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Mt Eden area - Maungawhau Heritage Walks
Introduction
| Early development
| Mt Eden Village Walk
| Mt Eden Neighbourhood Walk
| Mt Eden industrial area
| Eden Valley Shopping Centre
Mt Eden industrial area
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| View of Mt Eden in 1866. |
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Mt Eden's first industry was
Mason's flourmill established near Windmill Road. It was Auckland's first
flourmill and was located alongside a substantial wheat plantation.
Later industry would be located closer to the city end of Mt Eden.
During the early years of
Auckland's history the Mt Eden area was a rural locality some distance
from the business and residential area centred around the Queen
Street valley. For this reason Mt Eden was viewed as an appropriate
location for industries and institutions that were accompanied by an element
of danger.
The Mt Eden Prison and the Colonial Ammunition
Company factory were both erected prior to the extensive development
of Mt Eden as a residential area.
The volcano for which the Mt Eden
area is named provided the locality with a quarrying industry which
would keep prisoners occupied and provide the city with building and
roading material. It was the proximity to the city of this mountain of rock
which saw it being quarried from an early date. Mt Eden was both close
enough, and far enough away from the city to support the industries
and institutions established in the nineteenth century.
During the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries population density increased throughout
the central city and inner suburbs. This put pressure on growing
inner city institutions like the Auckland Grammar School, which found
itself rapidly running out of space for expansion. Mt Eden still
offered tracts of undeveloped land and it became the chosen site for the
new school.
In the early years of the
twentieth century a large sawmill, timber yard and joinery factory was
established near the Colonial Ammunition Company and Mt Eden quarry. A
concrete block and tile factory soon joined the local industrial
enterprises. The prison and the local industries grew and developed alongside
the surrounding residential areas but as the local population
density increased the proximity of the prison and heavy industry became
increasingly inappropriate.
It is only in recent years that the
industrial area around Enfield Road has been redeveloped for residential
and commercial purposes.
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| View of Mt Eden Gaol in 1900. |
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Mt Eden Prison II
A - Boston Road
In 1856 a stockade was
established at the northern end of Mt Eden. Plans were subsequently drawn
up for a new prison by colonial architect P.F.M. Burrows.
The prisoners
at the stockade built the prison wall from locally quarried stone
and it was completed over seven years from 1865. Construction of the
prison began in 1882 and at its completion in 1917 it held 220 prisoners.
In
1965 two prisoners began a riot which lasted for two days and left
the prison burnt and uninhabitable. The stone walls survived and the
prison was rebuilt. The prison now houses up to 421 men and 54
women.
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The Colonial Ammunition
Company's Shot Tower. |
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Colonial ammunition company I
B Normanby Road
In 1885 the Colonial
Ammunition Company established New Zealand's first munitions factory in
response to the threat of war with Russia.
The site was considered far enough
away from the built up inner city to be suitable for the manufacture
of dangerous goods.
The factory became a hive of activity during the
Second World War when staff numbers were increased from 230 to 900. Plastic containers were produced at the factory when the demand for ammunition
dropped at the end of the war.
The company closed its Mt Eden factory in
1982.
The site has been redeveloped with light commercial use
predominating.
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| Mt Eden quarry in 1920s. |
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Mount Eden quarry
A quarry was established near
Mt Eden Prison where prisoners extracted stone for prison
buildings.
Winstone's opened three quarries on the mountain in the 1860s
and others followed.
Quarrying continued until the 1940s by which time
the shape of the mountain had been substantially altered.
Auckland Grammar School I
A
The establishment of Auckland
Grammar School dates back to 1869 and it was to occupy several
central city sites before cramped conditions prompted the move to Mt Eden
in 1916.
The Spanish Mission style main building was the result of an
international design competition for the new school won by Auckland
architectural firm Arnold & Abbot.
At the time of its opening the school
roll numbered 600. Today around 2200 pupils attend the school.
26 Clive Road B
Trevor Lloyd's house,
"Wharetane" was constructed in 1928 and was designed by Scottish-trained
architect, John Anderson. Trevor Lloyd (1863-1937), possibly best
known for his studies of native flora and fauna, was a political cartoonist on
the New Zealand Herald from 1910-1930.
When the All Blacks were
defeated by Wales in 1905, he drew what is believed to be the first New
Zealand cartoon using the kiwi as a symbol for New Zealand. Lloyd was
also well known for using Maori motifs and design and this is evident on
the stone garage, and detailing throughout this house.
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Woods & Co. Grocers in the early
1900s. |
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Woods Dairy - Corner Mt Eden and Esplanade Roads
In 1906 builder
G.B.Braithwaite erected this large wooden shop on the corner of Mt Eden and Esplanade
Roads.
It was initially run as Woods & Merson grocers but was soon
operating under the name H. Woods & Co.
The building still houses a
grocery shop but parts of the original retail space have been subdivided
into small shops.
Marino Gardens - Corner Mt Eden and Esplanade Roads
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| Marino Gardens. |
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Marino Gardens was one of the
largest of several multi-unit residential developments built in the
1930s.
It comprised of eighteen flats complete with garaging, tradesman's
entrances and a shared courtyard.
Marino Gardens offered a new housing
type and the design won Kenneth W. Aimer a gold medal awarded
by the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1936.
The Horse and Trap - Enfield Street
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| Horse & Trap. |
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This building was erected as
a store in 1914 for the firm W & G Winstone, carriers and coal merchants.
It was built by W. Ball at a cost of £1400.
Winstones had a number of
buildings, including stables for their horses, on their property which
extended through to Mt Eden Road. It appears that the building was damaged
by fire in 1927 and again in 1936.
In the late 1930s the building was
occupied by Tasti Products, the well-known crystallized fruit
manufacturers. Tasti remained on site for over four decades.
In the early 1990s
the building was converted for use as a bar and restaurant known as the
Horse & Trap.
Ipu-Pakore
Near the rail over-bridge was
a spring named Ipu Pakore (The broken gourds) after two women were
ambushed on their return from fetching water during the raids of the
famed warrior, Kawharu.
The spring supplied Maungawhau pa - and
was where Puhihuia met her lover Ponga before they eloped
across the Manukau Harbour.
Henderson & Pollard -Enfield Street
In 1904 Henderson & Pollard
established a joinery factory in Enfield Road. The factory was rebuilt
twice after destructive fires in 1909 and 1927.
The company expanded its
operations over the years and came to occupy nearly three
hectares of land.
In 1987 the company was purchased by Carter Holt
Harvey who continued to operate from the Mt Eden site until the mid
1990s.
Recently the former Henderson & Pollard site has been
redeveloped into high density housing.
Published March 2008
