Old Government Building, Heritage Category 1 building in Christchurch City, NZ

The Old Government Building is a four-storey brick and stone complex designed by Joseph Maddison in 1909 and opened in 1913. Its façade on Cathedral Square has a rusticated stone base, red brick upper walls and a central portico carried on columns. The building now operates as the Heritage Christchurch hotel, with the O.G.B bar on the ground floor.

Designed by Joseph Maddison in 1909 to centralise government departments, the building opened in 1913 and housed ministries until the 1980s, the last being the Ministry of Works and Development. Vacant for a time, it was threatened with demolition in 1991; on 11 July 1991 Christchurch City Council bought it for $735,000. Sold to the Symphony Group in 1995, it was converted into a hotel on condition it be strengthened and conserved.

The building's name changed with its tenants: it was the New Government Building when it opened, became the Old Government Building once government departments left, and appears as the Government Buildings in academic and architectural writing. Today the ground floor holds the bar O.G.B, whose initials repeat that later name, inside the Heritage Hotel Christchurch.

The building is located at 28-30 Cathedral Square in the central business area and is easily accessible on foot. Visitors can admire the exterior or enter the hotel to explore the preserved interior spaces and architectural details.

The council paid NZ$735,000 for the building on 11 July 1991, then sold it to the Symphony Group in 1995 on condition that it be strengthened and conserved. That sale turned the former government offices into a hotel, now the Heritage Christchurch, with the bar O.G.B on site.