school into six houses for sports competitions. These six houses were named Islington, Ranfurly, Onslow, Jellicoe, Fergusson, and Bledisloe, and were named after: The Lord Islington, the 15th Governor of New Zealand. Lieutenant-General The Lord Freyberg , the seventh Governor-General of New Zealand. William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow, the 11th Governor. John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, the second Governor-General. Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, the third Governor-General. Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, the fourth Governor-General. Sometime before 1950 both the Ranfurly and Freyberg Houses were renamed. They became Cobham and Freyberg, in honour of The Viscount Cobham (the ninth Governor-General) and Lieutenant-General The Lord Freyberg (the seventh Governor-General). In 1941 Freyberg and Cobham were dismantled and students in either became parts of the other four houses. The four current houses at Wellington East Girls' College are: Sheppard (Blue) Edgar (Green) Cooper (Yellow) Tirikatane (Red) Buildings and grounds Wellington East Girls' College shares with Wellington College the administration of the Gifford Observatory. The architecture of the original building is interwar stripped classical. The grand main building has a Category I listing in the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register. In 2011, earthquake strengthening work was begun on the building, but was halted when engineers found it to meet just 17% of the national building standard (the minimum for existing buildings is 34%). The building, which was built in 1924, was empty until late 2014, when work restarted with the aim of replacing the building. The redevelopment project was to keep the façade of the old heritage building while a new multi-storey block was built behind it. The old block held nine classrooms (not including the music department) which held 250 pupils, as well as the library, staffroom and offices. After the closure of the Main Block, areas previously housed inside the building were forced to relocate. The Mathematics department, along with the School Office, Student Services Centre, Hauora Centre, and the Senior Management offices were all relocated to "The Village"; a set of pre-fabricated buildings on the old lower netball courts. When the new building opened the prefabs were removed and this area became a car park. The music department was located in a portion of the Main Block still usable until its demolition in 2014; it then moved to pre-fabricated buildings located on the top field. It is soon to be joined by another set of pre-fabricated buildings, which