ABSTRACT
In New Zealand, the story of the design of the 'Beehive', as the Executive wing of the New Zealand Parliament is usually called, remains largely unknown. It is a story that does not reflect well on most of those involved. Veiled agreements, competing agenda and professional rivalry, from the onset, meant that the project could not have a clean resolution. It was a situation that was fraught politically in many ways, and at many levels. For these reasons it is a story that has been largely suppressed. Using archival records, this chapter gives an account of the building's design. It describes how a British architect came to design the country's then most prestigious commission and it considers why the accounts of the building's design have remained so uncertain.
