New Zealand House

New Zealand House

This Grade II listed building is a prominent corner site development comprising a four-storey podium surmounted by a fifteen-storey tower. The podium rises to 60 feet, designed to match the cornice level of surrounding buildings, while the tower reaches 225 feet in height.

The structure employs a reinforced concrete frame with circular columns set at 27-foot centres. The podium is clad with Portland stone banding and black Belgian fossil marble at plinth level. The tower features continuous horizontal strip windows with plain plate float glass framed in silver anodised aluminium, with window cills clad in faience. Stainless steel columns and balcony railings are used throughout. The roof is flat.

The tower is characterised by continuous strip windows to each floor, punctuated by projecting Portland stone bands that define its silhouette. At the top, a heavy horizontal band is slightly set back and appears to hover above further recessed windows with tall steel mullions. This overhang is supported on steel circular columns and incorporates a perimeter viewing balcony with steel balustrade. The uppermost section of the tower is clad in grey marble, externally much weathered, capped with a strip of vents and topped with an attached steel circular flagpole.

The podium is raised on circular stainless steel pilotis, which reappear as short columns on the fourth floor where the floor is recessed to Pall Mall, creating a roof terrace. The stone-edged canopy is flush with the building face along Haymarket.

The main entrance to Haymarket features a cantilevered canopy with "NEW ZEALAND HOUSE" in blocky lettering on the fascia, flanked by engraved glass figurative panels by John Hutton. The secondary entrance from Royal Opera Arcade is set back from the arcade and predominantly glazed with steel doors and fascia. A ceramic blue plaque on the Haymarket elevation, erected by the British Vietnam Association, commemorates Ho Chi Minh, who worked as a waiter at the former Carlton Hotel (which occupied this site in 1913) in that year. The Carlton Hotel previously stood on this location.

Interior arrangements are complex, with the podium featuring inter-penetrating spaces of varying heights, mezzanines, and linking bridges based on a modular grid system. Original internal planning incorporated demountable aluminium partitioning panelled with New Zealand hardwood.

The main Haymarket entrance leads to a small vestibule with late twentieth-century sliding doors and shallow ramp beneath a low ceiling of large timber beams. This opens into a double-height lobby with a timber-slatted ceiling and Greek white Pentellic marble floor paving. Two exposed structural steel columns support the space, and at its centre stands a striking three-storey wooden sculptured pole, meticulously carved from a single New Zealand totara tree by operatic bass and sculptor Inia te Wiata MBE (1915-71). The pole bears life-sized representations of Maori tribal figures and sits on a marble plinth. The lift core rises through the podium and full height of the tower, lined in grey Marathon marble with visibly expressed central voids creating engaging views through four storeys of the podium. Grey marble walls feature inscribed panels carved by David Dewey, recording that the foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister of New Zealand on 16 May 1960 and the building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 May 1963.

A grand main staircase faced with grey marble and glazed balustrade leads from the lobby to the mezzanine gallery, which features rimu timber slatted panelling, grey marble walls, and exposed structural steel columns. The lower ground floor contains a large ladies' bathroom extensively clad in grey marble and a timber-clad vestibule. The basement houses storage and car parking, with a deep sub-basement containing plant. Historic vaults from the former Carlton Hotel (designed by Mewes and Davis, 1899) survive in the sub-basement, formerly used as wine cellars. The podium includes an internal open-air courtyard at second-floor level, paved in brick and Portland stone with planters, enclosed by glazed walls and the blind brick wall of an adjacent theatre.

Throughout the tower, interiors of architectural interest are limited to the central lift lobbies, which are mostly carpeted and of concrete construction, except for floor 17, where a reconstituted marble floor was installed in 1993. The exception is the penthouse on floor 17, which features fully-glazed walls to the viewing platform offering 360-degree views over central London. The original lounge with bar and gallery is largely lined in grey marble and vertical slatted wood panelling, with replica carpet and two modest staircases with metal balustrades. Venetian blinds, an original feature, were planned to manage solar gain and glare. The innovative use of air conditioning at the time allowed for distinctively large windows that did not require opening.