Wellington Museum (Te Waka Huia o Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho)

Wellington Museum (Te Waka Huia o Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho) occupies a heritage bond store on Queens Wharf, on the Wellington waterfront. The building dates from 1892 and was originally used for storing goods held under customs bond — a maritime working history that is still legible in the timber, brick and cast-iron interiors, and which is a large part of what makes the building work as an event venue. The museum is part of the Museums Wellington group and is administered under Wellington City Council.

Event spaces

The museum is available for private hire, either room by room or as a whole building, and is the largest of the Museums Wellington venues. Hireable spaces include the von Kohorn Room, the Draughtsman's Room, The Attic, the Capital Room and the WH&ESA Room, along with gallery spaces such as Flux and Telling Tales.

Indicative cocktail-style capacities published by the venue and listing services:

• The Attic — up to around 240
• Flux — up to around 150
• Telling Tales — up to around 130
• Capital Room — up to around 130
• Draughtsman's Room — up to around 40

Hired in full, the museum can host in the region of 500 guests, with some listings citing higher cocktail numbers for whole-of-building events. Organisers should confirm current capacities directly with the venue, as configurations change with exhibitions.

Services

Catering and audiovisual equipment can be arranged through the venue, and guided tours of the collection can be built into an event — a useful option for incentive programmes and conference partner activities, since guests can move through the galleries as part of the evening rather than being confined to a single function room.

Suitability for meetings and events

Wellington Museum is best suited to cocktail functions, conference welcome receptions, gala and awards evenings, product launches and seated dinners where the heritage setting is part of the point. Smaller rooms such as the Draughtsman's Room and von Kohorn Room suit board meetings, briefings and workshops. Its position on Queens Wharf places it within a short walk of the Wellington CBD, TSB Arena and much of the city's hotel inventory, which makes it straightforward to pair with a daytime conference programme held elsewhere in the city.

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