In 1891, a remarkable map of Wellington was made by surveyor Thomas Ward. It recorded the footprint of every building, from Thorndon in the north and across the teeming, inner-city slums of Te Aro to Berhampore in the south. Updated regularly over the next 10 years, it detailed hotels, theatres, oyster saloons, brothels, shops, stables, Parliament, the remnants of Maori kainga, the Town Belt, the prisons, the 'lunatic asylum', the hospital and much more, in detail so particular that it went right down to the level of the street lights. Luxuriously packaged with a cloth case and fold-out jacket, Mr Ward's Map uses this giant map and historic images to tell marvellous stories about a vital capital city, its neighbourhoods and its people at the turn of the twentieth century.
By:
Elizabeth Cox
Imprint: Massey University Press
Country of Publication: New Zealand
Dimensions:
Height: 315mm,
Width: 230mm,
Spine: 40mm
Weight: 2.200kg
ISBN: 9781991309068
ISBN 10: 1991309066
Pages: 560
Publication Date: 13 November 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified
INTRODUCTION: THE MAP OF EVERYTHING 7 THE MAP SHEETS 36—537 4 & 5 ‘They were a swarm’ 36 7 & 8 ‘The city was storm driven’ 48 9 & 10 The Thorndon elite 56 11 ‘Best by pale moonlight’ 68 13 & 14 ‘An immense crowd lined the streets’ 74 15 & 16 A royal visit 84 17 & 18 The cliff and the buried shore 104 20 & 21 ‘Living on this mountain of a hill’ 116 22 Business on ‘the beach’ 128 23 & 24 Laws and order 138 25 & 26 The golden mile 152 27 The entrance to the city 170 28 & 29 ‘The fashionable street’ 184 30 ‘Elephants so big you could see them for nothing’ 200 31 & 32 ‘No expense has been spared’ 210 33 & 34 ‘Onward, munching happily’ 222 35 & 36 ‘Insanitary and filthy’ 240 37 & 38 ‘Protected from the visits of sea monsters’ 248 39 & 40 ‘Round the rocks’ 254 44 & 45 ‘Most singular and picturesque’ 264 46 & 47 ‘A reformatory institution’ 272 48 & 49 ‘Gentlemen will please skate with hats removed’ 284 50 & 51 ‘Unfit for occupation and dangerous to public health’ 296 52 & 53 ‘No fire ever made a cleaner sweep’ 310 56 & 57 ‘Off like a flight of starlings’ 320 58 & 59 ‘The Old Shebang’ 330 60 & 61 ‘Members of the community, asking no favours’ 340 62 & 63 ‘The petition of the undersigned women’ 356 65 & 66 ‘Everything done in A1 style’ 364 67 ‘Criminality is advertised on top of a central hill’ 372 68 & 69 ‘The people’s recreation ground’ 380 70 & 71 ‘Healthy and pleasant mental recreation’ 392 73 & 74 ‘Not always a Garden of Eden’ 400 75 & 76 City of horses 408 78 & 79 ‘Standing round an intensely glowing lake’ 420 80 & 81 ‘None of the prison or madhouse look’ 430 83 & 84 ‘A shop in the midst of them’ 442 85 ‘Many workers are becoming their own landlords’ 450 86 & 87 ‘Retrieve your fortune and buy a Wellesley Block lot’ 458 88 & 89 ‘Bells were rung and cannons fired’ 468 90 ‘The groggy goddess of liberty’ 478 91 & 92 ‘Barbed-wire fences where there ought to be turnstiles’ 486 93 & 94 ‘Indignation meeting’ 492 95 & 96 ‘No more than a ‘stimulating tonic’ 500 97 & 98 ‘No pageant equal’ 510 99 & 100 ‘An electioneering placard in her straw hat’ 518 101 & 102 ‘The thoroughfare was a quagmire’ 526 103 Artillery in the Berhampore hills 532 CONCLUSION: EVOLUTION OF THE CITY, EVOLUTION OF THE MAP 538 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 550 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 55 1 INDEX 552
Elizabeth Cox is a Wellington historian who specialises in New Zealand social and architectural history. Her 2022 book Making Space: A History of New Zealand Women in Architecture, published by Massey University Press, made a major contribution to the field of New Zealand architectural history. She received a President’s Award from Te Kāhui Waihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects for her efforts on behalf of New Zealand architecture in the same year. She has worked as the content lead for Te Ara Encyclopedia for Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and the National Trust in the United Kingdom. Her first book, A Friend Indeed: The Saving of Old St Paul’s, was published in 2018. She runs a heritage consultancy business exploring the history of New Zealand’s heritage buildings.
Reviews for Mr Ward's Map: Victorian Wellington street by street
‘It’s my favourite book of the year’ — Mark Amery, RNZ ‘This book is utterly extraordinary! . . . Mr Ward’s Map is a treasure and an extraordinary labour of love by Thomas Ward, who created the original maps with intricate detail, and by author Elizabeth Cox, whose extensive research and well-crafted text make it a work of art. This is a book to enjoy now and to hand down to future generations.’ — Karen McMillan, NZ Booklovers ‘Handsome, impressive’ — Mark Broatch, NZ Listener 100 Best Books of 2025
