, a significant example of industrial architecture and, as a maintenance workshop, a key building in railway operations in the lower North Island for over 60 years.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  This building is associated with the New Zealand railway system and the development if railways in New Zealand. 

• Archaeological

  Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

  Pre 1900 reclamation / Central City NZAA R27/270

• Educational

  Does the item have educational value for what it can demonstrate about aspects of the past?

  The building has educational and technological value as an example of a building designed for the maintenance of railway locomotives and rolling stock. It gives an insight into the 1930s infrastructure required for the maintenance of New Zealand’s rail network.

• Identity/Sense Of Place/Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  This building contributes to the sense of continuity and place of the Wellington Railway Station. It is in an authentic condition and has retained its original uses.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  This building has had few alterations and retains a large majority of its original fabric. It is also still in use for its original purpose which lends this building authenticity.

• Representative

  Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

  This building is representative of a utilitarian railway workshop. As such it is of some architectural and technical interest.

• Identity/Sense Of Place/Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  This building contributes to the sense of continuity and place of the Wellington Railway Station. It is in an authentic condition and has retained its original uses.

Not assessed

• Kelly, M. and H. McCracken, ‘Wellington Station and Yards: A chronological survey of land tenure - additions, reclamations and relinquishments’. Prepared for Tranzrail, Wellington, 1997.
• Murray, Russell. "Railway Workshop" unpublished report for WCC District Plan Change 53, 2007.
• New Zealand Historic Places Trust Professional Biographies. ‘William Gray Young.’ Accessed 14 August 2012.

• Inventory Report

Not available