Tasman St Brick Wall

• 1891
• The first (central) section of the retaining wall appears on a plan of the Mt Cook Reserve.
• 1893
• Construction began on the Mt Cook Police Station and the associated police station retaining (and yard) walls (WCC16/43). The second (northern) section of retaining wall was built between the police station yard and the existing retaining wall.
• 1903
• The final (southern) section of the retaining wall was completed
• 1942
• Air raid shelters were built at the eastern side of the Mt Cook Reserve. These were set just above the height of the retaining wall and steps were cut through the retaining wall to give access from street level.
• c.1940
• Tennis courts were built at the far southern end of the wall. Bricks were added to the top of the boundary wall at the northernmost tennis court.
• 1969
• The wall became a Heritage Object in the WCC District Plan Heritage Inventory
• 1995
• The wall became a Heritage Object in the WCC District Plan Heritage Inventory
• c.2006
• Water, grit, sand or ‘garnet’ blasting of graffiti caused damage to the wearing faces of some brickwork, particularly at the northern end of the wall.
• 2009
• Graffiti removal using chemical poultice methods

Not assessed

Not assessed

The Tasman Street wall is a brick retaining wall. It is a gravity retaining wall that utilises its mass to retain the earth behind. The width of the wall is not known, but it is assumed to be substantial – wider at the bottom than the top. A clue may be found in the profile of the western police yard wall (see photograph in Appendix 2, fig 23 of the NZHPT registration report). This nearby wall has been built on a ‘rake’ or angle, and the wall widens in profile from one-and-a-half bricks at the top to three bricks at the base. 

The brickwork of the Tasman Street Wall was built in an English Bond, with courses of stretchers that alternate with courses of headers. The wall was built at a shallow pitch to form a rake, or tilt in the wall, of about two or three degrees from vertical. The wall is topped by a brick coping that is built up from a ‘cornice’ of two corbelled brick courses, topped by one or two brick courses. 

From north to south, the wall shows evidence of the construction sequence. The northernmost (1893- 94) section of retaining wall abuts the adjacent Mt Cook Police Station yard wall. The yard wall is approx 20 brick courses taller than the retaining wall and is built to a true vertical, rather than at a raked angle (see WCC 16/43).  The 1893 – 94 retaining wall coping is topped by two brick courses laid in English bond with the top row as stretchers. The wall is approximately 10 brick courses taller than the adjacent c.1891 wall and the bonding detail between the two wall sections is crudely executed. The bricks for the 1893-94 are marked with broad arrows on the headers and are all incised horizontally. Weep holes are formed between headers at the third, thirteenth and the twenty-seventh course. They are one brick high, and one header wide. 

The c.1891 wall is laid level with no steps to the coping, except for a sweeping convex curve to adjust the height at its northern end. The coping is made up of a single course of headers above the brick ‘cornice’. The bricks are marked with a broad arrow on both headers and/or stretchers, and the arrow varies in orientation.  The weep holes are set in a single line at just under half the height of the wall and are one brick header wide, and two brick courses high. The southern end of this section terminates in a brick pier approximately opposite No. 23 Tasman Street. 

The c.1901 wall is stepped in height at regular intervals to suit the topography of the hill at Mt Cook/Pukeahu, and the slope of the street. The bricks, coping detail, and weep-holes match those of the c.1893 – 94 wall.  The c.1901 section is the most modified part of the retaining wall and has been cut back to form two sets of steps and a platform for a substation, and raised in height to suit a modern (c.1940s) tennis court terrace. 

The northern steps are formed in concrete and are utilitarian in design. The southern stairs appear to have been built at an earlier date and some care has been taken to integrate them into the old brick retaining wall. The path, steps and risers are of concrete with a particularly coarse aggregate. The path retaining walls are built in brick and have a curved brick detail at each vertical edge. 

The c.1969 substation was built at the immediate south of the (southernmost) steps. The retaining wall has been reduced in height to form a low terrace about half a metre above pavement height. A similar curved brick detail has been used at the vertical edges of the steps and flank retaining walls. There is some evidence of the reuse of old prison bricks, particularly at the c.1969 cornice. 

The tennis court terraces have been somewhat more crudely constructed. The northernmost tennis court terrace was levelled by increasing the height of the retaining wall by between two and nine courses of new brickwork. There is evidence of cracking and subsidence in the c.1940s brick work. 

The c.1901 wall terminates abruptly in line with the boundary of the tennis courts and 60 Tasman Street. The return wall here was built of concrete, perhaps at the time of the construction of the tennis courts in 1942. 

Red bricks, cement mortar and concrete

The Tasman Street Wall is a brick retaining wall that extends approximately 250 metres south from the south of the rear wall of the former Mount Cook Police Station on the corner of Tasman and Buckle Streets. It forms the boundary between the western side of Tasman Street, and the eastern side of the Mt Cook Reserve. The eastern side of Tasman Street is occupied by residential apartments and houses, with the notable exception of the empty site at the southern side of the Rugby and Tasman Street intersection. A short distance to the west is the National War Memorial and the former National Museum (now Massey University). To the south-west behind the university, is Wellington High School. The wall sits near the northern margins of the suburb of Mt Cook, an inner-city suburb that gets its name from the landmark hill.

• 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 Tasman Street Brick Wall is a good example of Victorian engineering. It is notable for the quality of its design, materials and workmanship, particularly the use of high-quality ‘prison’ bricks, the pronounced tilt of the wall’s construction, and for its neatly detailed cornice.

• Townscape

  Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

  The wall has high townscape value as the defining feature along an approximately 250 metre stretch of Tasman Street. It is one of the best places in Wellington to see ‘prison’ bricks and has become a local landmark for this reason. 

• 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?

  The brick wall is the oldest remaining built object on the Mt Cook Reserve. It has a particular association with the adjacent Mt Cook Police Station, with which it shares a similar history, design and materiality. 

• Association

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

  The brick wall has an association with the former occupants of the Mt Cook Reserve from the era of the Mt Cook Gaol onwards. Its brick construction links it directly to the penal history of the area, to the prisoners who made the bricks and built the wall, and to the general era of brick-making that so characterised this part of Wellington. It later formed part of the perimeter of the Alexandra military barracks, the Dominion Museum, Massey University campus and the Wellington High School grounds. 

• Archaeological

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

  The site has a specific designation - R27/440

  Tasman Street Wall. Brick retaining wall constructed of bricks made by prisoners on Mt Cook itself, the wall is the oldest structure still standing within the former Mt Cook Reserve.

• Educational

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

  The wall has educational value as part of the infrastructure of the old Mt Cook Gaol and Alexandra military barracks, of which the buildings and other structures have all been demolished. 

• Technological

  Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

  The wall has technological value for the use of brickwork to retain a bank. The wall is a technically fine example of brick construction. Of particular interest is the rake of the wall, which required the bricks to be laid on a shallow angle. Although not unusual, it is well handled, certainly when contrasted with the work to form the c.1940s tennis courts.

• 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?

  The wall has had few intrusive modern alterations or additions over the past 120 years (with the notable exception of the levelling for the c.1940s tennis courts and the c.1969 substation). It contributes to the sense of place and continuity of Tasman Street and the Mt Cook Reserve. 

• Rare

  Is the item rare, unique, unusual, seminal, influential, or outstanding?

  The wall demonstrates 19^th and early 20^th century brickwork techniques in brick wall retaining that are rare in Wellington. It is likely to be the largest extant example in the Wellington region. 

• Representative

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

  The wall is a particularly competent example of brick retaining wall design and workmanship. 

• 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?

  The wall retains a substantial proportion of its early/original form and built fabric. 

• Importance

  Is the item important at a local, regional, national, or international level?

  The wall is of regional significance.

Not assessed

• Aerial view over Mount Cook, Wellington, while the Dominion Museum was being constructed. Ref: 1/2-053018-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
• Kelly, Michael & Karen Astwood, ‘Tasman Street Wall, Mt Cook, Wellington’, unpublished Registration Report for the NZHPT (2008)
• Mount Cook Prison and buildings on Buckle Street, Wellington. Smith, Sydney Charles, 1888-1972: Photographs of New Zealand. Ref: 1/1-020192-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
• Mounted Special Constables during the 1913 waterfront strike, Wellington. Smith, Sydney Charles, 1888-1972: Photographs of New Zealand. Ref: 1/2-049059-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand

• Inventory report

Not available