File:Plan of Government House Reserve.jpg

English: After ten years of debate between provinces and an independent commission, the capital of New Zealand moved from Auckland to Wellington on 26 July 1865. With it moved the seat of government, creating the need for Parliament Buildings in Wellington.

The politicians leaving Auckland in 1865 left behind a plain, two-storey structure christened the ‘Shedifice’. "It had been hastily built, was little more than a bare shell, the wind whistled through the walls and the roof leaked. There was no clock, division bell or even toilets, nor anywhere to get food and drink." In Wellington Parliament moved into wooden buildings constructed by the Provincial Council in 1857-8, on the site now occupied by the Parliamentary Library. These buildings had originally been built to entice Parliament to Wellington.

This map of the Wellington Government Domain was drawn by E.V.Briscoe in 1869 and shows Parliament House and its surroundings. The House itself "was soon overcrowded and ‘grew like topsy’ until the end of the century." To make sense of the map, here's a 1859 photograph of the Government Buildings (still the Provincial Council at that time), natlib.govt.nz/records/22494909, and a 1867 watercolour: natlib.govt.nz/records/22825641