See that building on the corner? It's known as the old Grafton Bridge Flats - 5 years ago they were up for sale and despite looking it's age some of the flats are still being lived in by tenants, probably university students or nurses who work across the road at the Auckland Hospital.
According to the Timespanner blog, the land that it sits on use to belong to the Wesleyan School that shifted to Three Kings but kept the land as an endowment asset. This makes sense as my dad's great grandparents were of the same religion and they lived in the city as well in the late 1800s.
I haven't been able to find the exact age of the buildings but from my research I've established that there have always been shops below the flats from this advertisement in the NZ Herald 1927:
And this advertisement from the Auckland Star 1927 wanting a tenant for one of the balcony flats which would've overlooked the entire city:
The only other photo I've managed to find of it is this one from when it was for sale through Bayleys Real Estate but you can see parts of Parnell, Ponsonby, Sandringham etc behind it.
Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.
12 comments:
An interesting building and history. Thanks.
Interesting to see what look like verandahs in the top photo that were enclosed in the bottom one. Brings back lots of memories of Auckland.
More interesting history. Brings back memories for me too
Nice old building that looks like it is worth preserving
Hello, it looks like a nice building and neighborhood. Take care, enjoy your new week ahead.
There is a lot of history in this building.
A lovely building with an interesting history.
Beautiful post.
Lovely photos. I enjoyed the history.
It's a really nice looking building Amy, I hope they restore it instead of knocking it down.. I can see it is a prime piece of real estate though.
I do enjoy a place with a bit of history! It's a grand place for sure.
Your link is a great addition to 'My Corner of the World' this week! Thanks for linking up!
This is indeed a lovely building and thanks for your post. I moved into a one bedroom flat either on the 1st or 2nd floor (can't remember anymore) back in late 88, early 89 that faced the rear carpark. Lots of character in the flat with strange shape from memory and loads of cupboards in the kitchen. I remember this part as some were really high and unaccessible, and after moving in, I grabbed a chair to explore the hardest to reach ones and to my surprise, hiding in the back were a pile of 1950s womans magazines. Normally I wouldn't be interested, but these were so fascinating because of their age. The fashions, tone of voice, advertisements were all so far from 1989. I imagine they would be almost alien-like today. Thanks for posting this and I hope that this building survives as Auckland has so few apartments from that period left
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