Barrett’s Hotel came into being in 1840 when a Tory Channel whaler, Dicky Barrett, purchased a two-storied prefabricated house from Dr Evans, who had brought it out from England. Shortly after it opened, the hotel was taken over by Mr and Mrs Richard Suisted and it became the centre of the social and political life of Wellington.

Said to have been the first European building in Wellington, Barrett’s Hotel was afterwards used as a church, was the first public library in New Zealand, became the centre for the Council chamber, where Governor George Grey presided over the Executive Council, became the offices of central and provincial government, and ended its life as the Government Printing Office, before it burned down in 1890.

Today, the Quay follows the line of what was then the beach: all the land between Lambton Quay and the present waterfront has been reclaimed.