Work to restore Wellington Botanic Gardens’ Begonia House will start next month.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Work is set to start next month to restore the Begonia House in Wellington’s Botanic Gardens.
The popular 1960s glasshouse that’s home to a collection of plants from around the world won a reprieve from the wrecking ball when the city council voted to save it – opting for a ‘do minimum’ option.
The $11 million refurbishment will bring the 65-year-old building up to working order and will include replacing heating, ventilation, windows and parts of the glasshouse structure.
The first stage of the refurbishment will begin on 1 November 2025, with the Tropical End closing for prep and plant removal.
A hibiscus at the Begonia House.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Manager of Wellington Gardens Bec Ramsay said Begonia House had a huge number of plants.
“Some of them are in pots as part of a display, and some of them are in permanent beds, so depending on the species of plant and what it needs to grow and how we manage it throughout the year, we’re doing different things as far as taking them all out.”
Ramsay said they had been working on how the plants would be looked after while they were not in Begonia House and had been working on how to accommodate them in their Botanic Garden and Berhampore nurseries.
“We’re doing a combination of reducing the numbers of plants and the sizes of plants so that we’ve still got a really good, broad, interesting collection of plants, but it doesn’t take up as much space at the two nurseries,” she said.
Manager of Wellington Gardens Bec Ramsay.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
In January 2026 the remaining floral displays were expected to be moved and the remainder of the building closed for refurbishment.
The Picnic Café would then be closed temporarily from about June to August 2026 with a coffee cart in place for the interim.
Ramsay said the refurbishment would see all of the heating and the cooling and the irrigation and the electrical systems replaced.
“It’s a really interesting building in that it works through passive airflow and one of the biggest problems we’ve got with it at the moment is that none of the windows open and close in the way they’re supposed to, so it’s too hot in summer and too cold in winter,” she said.
The buildings heating and cooling would be replaced.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
The project was being delivered alongside the Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden and other project partners.
The Friends are a community group of volunteers who have loudly advocated for Begonia House.
President Mazz Scannell said with the $11m from the council’s ‘do minimum’ budget they were fundraising an extra $1m to help deliver some “enhancements”.
The donations would fund internal and external lighting, upgraded fittings, exterior landscape work, events spaces, and the final touches.
The Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden are hoping to fundraise an extra $1m for the renovation.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
The group was calling on 800 donors to donate $1000, each linked to a pane of glass in the conservatory.
The number represented the number of panes of glass that were in the conservatory.
Donations would also be recognised on an etched glass panel installed in the foyer area of the conservatory, and the group were calling on some larger donations.
The conservatory has 800 panes of glass.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Garden historian Clare Gleeson said Begonia House was the heart of the Botanic Gardens.
She said it also provided an important educational function and allowed visitors to see plants they wouldn’t see otherwise.
Gleeson said she and her husband had donated a pane on behalf of their children. Gleeson said her garden club had also donated.
Councillor Nicola Young, who is currently seeking re-election, was one of the councillors who supported saving Begonia House.
She thought a lot of people would be excited and relieved the building was now getting refurbished.
“There was a feeling that the council had a wrecking ball around the city and that the Begonia House was going to suffer from that.”
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