Victoria University was established by an Act of Parliament, the Victoria College Act of 1897, in commemoration of the 60th year of Queen Victoria’s reign. After considerable negotiation, and difficulties in raising the necessary funding, a site for the university was chosen above Salamanca Road, near the then recently opened Kelburn Cable Car.
A competition was held to decide on a design for the main college building and the winners were the Wellington firm of Penty and Blake. Prime Minister Richard Seddon intervened and insisted that another floor be added to make fuller use of the site. This was done and the foundation stone was laid on 27 August 1904. The building was opened on 30 March 1906, with only the central portion - the science and arts blocks - of the original design built. Nevertheless the building was a striking landmark on the bare Kelburn hills.
The building was always intended to grow and the first addition came with the extension of the arts block, to the west, in 1909. The North Wing/Memorial Library was completed in 1922. This wing was dedicated to the university’s fallen of World War I and included a huge stained glass commemorative window which was unveiled by Sir Robert Stott, Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, on Good Friday 1924. The architects were Swan and Lawrence who hired a Gothic specialist, Andrew Hamilton, to help with the design. The south wing was built in 1923, again to designs by Swan and Lawrence, to provide further room for the geology and physics departments.
Departments gradually moved out after World War II with the construction of new accommodation, but it was not until the 1960s that the university really expanded. In 1959 the building was named for Sir Thomas Hunter, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of New Zealand and the first principal of Victoria College. Hunter Building was abandoned in 1974 for earthquake reasons and in 1977 the University Council resolved to demolish it. Concerted efforts to save the building ensued for more than a decade. Eventually major strengthening and refurbishment proceeded during 1992-94, and the building was reoccupied.
The Hunter building was registered as a historic place with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1981. In 2004 the building celebrated its 100th birthday.
The Hunter Building has seen its role in the university diminish with the university’s expansion in the 1960s. The university has now spread far and wide over the Kelburn hill (and beyond), yet the Hunter Building still retains a high degree of importance to Victoria. The Hunter Building is the building most closely associated with the university – it is the physical symbol of Victoria University.
Though the Hunter Building’s symbolic role should not come at the expense of its historic importance. The Hunter Building was the university for a period – it once housed all the departments. Thousands of students were taught and have studied in the building, and it has been the place of work of some of New Zealand’s most respected academics. The Hunter Building’s erection marked the arrival of tertiary study to Wellington. This has proved an incredibly significant development in Wellington’s history, and it is underlined by the continued importance of Victoria University to Wellington.
The Hunter Building is now considered as the ‘centre’ of the university and now houses the offices of the Vice-Chancellor along with the major reception areas of the university – the Council Chamber and the Victoria Room.
