The opening of the Auckland-Kaipara Railway line in 1880 provided impetus for further development, with increase in land values in the area, and further residential development. The centre was further consolidated around this time with the opening of the primary school on its present site in 1882 and the establishment of the Jockey Club and racecourse in 1889.The district was renamed Avondale in 1882, and it is possible that this name came from County Wicklow in Ireland, the birth place of Avondale pioneer John Bollard. Bollard was Chairman of the Whau Highway District Board, the Avondale Roads Board, the Whau and Avondale School Committees, and was a land agent and Member of Parliament for Eden. He is known as the “Father of Avondale”.By the 1890s market gardening was the predominant use of the Rosebank Peninsula, and this use remained until the 1950s.As the population in the area steadily increased, a significant period of development occurred in the 1920s when many of the existing buildings near the Rosebank Road intersection were built. The Avondale Picture Theatre opened in the late 1920s, featuring the new “talkies”. The tram service was extended to Avondale in 1932.The sculpture of the Avondale Spider in the town centre represents an Australian Huntsman spider. A colony of these large spiders established in Avondale in the 1920s, probably having arrivedExtensive post-World War II development in the shopping centre, the increase in residential subdivisions, along with the establishment of the Rosebank heavy industrial area from the late 1950s helped make Avondale a thriving suburb of Auckland.
1. St Ninian’s Church and Churchyard
1-19 St Georges RoadSt Ninian’s Church is Avondale’s oldest building, with construction starting on November 14 1859, and opening services held at Easter, April 8 1860. The building rested on scoria boulders, with hand-hewn kauri plank construction and kauri pews. It was the district’s first school building (the desks fixed to the wall so they could fold away for Sunday services) and before the building of the Public Hall across the road was the first location for soirees and town meetings. In the 19th century, the parish extended as far as Helensville, and it was in July 1873 that Rev. David Hamilton perished on the way to preach at Whatipu. His grave was the first in the little cemetery attached to the Church (the cemetery was closed save for family plots in 1914). The Church was originally known as simply the Presbyterian Church, and in 1935 was renamed St Ninian’s, after the saint missionary to the Southern Picts. In 1984 the church officially closed, and was sold to Auckland City along with the cemetery in 1988. It is currently run as part of the Avondale Community Centre. Other noted people buried in St Ninian’s cemetery include: John Neale Bethell (of Bethell’s Beach), William Forsyth (builder of the Public Hall), and Jessie MacKenzie (the "Danish Princess").
2. Avondale Town Hall/Hollywood Theatre
Walk north along the eastern side of St Georges Road
3. First Avondale Public Hall
12-14 ST GEORGES ROADThe Public Hall was built in 1867, funded from proceeds of special concerts staged by the Whau Minstrels (a group of workers from the Gittos tannery). The builder was local resident William Forsyth, designed by another local Mr. Holloway. It was the second location for the district school until 1882, and the place of many soirees, town meetings and Highway District Board meetings. In 1868, the first district library was set up, and later incorporated before folding in the 1880s. In the 1870s, the cost of hiring the hall for the night was the grand total of "one pound sterling".The hall was the place of an event that changed the history of Avondale, West Auckland and the Kaipara District when a meeting of around 50 people, including John Bollard and John Buchanan (Whau District), John Lamb (Riverhead), John McLeod (Henderson’s Mill), Phillip McLeod (Helensville) and Joseph McMullen Dargaville (Provincial Council member) agreed to organise a petition in favour of the planned railway to go through Avondale on its way to the Kaipara.On 27 June 1931 the Avondale Public Library was opened as a branch of Auckland City Libraries in the old building, and was there until 1973. The hall has also served as a Citizens Advice Bureau, and traffic department office.
4. Site of Former Avondale Hotel
Looking diagonally across the major intersection of the five roads is the site of the former Avondale Hotel
5. Site of Avondale Stables
Look across to the group of small gabled buildings in Great North Road
6.St Jude’s Church
Turn right into St Judes Street, and walk up over the railway line.
7. Page's Building
Return to Great North Road, cross St Judes Street and head north.
8. Former Police Station
2004 Great North RoadFor nearly 90 years, from 1906 to 1996, this was the site of the Avondale Police Station, designed by C. R. Vickerman the district engineer. Plans for the buildings, the lockup and a stable were prepared by the Public Works office. The stable and lockup wereat the rear of the site, alongside the horse paddocks that were once there for both the police station and the adjacent Page’s store. Unlike most masonry suburban police stations this timber building still retains its original kauri exterior.
9. Allely Building
2000 Great North RoadRobert Joseph Allely purchased the land where this building stands in 1911 from William Hanson Blayney. This is the earliest two storey retail building in Avondale and it replaced an earlier timber shop on the site. Robert Allely had his chemist shop at ground level and dental surgery above. Allely sold the property in 1912, but remained as a tenant there until the early 1920s.During his time in Avondale in the 1910s and early 1920s Robert Allely was Avondale’s source of general medical help, as well as the dentist. He and his wife set up an influenza hospital on the Avondale Racecourse during the pandemic of 1918, working at all hours to help treat the locals, including those from Blockhouse Bay and West Auckland. For his services during this time, the Avondale Road Board held a special presentation in January 1919. Apparently, his work badly affected his health, and he’d left Avondale by 1922.
10. Trigg and Dane, Coach Builders
1980 Great North RoadTrigg & Dane had set up their business on this site by 1916. Charles Alfred Trigg was a bicycle repairer by trade, with sign writing as a side specialty. The site is notable as being that of an early service and repair garage that served early horse and cart traffic, as well as motor vehicles. Charles Trigg had sole ownership by 1920, and by 1926 had one of the first service garages in the area to have a "kerbside benzine pump" on a forecourt, the floor of which is still part of the left-hand side of the existing shops. By 1966, the Avondale Auction House was trading from this site, and added the right-hand side of the present shop in 1970. By the 1980s, the business became known as Avondale Spiders, after the local icon. Avondale Spiders closed down in mid 2006.
11. Avondale Primary School
Cnr Great North Road and Crayford StreetThe Avondale Primary School was opened on its present site here on 30 May 1882. Prior to this, classes were held first at St Ninian’s Church (from 1860), and the Public Hall (from 1867). The site was purchased from Mr. H Hassell for £110, and William Price built the original two- classroom school, designed by architect Mr. Allwright. Over the years the school was added to and adapted. Just before the First World War a Primers Block was built close to Layard Street. The first major change came during 1971-1972 when the old Standards and Primer blocks were demolished, and the current school took shape. The administration block was built during 2002-2003. Avondale Primary School once served a catchment extending from Pt Chevalier to Blockhouse Bay, and on into New Lynn, Titirangi and Kelston.
12. Excelsior Chambers
Cross Crayford Street.
13. Unity Building
1874-1878 Great North RoadThe Unity Building was completed in 1932, the year that trams came to Avondale, and was intended by the building’s owner, W. J. Tait, to take full advantage of the proximity of the new tram terminus. It is the only major building in Avondale named as a result of a school competition.
14. Bluck Building
Turn right into Rosebank Road
15. Station Store
25 Rosebank RoadThe Station Store was built in 1912 designed by architect Hugh Grierson. A second storey was added by 1913 providing living quarters. It has been a grocers, drapers, and dairy over the years, G J Philp ran the store in 1913, advertising "Merchant, Provisions, Grain and Produce"At the back of the store was a "high door", with a lifting beam for unloading items delivered by horse & cart. There were stables at the back. The concreting of the Great North Road ended any hopes of making this area a major retail centre.
16. Former Post Office
Walk back down Rosebank Road to Great North Road
17. Former Masonic Hall (Tititrangi Lodge)
Cross Great North Road and continue down Rosebank Road.
18.Site of the First Whau Hotel
Return to intersection of Great North Road and Rosebank Road. > On south west corner is site of first Whau Hotel (currently Ray White Real Estate)
