In the heart of Auckland city lies this Vulcan Lane which you can enter into from Queen Street as it snakes up to High Street and beyond. This is what it normally looks like with people wandering through looking at the speciality shops and sitting outside cafes with their coffee. We watch the news most nights and a few days ago we saw footage of how quiet and silent the city is, not one bit of the usual hustle and bustle you would expect to see. I took this photo in 2019.
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| Photo taken by Auckland City Council - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-16046 - 1 March 1968 |
Back in the 1880s this is what it use to look like and according to this blog I found it says that it was originally called "Victoria Lane" but was nicknamed "Vulcan Lane" which stuck. Photo from Sir George Grey Special Collections.
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| Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 7-A4199, 22nd January 1968 |
After a fire destroyed much of the area in the 1850s then two hotels which are still open today were built namely the Queen's Ferry Hotel in the 1860s and the Occidental hotel in the 1870s. By the 1890s the land was becoming overcrowded so in 1923 it was changed to be a one way street then in 1964 it became a pedestrian walk through lane which is much better and more suited.
Can you see the car on the right? My grandad had one of those. Many of the buildings I can see in this photo are still there today.
In other news, I was saddened to read this morning that one of my favourite actors/comedians Tim Brooke Taylor had passed away. I remember him well in The Goodies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory plus Me and my girl. Our rate of new cases as of yesterday was down to 28 which is positive but I think our lockdown should be increased to an extra 2 weeks just in case.
Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.
17 comments:
Thanks for the great old photos of Vulcan Lane. It is interesting how this lane has changed over the years until its current version.
When I first arrived in New Zealand (1965) I worked in O'Connell Street so often walked up/down Vulcane Lane. I think an extra 2 weeks lockdown would be good then partial lockdown for a while letting certain businesses/schools etc open.
It is your statement that your grandad that most interests me because the car looks to me like a Singer Gazelle (I assume it's the first car of which the front is hidden). I had a Singer Vogue of the same era. I'm beginning to feel old this morning😂
It really is crazy how quiet streets are these days. In fact, it's kind of eerie.
This is interesting. Your city is older than Tulsa really. It was "Indian Country" until it was opened up later to white settlement so very few of our buildings are more than a 100 years old.
I think an abundance of caution is called for before loosening things up.
A look back with the old photos is great. I always like finding old photos of the same area too. Thanks for sharing.
Love to see black and white then and now shots Amy, always good to see which buildings last the distance! We do seem to be getting to grips with this virus but as you say better safe than sorry. It was so sad to hear about Tim Brooke Taylor 😢
Once again I enjoyed your photos.
I'm sure your pm will do the right thing. Better safe than sorry
thanks Graham, my grandad had a humber and it looked very similar to that car.
Amy, the Humber was from the same stable and basically had the same bodywork but was a step up from the Singer Vogue that I had. It had a slightly different rear end to the Singer Gazelle.
Thanks Graham, good to know.
As always enjoyed the pics and the history! From all I’ve read, I have no doubt your PM will do what’s right for her fellow citizens. (We should be so lucky over here).
I was really upset by Tim Brooke-Taylor and I don't even really know why. A friend said it was because of the familliarity with the name and he was such a big part of our childhood. I hope for me that's as cloes as it gets. Love your photo. I think NZ has really excelled in this situation. Australia not so much, we were just lucky to be honest (and some Drs in WA really created a movement amongst the states. On a Federal level we'd still be like the UK if it was up to them).
I love seeing old photos of places we see every day and read the history that goes along with them. I've never been downtown Auckland and probably never will, so this is quite interesting to me :)
I'm so happy that you joined us over at at 'My Corner of the World' this week!
Beautiful post.
I enjoyed the photos and history! It's interesting to learn about places in other corners of the world.
These are fascinating photos from today and from before. It is very touching to see this in your world! It is sad that Tim Brooke Taylor passed away.
Stay healthy and take care of yourself during this time!
Greetings Elke
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