Auckland Museum
| Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira | |
|---|---|
Auckland War Memorial Museum
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| General information | |
| Type | Museum, war memorial |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Location | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Address | Auckland Domain |
| Inaugurated | 28 November 1929 |
| Cost | £250,000 |
| Renovation cost | NZ$43 million (1990s); NZ$64.5 million (2000s expansion) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm | Grierson, Aimer and Draffin |
| Awards and prizes | NZIA Gold Medal in 1929 |
| Renovating team | |
| Awards and prizes | Supreme Award of the New Zealand Property Council, ACENZ Innovate NZ Gold Award (Structural Engineering) (expansion) |
| Website | |
| http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/ | |
| Designated | 27 June 1985 |
| Reference no. | 94 |
| References | |
| Official history of the museum. | |
The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckland Region), natural history, as well as military history.
The museum is also one of the most iconic Auckland buildings, constructed in the neo-classicist style, and sitting on a grassed plinth (the remains of a dormant volcano) in the Auckland Domain, a large public park close to the Auckland CBD.
The Auckland Museum traces its lineage back to 1852 when it was established in a farm workers' cottage where the University of Auckland is now located. With an initial call for the donation of specimens of wool for display it attracted 708 visitors in its first year.
Interest in the museum dwindled over the following decade even as its collection grew, and in 1869 the somewhat neglected and forlorn museum was transferred to the care of The Auckland Institute, a learned society formed two years earlier. An Italianate-style building was constructed for the museum in Princes Street, near Government House and across the road from the Northern Club. These new premises included a large gallery top-lit by a metal framed skylight. This room proved problematic as it was impossible to heat during the winter but overheated during the summer. Canvas awnings used to shield the roof from harsh sunlight made the exhibits difficult to view in the resulting gloom. One of the visitors during the 1890s was the French artist Gauguin, who sketched several Maori items and later incorporated them into his Tahitian period paintings.
In the early years of the 20th century the museum and its collections flourished under visionary curator Thomas Cheeseman, who tried to establish a sense of order and separated the natural history, classical sculpture and anthropological collections which had previously been displayed in a rather unsystematic way. The need for better display conditions and extra space necessitated a move from the Princes St site and eventually the project for a purpose-built museum merged with that of the war memorial to commemorate soldiers lost in World War I. The site was a hill in the Government Domain commanding an impressive view of the Waitemata Harbour. Permission was granted by the Auckland City Council in 1918, the Council in its liberality being given three seats on the Museum Council. As well as an initial gift of £10,000 the Council also agreed to an annual subsidy from the rates towards maintenance of the facility and eventually coaxed several of the other local bodies to the principle of an annual statutory levy of £6,000 to support the museum's upkeep.
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