Below is an ongoing record of recollections from the Old Public Trust Building. If you've got any stories of your own please contact us and we will include them on this page.

A family affair

1940s: Frank Giles worked in the Old Public Trust Building during the 1940s as a solicitor. He recalled experiences during World War Two when the building was considered at risk from Japanese attack owing to its location over the street from the Defence Building. Groups of six workers known as 'fire watchers' would sleep overnight in the building's cafeteria on army-supplied stretchers. They were equipped with buckets of sand and fire extinguishers to protect the building and its documents from fire damage.

His son, Paul Giles, would visit Frank during this period and recalls the sombre, formal atmosphere of 1940s working life.

Also during this time, the foundation walls in the basement vault sprang a leak and, as the building was sited on reclaimed land, the vault began to flood every day at high tide. Noisy pumps were installed to remove the water after each high tide. The vault continued to be used as a document store and employees often had to wade through knee-high water to retrieve documents, until it was eventually repaired.

1950s: Paul Giles himself spent two years working in the Old Public Trust Building, from 1951 to 1953, as a legal cadet. He has always admired the building and describes it as an important part of New Zealand's history. He recalls convincing gullible young colleagues to hoist the building's flag to half mast in remembrance of past legal cadets, mischief that would invariably get the hoodwinked youngster into trouble from his supervisor.

2000s: Continuing a family tradition, Paul Dow - the son-in-law of Paul Giles - now works at the Old Public Trust Building, in financing for Creative New Zealand. After spending time working in London he is passionate about the importance of preserving historic buildings to give a place a sense of history and wishes that New Zealand had retained more of its historic built environment. He particularly enjoys the Old Public Trust Building's high ceilings and spacious feeling.

Other staff members with links going back through time include Mark Da Vanzo, currently one of Creative New Zealand's Arts Infrastructure team. Mark's father Rex Da Vanzo who still works for the Public Trust in Lower Hutt, spent the early part of his Trust career in the 1960s in this building.

More stories: two retired employees of the OPTB

1940s: Noel Kelly, former Public Trustee, remembers that in the 1940s head office was very top heavy. When Noel’s uncle Harry Pearce was made Public Trustee in 1949 he made some very important changes in the office that were of lasting benefit. New systems were introduced that gave more authority to the District Public Trustees and their staff to deal locally with the administration of estates. This decentralisation led to improved efficiency of the Public Trust.

1950s: Harry Pearce, and his successors, believed also that it was important for staff in head office to have Public Trust experience outside of Wellington. Therefore, from the 1950s onwards, most of the Head Office staff were people who had lived and worked throughout the country.

Although Harry Pearce was Noel's uncle, the Managers at the branches where he worked were told they had to watch Noel's every step and report back if he put a foot wrong - the opposite of nepotism! Noel must not have done too badly, though, as in the course of his career at the Public Trust office he rose from the lowest position to Public Trustee.

1960s: Noel Kelly also remembers working with Alan Kennard, a warm and amiable man, who took a close interest in the welfare of his staff. One morning, during his regular daily meeting with his two assistant Public Trustees, he expressed concern about how well staff at the 50 branches knew the Public Trustee, and how well he and the two assistants in turn knew the staff. He said he had grown up in the office at a time when staff at branches outside Wellington knew nothing of the people in Head Office, and they equally knew little of those in the branches. He proposed that the remedy would be that he and the two assistant Public Trustees would establish a programme of going out to branches, talking individually (and informally) with members of the staff, listening to their thoughts, and answering their questions. Over the years - both during and after Alan Kennard's term of office - these visits to branches produced numerous innovative ideas from staff members. These ideas were then promulgated either by formal instructions or through letters which successive Public Trustees wrote to branches every 5 or 6 weeks.

1960s: One Public Trust employee remembers being in the building during an earthquake in 1969. One of his colleagues, refused to move from under his desk despite the terror and falling ceiling plaster. He was determined to stay in his safe spot - which he happened to be sharing with a female employee who, in the Public Trust employee's opinion, was the most beautiful woman in the office. All he could say was "At least I will die happy".

Like many offices today, the Public Trust head office had a practical joker. There was one senior officer who was a serious creature of habit: every single day at exactly the same time (which was exactly 5 minutes before everyone else), he would solemnly take his hat and coat and march off home, walking out through the office in a distinctive manner. As he passed, every member of staff would put their heads down and look busy. One day, when the senior officer was away, the practical joker pretended to be him and mimicked his actions perfectly. As usual, everyone had their heads down looking busy, and all got a great surprise when they looked up and saw the impostor. Not everybody found this terribly funny, some thought this particular practical joke rather annoying.