The Albert Barracks was a major British military installation that overlooked Auckland, New Zealand, from the mid-1840s to 1870, during the city's early colonial period.

The site is now mostly occupied by Albert Park and the University of Auckland's City Campus, and Princes Street runs through the centre of it.

[1] Prior to this, Fort Britomart, a headland on the Waitematā Harbour adjacent to the town of Auckland served as the base of military operations.

[2] A loopholed defensible wall had been proposed by the Commanding Royal Engineer, Captain George Augustus Bennett, as the barracks developed before his death in April 1845.

[3] It was built under the direction of his replacement, Major William Biddlecomb Marlow, RE, and the supervision of Clerk of Works George Graham, enclosing the 22 acres (8.9 ha) site.

As this type of construction was new to Maori, training was given to them, with the result that "it would be difficult to point out any marked difference between them and the work performed by the Europeans".

[5] The speed and quality of the work encouraged the Europeans employing Maori to set up a night school to provide them with additional training.

[7] During the same period, a number of buildings were constructed inside the wall, including ordinance halls, hospital, theatre, a magazine for storing powder and a military reading room.

From 1865 the various Imperial forces began to leave New Zealand, its defense being completely placed in the hands of the local militias by July/August 1867.

[22] In 1849 the crew of the shipwrecked French National Corvette L Alceme were housed at the barracks for seven weeks while awaiting repatriation.

Albert Barracks with its 1,000 residents compounded the problem, with heavy rain causing its septic tanks to overflow and the effluent to run down through the lower city areas.

[2] In 1880 the role of the Improvement Commission was transferred to the Auckland City Council which in 1881 approved plans for the development of gardens and walkways for Albert Park.

[30] The construction of the College's Arts Building (opened 1926) required the removal of a substantial section of the remaining wall.

This process also involved the transfer of an historic plaque relating to the Barracks Wall and the role played by Māori in its construction.

[36] It had been a focus of complaint by Māori students and activists for some time before this because of its colonialist and imperialist connotations and had suffered considerable defacement before its final destruction.

Princes Street runs through the centre of the site, with Albert Park on the western portion and the University of Auckland on the eastern side.

On 23 June 1983, the Albert Barracks Wall was registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure, with registration number 12.