This book presents a visual survey of the surviving work of six architects employed by New Zealand's Public Works Department -- which later became the Ministry of Works -- from the 1860s to 1960s. Individual chapters are devoted to William Henry Clayton, Pierre Finch Martineau Burrows, John Campbell, John Thomas Mair, Robert Adams Patterson, and Francis Gordon Wilson. Each chapter includes a brief biographical sketch of the featured architect followed by illustrations of the public buildings, drawn by Martin. The chapters are chronologically ordered, allowing the reader to see the evolution of New Zealand architecture from colonialism to modernism.