Timespanner in Glen Eden

Glen Eden in West Auckland is another one of those places I always seem to just pass through, on the way to somewhere else. I was just saying to someone this earlier this week: "One day, I'll stop, and take a good look around at the township." Today was that day and that opportunity.

The old Glen Eden Station is now Pumped Cafe -- but it still has many features intact inside. I loved sitting in there today, having a coffee and lunch and looking at the old timbers, doors, and window frames. The staff there are friendly, the coffee and the food is great, and I'll be headed back there as soon as I get another chance to do so.

Just outside is an interpretive sign for Glen Eden's history, 19th and 20th centuries. Wonderful stuff. Waitakere City Council are to be commended for a beautiful piece of heritage celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the older-style shops still survive. This one though just caught my eye because it is so different.

 

The mural at the side of the shop.

 

I struck up against very friendly and helpful folk at Glen Eden today. Popping into the library, where this carving stands, I asked a libraian what it's called. She gives me a brochure which not only explains the carving, but other works elsewhere in the complex. And they still have their own local history file collection! Wonderful news, considering my earlier bleat on Waitakere City Library policy.

 

The carving's name is "Pou Whenua", by John Collins and Sunnah Thompson, Matarikin Carvers -- Te Kawerau A Maki. It is from a single piece of kauri, standing 6 metres tall. The top figure is in haka pose, representing "the time when power to hold life and land was mostly physical". Middle and bottom figures are modern times. (Source: Glen Eden Library brochure)

 

Glen Eden's Playhouse Theatre. That distinctive brickwork has always attracted my attention as the bus passes it by. Originally the Glen Eden Town Hall, that part of its life still shows today by the retaining of the small sign "Public Library" above a side door.

The 99-year-old former Glen Eden Methodist Church, now used as the church hall. The foundation stone was laid by Andrew C. Caughey, of Smith & Caughey fame.

 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief visit today. There's more exploring to do here -- I might even take up the local library's offer to have a look at their local history collection next time (I have a soft spot for that library. In their former premises, they were one of the first libraries in New Zealand to have a copy of my Heart of the Whau on their shelves.)

Any shopping centre with a trickling stream in the middle, artificial water feature or otherwise, is definitely worth more than just a "passing through".

Heritage Mural at Ash Street, Avondale

 My friend the Phantom Westie Photographer (he'll know who I'm talking about when he reads this post. He doesn't want his name mentioned, but I believe in due credit -- he did, after all, succeed with the Rosebank Carpark Mural Challenge) gave this very, very, very long mural a shot or two on a wet and rainy Sunday recently. That time, the cars going to the Sunday Market got in the way.

Today, I thought I'd give it a burl. Basically, I stood on the other side of Rosebank Road, camera in hand, lens primed, and waited for the traffic lights to shift the vehicles away from the line of sight. Bit by bit.

 

 

The images were all taken from Challenge of the Whau, and are part of the same ongoing Avondale Community Board project as other murals in Avondale. And local control box art.

This one (above) came originally from the NZ Herald.

They're a bit out date-wise -- not "1905" but rather "1910." And Edward Wood's children are missing from the far right.

There's a horse and rider missing from this shot, and it may not be from the 1920s -- but those are just quibbles.

The Ash Street murals are the most visible in Avondale, and the most talked-about. They've certainly done their bit to keep our local heritage at the forefront.

Avondale Control Box Art: Two Survivors

Update 4 May 2013: Both of these boxes have been removed, and only bland greenish plain boxes remain.

Yes, some control box murals have survived in Avondale. Here are two examples. The first can be found at the "Peace Garden" apex of the intersection of Ash Street and Great North Road.

I'm still not entirely sure what it's supposed to represent. A steamy tropical in some place historical, with a glass jar? It looks cool, anyway.

The other is chipped, tagged and faded an intersection away, this one where Ash Street meets Rosebank Road. The dogs' eyes look somewhat spooky ...

I suspect the dogs and the men are based roughly on this part of a photo of the old Avondale Hotel (ref. A4024, Special Collections, Auckland City Library, published in Challenge of the Whau.)

Avondale Station update

The great news is that I have pedestrian access over the rails via Crayford Street again. The not-so-great news is that the connection is via a set of temporary metal steps which are narrow in step-width and terrify me when going down them (if ever you see a woman clinging desperately to the metal sides of the steps trying hard not to squeak with terror, that may be me ...) Y'see, there's a thing between me, slopes and/or narrow stairs, and a daft fear of falling A over T down same ...

Anyway ...

I haven't got things as bad as this poor tree, though.  It's still in place, which surprises me. Someone must like it, as virtually everything else has been chopped dopwn or ripped out.

 

They're setting up the dual platforms, readying the area for the double tracking. More good news is that when they're finished, the pedestrian access across the rails will be via a gated level crossing "to the east". Maybe where things are now, or at least close by.

But even when this bit is finished come December -- the new station won't be in use just yet, not until New Lynn's work is sorted, halfway through next year. Meanwhile ... I'll just keep on gingerly making my way down those scary steps.

At the foot of Shortland Street

At the foot of Shortland Street are a number of memorials and monuments -- "Te Waka Taumata o Horotiu" being just one. You just need to be able to find a quiet gap in the midst of the flow of the crowd to take a look.

One is a plaque inserted into the footpath back in 1993, for the 150th anniversary of the Auckland Agricultural  and Pastoral Association Inc. (the crew who put on the Royal Auckland Easter Show each year). Seems they met where the plaque "marks the site" in 1843, at the Royal Exchange Hotel.

Which is supposed to be this corner (the plaque is in front of it) -- now the site (since 1878) of the Blackett's Building.

 

Except ...

In the early 1840s, James Watson built his Exchange Hotel., later owned by William Hart by around 1843.  [This info updated November 2010-- see this post]. The brand new Agricultural and Horticultural Committee held their show in one of the upstairs rooms. The hotel came to be known as the Royal Exchange Hotel in the 1850s, up to 1862. Then, a Mr. Steers had a hotel on Shortland Street. The hotel (Exchange, Royal Exchange, Steers) wasn't on the corner, though. The corner site was a warehouse, then an auction market, up to the construction of the current building. The plaque should be on Shortland Street itself, not Queen Street, and just up from the Blackett's Building. Perhaps it just looked better to have the plaque by an old building, rather than one which has replaced an older building.

 

While across the street to get the shot of Blacketts', I stepped on this -- the naming plaque for "Te Waka Taumata o Horotiu", beside Burger King. Quite hard to spot.

 

Eyes downward, I also spotted this: marking the site of the William Denny Hotel, and the first Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Southern Cross, 25 January 1856

Said site is today, as previously said: a Burger King outlet.

Finally, this:

Another Fred Graham sculpture, "Kaitiaki II" (Trustee).

Kaitiaki means guardian as well -- and there's already one in Auckland -- Kaitiaki, beside the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

"Kaitiaki II" will stand outside the new Metroplex Centre, the one which takes the place of the BNZ building and the guts of the Jean Batten building behind. I can't find any info online yet -- it seems to be that new. It is certainly streamlined for that seemingly unceasing flow of people passing through at the foot of the street.