Not just any old neighbourhood!

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

The wider Ponsonby area is truly one of Auckland’s most beautiful and fascinating areas, teeming with history that is still visible and tangible in the rich built fabric that we experience today.

Not only is it wonderfully situated, close to the city and with plenty of access to the water, it is also one of Auckland’s few suburbs that boasts a real community spirit, character and a great ambiance day and night.

It is of real cultural heritage significance, due to its relative intactness, which allows us to follow the typical development, including the taste and design, of Victorian and Edwardian suburbs of the central city.

There are a significant number of written texts about the area of Ponsonby, Freeman’s Bay, Herne Bay, St Mary’s Bay, Grey Lynn and Westmere, all of them being thoroughly enjoyable reads full of detailed knowledge about history, buildings and people. The library in the Leys Institute also holds a wonderful archive on the local area’s history.

At the moment we're reading 'Urban Village', the recently published history of Ponsonby, Freeman's Bay and St Mary's Bay written by Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow. It's a comprehensive and gorgeous book, well worth the read if you're interested in finding out more about the area.

We are indebted to these texts for this section of our website, and a full bibliography can be found under Sources. 

Our overview in no way claims to be exhaustive and is merely intended to convey our enthusiasm and love for the area, as well as briefly inform those interested, and hopefully entice you to read on in pursuit of more knowledge about these cherished neighbourhoods!

History 

Ponsonby (including Herne Bay, St Mary’s Bay and Freeman’s Bay west of Franklin Road) was Auckland’s third suburb, after Parnell and Grafton, and the first west of the city. The original site of Auckland was purchased by Lieutenant Governor Hobson in July 1841, encompassing all the land known now and previously as Ponsonby. 

"Quite preposterous that Land should fetch as high a price in Auckland..."

If you thought high-priced real estate in our city is something of recent times, you will be amused to know that: 

   “Auckland’s reputation for high-priced real estate began early after the Crown’s purchase of 3,000 acres from Cox’s Creek around Mt Eden to St George’s Bay in Parnell was signed on July 29, 1841. (…) The upset price for a city section was £100 but, in some cases, five times that amount was paid and fortunes were made. There were no bargains. 
   Governor Hobson was elated that government finances had become so buoyant but a colonial secretary in London described it as ‘Quite preposterous that Land should fetch as high a price in Auckland as in the immediate vicinity of London or Liverpool.’” (From: The Beauty of the Bay, please refer to Sources)

Surveyor-General Felton Mathew marked Freeman’s Bay for reclamation, this was completed in 1851, enabling the Bay to develop into a thriving industrial port.

In those days the harbour was the lifeblood of Auckland and of Freeman's Bay in particular, which was a real hub buzzing with activity such as boat building, logging, saw milling and fishing.

The first settled parts

Residential development coincided with industrial development with Crown subdivision in the area taking place in 1845. The first settled parts of the suburb were around the ridge at the top of Franklin Road and around Mount St Mary’s and the Three Lamps Area.

More rapid suburbanisation followed in the 1860s, with further subdivision of land, even though the area was still quite isolated, due to unmade roads and lack of affordable transport. It was also quite primitive, due to a lack of basic services such as sewage, drainage, water supply and lighting.

A Heritage Study (please refer to Sources) notes:

   “An editorial in the Daily Southern Cross of November 9, 1864, remarked on the rapid suburban development in the area noting that most purchases of suburban allotments in the area were by ‘industrious artisans’ rather than by speculators. It observed: ‘A year ago the ground (…) was covered with tea-tree scrub; now it is covered with neat cottages, the residence of an industrious population. (…) those who flattered themselves that they would enjoy their villa residences for years to come free of the busy hum of the city will soon find it necessary to make way for the tide of the population which is forcing Auckland into the dimensions of a great city.”

Full potential

The essential services got developed during the last two decades of the nineteenth and the first of the twentieth century, helping Ponsonby to establish itself further. But the single greatest catalyst in the development of the area was the induction of the electric tram in November 1902, which set Ponsonby ‘booming’, ensuring its complete establishment as a suburb.

The area reached its full potential around this time, right up until the start of the First World War. Most of the land became developed and with retail and other business on Jervois and Ponsonby Roads, plus churches, schools and recreational plus cultural resources, the area was virtually self-contained.

From the First World War we fast forward to the mid 1970s. In the period in-between, the bay-villa suburbs lost their popularity for a number of reasons and much of the area, especially Freeman’s Bay, was regarded as a slum which the council wanted to demolish and redevelop. This resulted in the area of 1970s townhouses in the lower part of Freeman's Bay today. 

The turn around started around 1975, young professionals who appreciated the architecture of the area and the affordable houses prices moved in, renovating and restoring the old cottages and villas and thereby precipitating the renewed popularity of the wider Ponsonby area that we experience today.