Newton, New Zealand
Newton is a small suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand, under the local governance of the Auckland City Council. It had a population of 837 in the 2001 census.
Since the construction of the Central Motorway Junction in 1965–75, Newton has been divided into two parts, and as a result, lost much of its size and coherence. The northern part is centred on Karangahape Road, and the southern part on Newton Road. Both Karangahape and Newton Roads intersect with Symonds Street to the east. Newton Road joins the Great North/Ponsonby and Karangahape Road intersection to the west.
At the southern end of Symonds Street are the Symonds Street Shops. Here Upper Symonds Street has two major intersections with other arterial roads: Newton Road and Khyber Pass Road, and Mt Eden Road and New North Road.
History
Historically, the suburb did not always have a good reputation. A 1920s newspaper described it as a "haunt of many of Auckland's best-known crooks".[1]
Symonds Street
Symonds Street is named after Captain William Cornwallis Symonds (1810–41), an officer of the 96th Regiment of Foot of the British Army. He came to New Zealand in the early 1830s as agent of the Waitemata and Manukau Land Company and was instrumental in the founding of Auckland and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. He was one of Governor William Hobson's closest and most effective officials and was one of the first six Police Magistrates in New Zealand as well as Chief Magistrate of Auckland and Deputy Surveyor of New Zealand. During 1841 Symonds accompanied the naturalist Ernst Dieffenbach in his survey of the North Island. Capt Symonds died on 23 November 1841 in a boating accident on the Manukau Harbour. Following his death his brother John continued to live in the colony; Symonds Street in Onehunga is named after John Cornwallis Symonds.
Before the 1870s there were several brick works in Newton Gully which later relocated to New Lynn; a great many 19th century bricks found in Auckland bear the imprint "Newton". From the 1890s onwards it was the location of many small scale industries: bicycle manufacturing, shirt, clothing and boot factories, upholstery, rattan furniture and basket manufacturing etc.
Situated between the retail areas of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street, Newton was a fairly densely populated suburb, mainly of a working class nature with many boarding houses. Until the construction of the motorway system in the 1960s, the gully area was the location of several primary and intermediate level schools and about six churches.
After the motorway was cut through, much of the remaining housing stock was utilised for light industrial use and often rebuilt as factories and warehouses. Since the 1990s there has been a reverse trend of rebuilding or converting industrial buildings for residential use including some large apartment blocks.
Buildings of interest
- Saint Benedicts Roman Catholic Church, St Benedicts Street. This brick church in the Flemish Gothic style dates from 1886 and replaces an earlier wooden church which burnt down. Both churches were by Auckland architect Edward Mahoney. The original design included a bell tower with spire which was never constructed. To the south of the church is a brick Gothic presbytery. On the east side of St Benedicts Street, opposite the church, is a two-storied brick house for an order of nuns.
- Freemasons Hall, St Benedicts Street. This is a large and imposing 1920s building in the neo-classical style. Architects: Chilwell & Trevithick.
- The Stables. This 19th century wood-frame building clad in corrugated iron is at the end of Stable Lane. It was built as Livery Stables for the Winstone company. Recently registered by the Auckland City Council as a heritage building, the Stables has been renovated as part of a new building complex called "Site Three".
- Site Three, St Benedicts Street. A modern development including commercial offices and a cafe. It is regarded as an architectural gem, Urbis magazine's Melinda Williams referred to the "strikingly graceful concrete lines of Andrew Patterson's award winning Site Three development".
- Pigeon Post House. On the corner of Upper Queen St and Newton Road is a small wooden Victorian house. Unremarkable in itself, this is one of the very few original houses remaining in the area. It was the office of Mr Holden Howie's pigeon post service to Great Barrier Island, possibly the first regular air mail service in the world (1896). Certainly the world’s first 'airmail' stamps were issued for the Great Barrier Pigeon-Gram Service from 1898 to 1908. Next to the house stood large aviaries housing the birds. http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/wings/pigeons3.htm
- Orange Coronation Ballroom. Located at the top of Newton Road is an interesting minor gem of interwar stripped classicism. Architect: Sinclair O'Conner.
- Edinburgh Castle Hotel, corner of Symonds Street and Newton Road. This is an example of a 19th century pub in one of the simpler versions of the Italianate style.
- Former ASB Bank, Khyber Pass Road. Architect: Daniel B. Patterson. This small neo-classical building is one of the many buildings commissioned by the Auckland Savings Bank from the architect Daniel B. Patterson. Similar buildings appear in Auckland suburban centres and in provincial towns throughout the Auckland Province.
- Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Khyber Pass Road. Built in 1880 to the designs of Edward Mahoney, this Anglican church has one of the best wooden church interiors in the world.
- Presbyterian Church of St David, opposite the Holy Sepulchre, Khyber Pass Road. This is a brick building from 1909 which replaced an earlier wooden Gothic church by Edward Bartley.
- Former Post Office building. This fine Art Deco structure from the 1930s is also located in Upper Symonds Street.
- Former Grafton Public Library. This elegant Edwardian building in the classical style is just around the corner on Mt Eden Road and opened in March 1913. Architect: Edward Bartley.
- Former Eden Vale Hotel. At the intersection of Mt Eden Road, New North Road and Symonds Street is a building that for many years was the premises of W.H.Tongue, a firm of undertakers. The building was built as the Eden Vale Hotel, but soon after it was finished the inhabitants of Mt Eden voted for the area to become dry. As the building was just within the boundaries of Mt Eden it could not continue to be used as a licenced hotel. The other two pubs in the Upper Symonds Street area were both safely within Auckland City: the Astor Hotel (demolished; corner Khyber Pass Road and Symonds St) and the Edinburgh Castle Hotel (extant; corner Newton Road and Symonds Street).
Education
Local secondary schools include Auckland Girls Grammar School, Mount Albert Grammar School, St Peter's College and Saint Mary's College. St Benedict's College (opened in 1886 in St Benedict's St) closed down in 1980 and was demolished. Its secondary department merged with Marcellin College, Royal Oak.
References
- The Lively Capital, Auckland 1840-1865. Una Platts. Avon Fine Prints Limited New Zealand 1971.
- The Heart of Colonial Auckland, 1865-1910. Terence Hodgson. Random Century NZ Ltd 1992.
- Colonial Architecture In New Zealand. John Stacpoole. A.H & A.W Reed 1976
- Decently And In Order, The Centennial History of the Auckland City Council. G.W.A Bush. Collins 1971.
- Auckland Through A Victorian Lens. William Main. Millwood Press 1977.
- Karangahape Road Heritage Walk. Edward Bennett. Karangahape Road Business Association 2004.