Overview / Freeman’s Bay / Herne Bay / St Mary’s Bay & Westhaven / Grey Lynn & Westmere / Sources

HERNE BAY

The Preserve of the Wealthy!

Herne Bay was the logical area for Ponsonby to expand into. On the development of Herne Bay, a Heritage Study (please refer to Sources) comments:

“[The electric tram] had huge implications for the patterns of development for Ponsonby and especially of Herne Bay. Prior (…) to the trams, smaller working class housing had been concentrated at the Ponsonby end of the suburb, especially in the area between Three Lamps and Franklin Road which allowed closer walking access to the city.

(…) Herne Bay had largely remained the preserve of the wealthy who owned large houses, gardens and had access to private to expensive public transport. The electric trams (…) now allowed the development of the southern slopes of Herne Bay (…).

Some of the development was on a substantial scale like the speculative Jervois Estate comprising Albany Road, Wanganui Avenue, Ardmore Road and Trinity Street which was built during 1905 and 1911.”

A 19th Century Beverly Hills?

An unidentified source in the library archives of the Leys Institute uses a rather vivid analogy to describe Herne Bay in its early days:

“Thus, Herne Bay in 19th century was what Beverly Hills is today. The area was a growing suburb with large houses and spacious gardens. The good view of the Waitemata Harbour made it a very attractive place to live.”

Did you know that Salisbury Street used to be the last stop for the Herne Bay tramline? This explains why the houses on one side of the street, where the tram barn used to sit before it was demolished in the 1930s, look different from the villas on the other side of the road that were built predominantly in the early 1900s.