South British Building

The South British Building is a carefully crafted example of a neo-Georgian design expressed on a Chicago-styled office building. The South British building is one of a number of tall office buildings erected in the 1930s that bolstered Wellington’s post-Depression economy and helped shape the 20th century character of the city. The building has an historic association with the South British Insurance Co. It is Wellington’s sole, tangible reminder of one of the few internationally successful insurance companies begun, and fully owned and operated, from New Zealand.The building façade is relatively unaltered and retains much of the original building fabric. It is a rare surviving example of a Chicago style high-rise building in Wellington’s ‘Golden Mile’.This six-storey (with basement) building has been designed in a palazzo format, with a rusticated base of piers and wide openings, and a piano nobile level above that is more sophisticated, in design and detail, than the rest of the floors. The facade is dignified and unpretentious, faced in Darleydale sandstone from Derbyshire (an unusual feature in a New Zealand context).Bronze windows, with copper sill ‘flashings’ / cladding to sills, marble sills (internal).Wall St on Lambton Quay - in the Heart of the Wellington CBD Friendly, fully staffed reception,Sunny boardroom and meeting room,A social environment,Complete administration services,Personal telephone communication,Virtual office facilities.