Mt Eden Village Walk Preview

The Walk

Mt Eden Road provided an early connection between Mt Eden and the city. It was one of the few roads surveyed in 1842 when the area was divided into small farms, which were offered for sale. An early development was William Mason’s wind driven flourmill near Windmill Road but it would be several years before other local amenities were established. During the 1870s the character of Mt Eden was changing with the subdivision of several farm properties into residential sites. The Crown grant for land between Stokes Road and Batger Road was secured by Montefiore in 1844. This area was subdivided by accountant and businessman John Batger in 1884, when Oaklands Road was formed.The nucleus of the Mt Eden Village shopping area was the store established by Alfred Cucksey in 1873. By the late 1870s it had been joined by a school and a church. Horse drawn buses were the first form of regular public transport in Mt Eden. In 1881 a long awaited railway connecting Newmarket with Helensville was opened. Trains stopped at Mt Eden, Kingsland, Morningside and Mt Albert. By 1908 tramlines had been laid part way down Mt Eden Road, and were extended in the 1920s. The tram service stimulated both residential and retail development. The cluster of shops extended both north and south from the Stokes Road corner. Local entertainment was catered for from the late 1920s with the establishment of the Crystal Place Theatre.The Mt Eden Business Association was formed in 1936, and twelve of the businesses included in the original constitution are still present in the village. Mt Eden Village is strongly defined by its relationship to the mountain, by changes in the road alignment that limit the commercial core, and by the close integration of residential development and churches with the shopping precinct.

1

Valley Road Church

Begin this walk on the corner of Valley Road.

2

Garage and Marriots Building

In 1896 the Mt Eden Bowling Club was established on this site. In 1926 the club decided to relocate to Nicholson Park and the property was sold. In early 1930 and 1931 plans were drawn up for shops with dwellings attached, and a petrol station and garage. Soon the automotive needs of Mt Eden were being served on the corner of Valley and Mt Eden Roads. The petrol station and garage was built by C.E. Heron for a Mr Dodd. The consistency in design suggests that the same architect or designer was responsible for the garage and neighbouring shops.

3

Corner of Essex Road

This prominent corner building was erected prior to 1905. Photos show that this side of Mt Eden Road was almost completely unbuilt, rural land in the late 1880s. Designed in a classical italianate style, this building was a significant addition to the village streetscape, and reinforced this intersection as the hub of the village.

4

Till and Sons

527 Mt Eden RoadTills Bakery was established in Mt Eden in 1885 and around 1905 the present Till & Sons building was erected. Designed in a classical italianate style, this building retains its original verandah with posts, and some of its original shop front detail. During the 1920s the bakery was a gathering place for some of the retired men of the district who would while away the hours chatting. Their fondness for eating peanuts earned them the name ‘The Peanut Club’.

5

Block from Essex Road to Ngauruhoe Street

This block consists of a variety of buildings dating from as early as the nineteenth century. Many retain original shop front and interior details.Land was initially subdivided for housing, and villas were built facing onto Mt Eden Road. Between 1910 and 1920, with increased demand for commercial premises, new buildings were constructed on their front yards. These tended to be single level purpose built shops, without the accommodation at the upper level evident in the late Victorian examples. The villas can still be seen behind most of the shops in this block. The Circus Café is one of the earliest shops in the block, and retains its original shop front and interior detail.

6

Methodist Church and Sunday School

Corner Ngauruhoe StreetIn 1898 the site of this church was purchased and the following year a public meeting was held to gauge interest in erecting a Methodist church on the site. Forty people responded and fundraising began in earnest. Architect Arthur White was soon engaged to prepare plans for a church and Sunday school buildings and by February 1900 the buildings had been completed at a cost of £990. The church seated 200 parishioners while the Sunday school had accommodation for 150 pupils. Extensions were made to the building in 1975 to provide a lounge and kitchen.

7

Grange Road to Fairview Road

This block retains some of the original, substantial residences built close to the village around the turn of the 20th century. The stone walls are a prominent feature in Mt Eden, and some are likely to relate to early rural boundary locations.

8

Crystal Palace

537 Mt Eden Road.In 1928 the Crystal Palace theatre was erected by building contractor N. Cole for the Hippodrome Theatre Company. The building featured a dance hall in the basement and the entrance was flanked by shops. The theatre was originally designed for music hall and touring stage shows but the live performances soon gave way to film screenings. The basement dance hall was a popular night spot for many decades.

9

Windmill Domain

Corner Mt Eden Road & Windmill Road.Windmill Domain is named after Mt Eden’s first industry. In 1844 William Mason established the Eden Flour Mill. Mason, who had been one of the founders of Auckland, would have a long career as a politician, architect and farmer in both the North and South islands. The mill buildings comprised of a large scoria windmill, and a timber store and millers house. The mill was soon sold to Reverend Walter Lawry, General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church. It was later purchased by entrepreneur John Bycroft who ran the enterprise for seventeen years. During the late 1860s it was taken over by Robert Robertson who set the millstones to work crushing bones for fertilizer. The Mt Eden Borough Council’s history of the area notes that when animal bones were scarce the gruesome practice of using human bones collected from Maori burial caves was undertaken. In later years the windmill was demolished in 1929.

10

Ngā Ana Peka Rau

In the early days of European settlement, Mt Eden was a rocky wilderness and much effort was required to clear the land for farms. There are numerous caves created by lava flows through the district including Ngā Ana Peka Rau, ‘the bat caves’, and Rangi’s cave located near Windmill Road.

11

Greyfriars Chruch

546 – 552 Mt Eden RoadOriginally known as the Mt Eden Presbyterian Church, this reinforced concrete building was erected in 1916 and opened in 1917. The design was the work of architect Thomas Mullions and it was built by Archibald Grandison. In 1921 the basement was converted into classrooms for the Sunday school. The building was remodelled in 1958.

12

Eden Hall and Poronui Flats

488, 476 Mt Eden Road.These are some of a number of small blocks of flats, which were built around the 1920s and 1930s in Mt Eden Road and surrounding streets. Another new feature of the area around this time were the numerous garages and carports constructed on many residential sites to cater for increasing car ownership.

13

Cowperthwaite Tile Factory

In 1916 the Cowperthwaite Tile Factory was established on Disraeli Street, and became the first factory in New Zealand to produce concrete blocks and tiles. Production was initially labour intensive with all products being hand made. In 1928 the Mt Eden factory closed and the operation was transferred to Three Kings.

14

Former Post Office

466 Mt Eden RoadThough there had been a postal bureau in Mt Eden since 1885, the area did not have its own purpose built Post Office until 1909 when this building was erected. It originally housed a mailroom, and public area on the ground floor with accommodation above. It retains its original frontage but no longer serves as a post office.

15

Bakery

462-464 Mt Edend Road.This building was erected in 1910 and has operated as a bakery for close to one hundred years.

16

Early Shops

454-448 Mt Eden RoadThese shops were erected early in the twentieth century. In the 1910s there were single level, timber shops extending up to the corner of Stokes Road. The two level Nichols Building designed in a stripped classical style, replaced some of these earlier structures around the 1920s.

17

Cucksey's

428 Mt Eden RoadIn 1873 Alfred Cucksey established a store in a timber building on this site. Stokes Road on the southern boundary was dedicated in the same year. By 1905 newer larger premises were desired and the brick Cucksey’s building was built to the design of architect J.M. Walker. The building cost £2,300 as was erected by builder W. Firth. The buildings adjacent were erected in the 1920s and 30s.

18

Pou Hawaiiki and Arataki Haere

The Auckland College of Education now occupies the site where once stood a small scoria cone known as Pou Hawaiiki (The Pillar from Hawaiiki). The hill was quarried away and with it went soil brought and placed there from the Pacific, Hawaiiki, by the earliest Maori voyagers. Ceremonies would be performed there before fishing and hunting expeditions. An ancient path that connected with Maungawhau is called Arataki Haere (Path of the single file). The path is still there and can be accessed from Stokes Road.