General Assembly House
first building to house the New Zealand Parliament in Auckland
The General Assembly House, colloquially called "Shedifice" by the members of Parliament, was the first building to house the New Zealand Parliament in Auckland. It was in use by Parliament from 1854 until 1864 during the time that Auckland was the capital of New Zealand. It was also used by the Auckland Provincial Council, with Auckland Province owning the building from 1858. After the abolition of the provincial government system, the building was used by the government's survey department and was then used by Auckland University College. The General Assembly House was demolished in 1917 to make way for Anzac Avenue. Today, a reserve adjacent to Parliament Street called Parliament Reserve commemorates the location where the New Zealand Parliament met initially.
History
Context
Auckland was New Zealand's second capital from 1841 until 1865, when Parliament was permanently moved to Wellington after an argument that lasted for a decade. The initial form of government was an executive council formed of public servants appointed by and responsible to the governor. This changed when the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted self-government to the Colony of New Zealand, was received. This allowed for a bicameral General Assembly (or Parliament), consisting of the governor, an appointed Legislative Council and an elected House of Representatives, with an Executive Council nominally appointed by the governor.
“General Assembly House” enters the record as first building to house the New Zealand Parliament in Auckland. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what General, Assembly and House can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“General Assembly House” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, General, Assembly and House provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23035335. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1854, 1864, 1858 and 1917.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “General Assembly House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow General Assembly House primary sources, General Assembly House archive and General research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “General Assembly House”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “General Assembly House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.