Abstract
The field of buildings archaeology in New Zealand is understudied and has resulted in the provision of architectural history rather than an archaeological investigation into what the design of the buildings tells us about the owners executing those architectural choices. This thesis set out to construct a comprehensive description of the archaeological record of buildings from one component of society in Christchurch, that could be compared in the future with similar studies of other social sectors to answer broader questions about how social status is reflected in the archaeological record. The focus of this research was on the elite end of society in Christchurch and the twelve case studies that fitted into my selection criteria were compared against each other to understand what features they shared. These features were grouped into four categories; architectural style, building size, exterior features and interior features to narrow down the comparisons between the buildings. This study found many overlapping elements between the elite buildings and the findings show that there are several features that can be used to identify elite buildings. There is also evidence that there are markers of a person’s status in the building they have built for themselves and their family. In the terms of this research it has shown that they used their buildings to display their wealth and social standing within the Canterbury society. In particular, with the size and architectural style of the buildings as well as the added decorated features both on the exterior and interior.