Thomas Ward 1849-1934Thomas Ward, a licensed surveyor and civil engineer, was contracted in 1889 to produce a detailed map of Wellington central city.Over three years, Ward collected information and compiled it into scale map tiles.Map legendThe maps show legal boundaries of properties and streets, buildings and what they were constructed of, street-lamp and fireplug locations.Early WellingtonThe Thomas Ward survey map provides much information about early Wellington. Where building records are not complete, the map is useful for discovering whether present-day buildings were in existence before 1892. It also hints at the nature of the late 19th century city where high-density housing is evident in some parts.
