Timespanner visits Titirangi Village

Something I've been meaning to do since starting Timespanner back in '08 is to visit Titirangi Village (I called it Titirangi township, but was told by the proprietor of Gone West Books -- a nice bloke to have a bit of a yarn with on a Thursday afternoon with a wonderful if tempting bookstore -- said the locals prefer the term "village", so I stood corrected). I wasn't sure just what I could find there to put up on the blog, actually. Titirangi is your usual suburban service centre these days. Still, worth the look around while I was between appointments.

Poor Henry Atkinson. His statue struck me from this angle as having a most woebegone expression. From a booklet I helped put together earlier this year for the West Auckland Historical Society:

Born in 1838, Henry Atkinson served as an engineer for the Auckland Gas Company. On retirement, he bought land and built a homestead on South Titirangi Road (since demolished). A family holiday home he built in 1915 is still in existence. He donated part of his Waitakeres land to Auckland City Council.

Apparently, the statue originally stood on Mt. Atkinson, facing his former home, as he requested. But -- after vandals stole the nose, the statue was removed and relocated here, outside Lopdell House. It's been got at even here, so I understand. No wonder he's looking so sad. More info here and here.

Then, there's Lopdell House.

Again, from the booklet:

The “Hotel Titirangi” was completed in 1930 and opened by the Prime Minister, Gordon Coates on 20 November. It catered for 63 guests with fully carpeted rooms, drive-in garaging, and included a small shop, tea room and restaurant. The one main thing it lacked was a liquor license, which it was never granted. It continued with declining fortunes as a hotel until 1942 when it was sold to the Ministry of Education as a school for the deaf. In 1960 the building became a residential centre for teachers, and was renamed “Frank Lopdell House”, after a former Principal of Auckland Teachers College. It was bought by Waitemata City Council in 1983 to become an arts and cultural centre for West Auckland.

I did some research for WAHS' newsletter in April this year on  Lopdell House's designer, William Swanson Read Bloomfield, of the partnership (1929-1934) of Bloomfield, Owen and Morgan, who was the first known qualified architect practicing in New Zealand of Maori descent. He was the grandson of William Swanson and Ani Rangitunoa. Born in Gisborne, he studied in England, on the European Continent, and also the University of Pennsylvania, USA. During World War I he served as Captain in the Royal Flying Corps, 57 Squadron, and was shot down behind enemy lines in 1917, serving time as a prisoner of war in Germany until the end of hostilities. In November 1929, he married Rhoda Gribbin at Holy Trinity Church in Devonport. During the 1920s, he became a foundation member of the Auckland Aero Club.

He practiced in Auckland from the mid 1920s until his retirement in 1959, either in sole practice or with a number of partnerships.

In 1954, Home & Building published a brief biography on Bloomfield, in which it was stated he was “interested in early English and Chinese china, old Italian bronzes, and water colours.” An undated thesis of his still survives in the School of Architecture records: at the University of Auckland “The Structural Development of the Early Christian Basilica to Amiens Cathedral”.

His ashes were interned at Purewa Cemetery in 1969.

Can't forget Titirangi's sculpture, though.

From the booklet:

This is one of the Waitakere's distinctive landmarks and is perhaps one of our more controversial works of art. It was the winning concept in a competition for young design students. Artist Lisa Higgens enlarged her jewellery designs, inspired by lichen and algae, and these organic shapes evolved representing the regeneration of life. It was fashioned at Unitec.

But what of street art? Well, I found a bit up in the village proper.

The real gems I found, though, will have to be in the next post.

Out with the old, in with the new

Farewell, Tait-Trent Street Station, you have served us well.

On Sunday the 13th, with no trains on the Western Line, the entrances/exits to the two temporary platforms were removed. Soon, the platforms will disappear as well.

But the new station is quite cool. Sure, Crayford Street East is a bit of a climb when coming home from out of the city, but -- it has always been a climb. I guess the old road has become our new Station Hill. You can hardly call Rosebank Road leading up to Blockhouse Bay Road that anymore. And so, our history changes. That's Layard Street, stretching off to the right.

The platforms were still shut off on Sunday, so I ducked around via St Judes Street on my way up the hill. Was invited in for a coffee by Rev Bob Hornburg of St Judes, so had a cuppa and a bikkie with St Judes parishioners in the old hall there. Such mornings like that one -- is just one of the reasons why I love my home suburb of Avondale. (The reverend was in his flowing green robes at the time, the morning service having just come to an end, and I can still see him standing on the steps of the church, arms stretched, out making the invitation. It was almost like I'd come across a country church, all of a sudden ...)

Come Monday morning, and the new station is operational. This is a shot from the westbound platform (In was headed to Henderson and Mill Cottage) of the eastbound platform. Met up with another long-time Avondale resident who said the only thing amiss was that there was no nearby purpose-built carparking. He was right -- ARTA and Auckland City have yet to come to some agreement as to what and where they'll have as a parking area (park n' ride, or kiss n' ride).

Ah well, the powers-that-be will sort things out, hopefully, as the sun sinks slowly in the west ...

Auckland (War Memorial) Museum's blog

The museum seems to still want to move away from its roots and origins, so it would appear. They've launched a blog and nowhere does it refer to those two words in the brackets. Their copyright notice says "Auckland Museum" but their website does mention those words on the home page. Small lettering. Top left, on the links bar. And here, on their war memorial page.

I'll be visiting the museum tomorrow, hopefully. I felt somewhat disheartened last time I saw it, this past summer. It seemed to have lost its cool vibe. I'm hoping some of that has started to return.

A brief history of Auckland's urban form

A brief history of Auckland's urban form (pdf file) is a publication from the Auckland Regional Council. Worth a look if you'd like to see how the region developed from the 1840s. From the site:

"'A brief history of Auckland’s urban form' outlines the development of Auckland’s urban form, from early colonial settlement to the modern Auckland metropolis. It is challenging to encapsulate the growth of a city this size in 26 pages, and so the report aims to capture the key relevant drivers behind the growth in suburbs - including infrastructure provision, State housing and in later decades, major planning decisions.

"A main feature of this report is the series of ‘growth maps’. The report is chronological in nature, and each section (with the exception of two time periods 1880-1899 and 1990-1999) includes a map that shows growth over time in the built-up areas, as well as the development of the rail and motorway systems. These maps replicate, and continue, a series of maps first included in a 1967 article by G. T. Bloomfield on ‘The Growth of Auckland 1840- 1966’."

Avondale Community Centre mural

At 99 Rosebank Road, the Avondale Community Centre, built in 1990, is sporting a fine mural by Doug Ford on its southern flanks. It's been there for a while, painted within the last decade or so.

Tait Park revisited

Last year, I posted about Avondale's Tait Park, mainly due to the fact that the name of the park was nearly indecipherable on its sign, and seemed to be forgotten by some local residents.

Well, to my delight, I see that appearing before the Avondale Community Board, and writing a small history about the reserve, seems to have paid off.

As I said to one of the Avondale librarians today -- I'll go off and grizzle about something else, now ...

More Otahuhu heritage murals

Two more from the Otahuhu Historical Society's email newsletter Otahuhu Despatch. For earlier post, see here.

From  the May issue:

"This ...mural shows the staff of Andrew and Andrew leaving the premises in Great South Road, Otahuhu for a picnic at St Heliers Bay ...dating from 1909 [it] advertises Andrew and Andrew as commercial stables, livery and bait stables with buses, brakes and buggies on hire.

"In 1878 Frank Andrew moved to Otahuhu and set up the firm of F. Andrew and Sons, Seed, Grain and General Merchants and Omnibus Proprietors. This firm ran the first bus service between Otahuhu and Auckland and included a large stable of horses. Following the death of Frank Andrew in 1899 the business was split with one son, John W. Andrew going into partnership as Andrew and Lloyd and continuing the grain and produce business. In 1908 John shifted to Auckland and founded John W. Andrew and Sons, Auckland’s first Ford motor vehicle franchise holder. Two other sons, Fred and Bill, started operations in Otahuhu as Andrew and Andrew."

From the June issue:

"This second mural shows Alby Greenhalgh driving the Speedy van and dates from 1926. Albert, known as Alby to friends but always called Greenie by Mrs Andrew, worked as a driver. During his employment at Andrew and Andrew he was given a watch by Mrs Andrew that had the words “To Greenie from Mrs Andrew” engraved on the back.

"Later Alby became one of the brothers at Greenhalgh Bros. garage in the Great South Road. When he married Phyllis Mullins in 1955 he invited Mrs Andrew to the wedding at the Anglican Church in Mason Avenue, Otahuhu. She declined the invitation but asked him to introduce his new wife after the service as she lived only a few doors from the church. So, between the church and the reception at the Golden Glow in Avenue Road the newly weds were given the best wishes of Mrs Andrew on her veranda."

The new Avondale Train Station (officially) opens ...

... but not yet for passengers. Just invited guests yesterday, at a wee shindig courtesy of ARTA (Auckland Regional Transport Authority). Some songs from Avondale Primary School pupils were heard, we listened to speeches, drank coffees and teas, then got the heck off that cold, windy eastbound platform and into the snacks and nibbles (and tomato soup!) put on by ARTA at the school hall just down the road.

I must put in a WARNING here, for any readers who have concerns about images of spiders -- there is a spider image towards the end of this post. The spider being an icon of my home township, such couldn't be avoided, sorry.

Righto ...

The marquees go up on the platform, caterers move around to set up chairs, coffee/tea urns, sound systems etc. ...

... all on what has to be just about the narrowest space for any opening I've ever been to. There was good reason for the red safety barriers to keep us clear of the rails. If the drop didn't get you, the next train would.

This sort of thing fascinates me -- how they get cloths up for unveiling. In this case, a large black cloth (completed with red ribbon and bow) over the Avondale sign on the platform. Step one: get a helpful contractor to go up on the metal fence, and balance thereon, waiting helpfully to pull up the cloth from hands below.

There ya go ...

Almost there ...

The finished work, just before Mayor of Auckland City John Banks (that's him with his back to the camera) cuts the ribbon.

The bloke in front is Rabin Rabindran, chairman of the ARTA Board. John Banks at right.

The cutting ...

The pulling ...

More pulling ...

There you are! All done. They then had some of the children let off air horns, I suppose to represent trains (although one person there said it represented the sound of train horns keeping local residents awake at night ...)

Just to show you how narrow and tight the ceremonial space was -- here's one shot ...

Another with oncoming train for effect ... (at right, Chairman of Avondale Community Board Duncan Macdonald, and Councillor Noelene Raffills).

Yes, rather noisy for speeches ...

But all taken in good heart.

A special cake for the occasion was prepared (no, I don't know what it tasted like, I was more interested in the mini quiches).

The photo used on the icing is of the temporary station at Trent-Tait Streets which will be replaced by the new station we shivered on yesterday -- from next Monday (the 14th). My thanks to the Avondale Business Association for passing on word, and an invitation, to yesterday's event.

More on the event via the NZ Herald today.