Victorian Dunedin: Architecture Walk Through New Zealand's Gold Rush City
Dunedin's gold rush prosperity left a legacy of Victorian and Edwardian architecture unmatched in the Southern Hemisphere. The law courts, post office, university, railway station and churches form a remarkable townscape.
- 1
First Church of Otago
A soaring Gothic Revival church completed in 1873, considered the finest Victorian church in New Zealand. The ornate spire dominates the skyline and the interior features excellent stained glass and woodwork.
- 2
Otago University Campus
New Zealand's oldest university, founded in 1869, occupies a beautiful campus of neo-Gothic stone buildings beside the Water of Leith. The clocktower is the symbol of the university and the city's intellectual identity.
- 3
Law Courts and Municipal Chambers
The law courts built in 1902 and the ornate municipal chambers represent the peak of Dunedin's Victorian civic ambitions, using Oamaru stone and dark Otago bluestone in confident combination.
- 4
Larnach Castle
New Zealand's only castle, built in 1871 by a banking magnate, sits on the Otago Peninsula with extraordinary views. The ballroom restoration and gardens are open to visitors, with accommodation in restored servants quarters.
- 5
Stuart Street Terrace Houses
A street of intact Victorian terrace houses gives the clearest picture of how prosperous Dunedin citizens lived during the gold rush era. The street has been carefully preserved as a heritage zone.
- 6
Dunedin Chinese Garden
A traditional Chinese scholar's garden created to honor the contribution of Chinese miners who came to the Otago goldfields from the 1860s. An unexpected and beautiful pocket of classical Chinese garden design.