- I'm here this morning to provide a brief history
on the residential development
of the Albert-Eden Local Board area.
So, I'll be covering a hundred years.
It's obviously a huge topic,
so I'll really just be scratching the surface
this morning, but hopefully you'll find it of interest.
So, let's begin with...
early subdivisions and land use.
So, the subdivision of land all began in 1840,
when Auckland was made the capital of the province.
3000 acres of land in Tāmaki Makaurau
was purchased from Ngāti Whātua by the Crown.
Another 2000 acres of land was acquired the following year,
which captured much of what we know today
as the Albert-Eden Local Board Area.
So, the land purchased by the Crown was surveyed
and subdivided into rural tracts to be sold to European settlers,
primarily for agricultural use.
During the early 1840s, the Mount Eden area
was subdivided into 74 Crown allotments
that enabled farming in the hinterland
surrounding the town of Auckland.
Most of the allotments were sold to the public
at a series of auctions in the 1840s and '50s,
purchased by individuals either as long-term farming ventures
or as a means to generate a swift speculative profit.
In addition to the establishment of farms,
the land from Epsom through to Remuera was also used
to create what might be known as country estates.
These gave wealthy Aucklanders an attractive place to live
away from the less desirable locations of town
but within a convenient carriage ride of their place of business.
These estates often comprised grand and elaborate residences
set within landscaped gardens,
a real sign, um, of their owners', uh,
wealth and prosperity.
So, we can see a couple of image-- a couple of these
country estates peppering the Epsom landscape here
in this 19th-century image.
A number of small residential subdivisions
were also being promoted at this time.
The earliest was in Epsom -- a 33-lot subdivision
in 1845;
other examples included a 200-lot subdivision in Waterview
and a 70-lot subdivision on the northern slopes of Mt Eden.
So, what type of houses were being built during this time?
Well, some of the oldest houses
in the Albert-Eden Local Board area
ranged from simply built cottages --
like we can see here,
that were often at the centre of small farms --
to elaborate residences
complemented by landscape gardens.
Many of these early dwellings have, sadly, long gone,
including the three here,
but some still exist as important remnants
of this early period of European settlement in Albert-Eden.
Let's just take a look at a couple of examples
of those that still stand. We have three stone dwellings
at the top of the slide here, dating from the 1840s
and 1860s
on Manu-- in Manuk-- um, on Manukau Rd and Mt Eden Rd.
Then the, uh, country estates --
we have, um, Clifton,
down the bottom left there,
a Gothic Revival style, uh, gentleman's residence
built in the 1860s;
and I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with Alberton here,
the colonial mansion in Mount Albert
built in 1863.
So, the Victorian era --
the Victorian era was a period of significant population growth
and really marked the commencement of
suburban development in Auckland.
As population grew, the need for housing inevitably increased.
People were keen to move out of the overcrowded central area
to new suburban locations
that were believed to offer a healthier place to live.
Land speculators were quick to capitalise on this demand,
buying up the Crown allotments for subdivision.
And whilst much of the Albert-Eden area
was still used for agricultural purposes, by the 1880s,
vast areas of its farmland
were in the process of being subdivided
for suburban residential use.
During this time, hundreds of residential subdivisions
were recorded. Some were small, with just 10 lots,
while others were expansive tracts of land
with well over a hundred lots.
The first areas to be subdivided were often those closest to town
or along the main transport routes, such as New North Rd,
Dominion Rd and Mount Eden Rd.
Commercial development often accompanied
this residential growth, with shopping centres being built
along the main roads to provide
new residents with services and provisions.
So, in the Albert-Eden area,
some of the key residential subdivisions during this period
included a 400-lot subdivision either side of Kingsland Ave,
a subdivision in Morningside following the arrival
of the railway station in the early 1880s,
a 108-lot subdivision in Point Chev
and a 44-lot subdivision, um,
in Mount Albert, known as the Benfield Estate.
Nearly all were promoted,... um,
as-- using catchy names and idyllic descriptions,
and one such example is the Edenside Estate
on Mount Eden Rd, which was advertised as,
um, having convenient homestead sites
with volcanic soil, pure air,
a fine view, a bracing atmosphere...
- (AUDIENCE TITTERS) - ...as well as being pleasant
and healthful.
And it is on these new residential sites
that the new house of the Victorian era was built --
the villa.
The villa survives as the archetypal house form
of early Auckland and dominated housing in New Zealand
during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The villa form evolved over 50 years,
having its roots in the tradition of colonial
architecture that we share with other British colonies,
such as Australia and India.
In Albert-Eden, the villa represents the first wave
of large-scale residential construction in the area.
The majority were built of timber,
with walls clad in weatherboards,
with corrugated roofs and brick chimneys.
Now, a number of brick and concrete villas were also built
during this time, but they are less common
in the Albert-Eden area.
So, let's take a look at the villa types.
There were many villa types,
the most basic of which was the square-fronted villa.
These were often of square plan, with a veranda at the front
and a lean-to at the rear.
Inside, the villa used
what was known as a hall-and-parlour plan,
with all the main rooms accessed off a central hallway.
From this basic form,
the villa could be expanded to make larger homes.
Plans were elongated, bays were added,
verandas were reconfigured, and the location of
windows and doors changed.
The options were almost endless,
but could be categorised into several clear types.
In Albert-Eden, the most common villa types
were and still are the square-fronted villa,
the single-bay villa and the corner-bay villa,
which can be seen in these lovely old photographs here.
Almost all face the street,
with the more formal rooms at the front
and the family rooms at the back.
So, let's just take a look at some examples
of these villa types in the Albert-Eden area.
So, we can see that they range from
the relatively simple square-fronted villa --
at the top left there, on Dominion Rd --
to the more elaborate corner angled-bay villa, um,...
in Mount Eden, on Mount Eden Rd.
So, moving on to the Edwardian era.
The early 20th century saw the arrival
of the electric tram service to Auckland, which was introduced
by the Auckland Electric Tramways Company in 1902.
The trams proved to have a significant effect
on the Albert-Eden area, which experienced rapid growth
and suburban development along the tram routes.
So-- Oh.
Sorry. So, where were the first stops?
Actually, this image here is worth looking at now.
Kingsland was actually the first neighbourhood
in the Albert-Eden area to receive trams,
with the line reaching Pages Store there in 1903.
The Kingsland line reached Morningside in 1912 and, later,
Mount Albert, in 1915.
In Mount Eden, tramlines opened
on both Dominion and Mount Eden Roads in 1908
and extended to Balmoral Rd
around 1914.
In the eastern half of the Albert-Eden area,
development was influenced by the Onehunga tramline,
which opened along Manukau Rd in 1903
to serve Epsom.
The success of the tram network
coincided with a residential building boom in Auckland
just before the First World War, which resulted in
an incredible increase in the number of houses
constructed in the Albert-Eden area.
Mount Eden was actually the fastest-growing Auckland suburb
during this period.
It was also a time of new ideas and attitudes
towards architecture and city planning.
The Garden City and Arts and Crafts movements
imported from Britain and America, for example,
had a great influence on
Auckland's residential development patterns.
Elaborate Edwardian-style villas soon started appearing
along the streets of the Albert-Eden area,
and it also marked the introduction
of the transitional villa.
So, what is a transitional villa?
Sometimes regarded as the final flowering of the villa style,
the transitional villa was a new hybrid
that heralded the movement towards bungalow living.
In the Albert-Eden area, they typically get dated
from 1910 to 1915,
coinciding with the building boom before the First World War.
So, how do they differ from the Victorian villa?
Well, whilst the transitional villa retains
the general form and layout of the villa,
it incorporates a number of bungalow features, um,
such as exposed rafter feet, casement windows
and a reduced level of ornamentation.
Some are still firmly rooted in the villa style,
as shown in the bottom two photographs here,
with subtle differences in decoration and features,
such as the continuation of the main roof over the veranda;
while others exhibit very strong bungalow influences,
which can be seen in the top two photographs here.
The interwar period.
A housing shortage after the First World War
caused another construction boom in Auckland in the early 1920s.
Suburban housing was also increasingly sought after
for the more spacious living conditions,
particularly following the spread
of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
The Albert-Eden Local Board area was ideally suited
to meet these demands, so the progress of subdivision
and suburban development continued rapidly
during the interwar period.
In the whole of New Zealand, it was Mount Albert
that experienced the fastest rate of building in the 1920s,
with one and a half houses built every week.
- (AUDIENCE MURMURS, TITTERS)
- (LAUGHS) - (MAN LAUGHS)
Subdivisions continued to follow the expanding tram network.
A new tramline was added on Sandringham Rd in 1925,
and the Dominion Rd, Mount Eden Rd and New North Rd lines
extended between 1929
and 1932.
This amplified the housing trends that began
before the war, pushing suburban developments southward
with each new tram stop.
In Point Chevalier, the tram finally arrived
in 1930, which was a major catalyst for
residential development in the area.
The suburb had been slow to develop in the early years,
but finally began to blossom in the interwar period.
Improved infrastructure, extensive subdivision
and associated population growth
saw early farms replaced by rows of houses,
and the area become popular as a seaside destination.
So, what housing types are associated
with the interwar period?
Well, there are several architectural styles,
um, that dominated the period, but nearly all
were variations of the bungalow form.
So let's first take a look at the bungalow.
In the Albert-Eden area,
bungalows generally fall into two categories --
the Californian bungalow and the English bungalow.
The Californian bungalow was strongly influenced
by popular American housing trends of the time
and became the dominant housing type in the 1920s and '30s.
They generally feature a low-slung form,
with shallow-pitched roof and wide eaves,
with exposed rafter feet, and often had
deep porches and bay windows.
Although generally built of timber, there was an emphasis
on the use of handcrafted and rustic materials,
such as shingles and brick and stone,
which was often incorporated into their design.
Internally, they had a far more informal, open-plan layout
when compared to the villa.
So, here you can see some examples of California bungalows
that exist in the Albert-Eden area,
showing the variety of their designs.
So, we've got examples here from Mount Albert,
Balmoral and Point Chevalier.
By the 1930s, the Californian bungalow
was joined by the simpler English-influence bungalow,
also known as the bungalow cottage.
The large porches and layered gable configuration
of the Californian bungalow gave way to
buildings with little or no ornamentation.
They had projecting box windows with leaded and faceted glass
and shallow-hipped roofs with boxed eaves.
The state houses of the 1940s share many similarities
with these later English bungalows.
Again, let's take a look at some examples here.
These are mainly from Point Chevalier and Balmoral.
Then there were the eclectic styles. (CLEARS THROAT)
By the 1930s, the English cottage,
Spanish Mission and Art Deco styles,
often regarded as 'eclectic styles', also appeared.
Although less prolific than the bungalows,
they did and still do add variety and interest
to the streetscapes of the Albert-Eden Local Board Area.
The English cottage was probably the most common
of these new styles, which displayed influences
of both Arts and Crafts and Tudor Revival styles
imported from Britain and America.
The style can be seen in large architect-designed homes
in the likes of Epsom and Mount Eden,
but were also applied to a small bungalow form,
which can be seen throughout the area,
and there are some good examples in Balmoral.
They often had steeply pitched roofs, half-timbering,
brick and/or plaster cladding and tall chimneys.
The Spanish Mission style
was inspired by early Spanish missions in California,
while the Art Deco style first emerged in France
before the First World War.
In New Zealand, the styles offered an alternative
to the interwar bungalow and often eluded to
modernity or the exotic.
They became widely used, particularly, um,
following the Napier earthquake in 1931.
Whilst both styles were generally constructed
of stucco walls, Spanish Mission buildings often featured
gabled roofs with terracotta tiles
and were decorated with arches and columns.
In contrast, the Art Deco style
had a more sleek, linear appearance,
with flat roofs behind parapet walls
and stylised geometric ornamentation.
The Spanish Mission and Art Deco styles
were often applied to purpose-built blocks of flats,
which provided a new way of living during the interwar era
and were regarded as symbols of progress and sophistication.
Spanish Mission and Art Deco style flats
became increasingly popular in the Albert-Eden area
during this period, particularly in Mount Eden,
and by 1940,
at the close of Albert-Eden's first residential--
100 years of residential development,
they had become an important theme in its housing history --
a marked transition in the way that people began to live.
Kia ora. Thank you. - (APPLAUSE)