A HISTORY OF
Karangahape Road 1920s K RD: Looking east from vicinity of bend opposite East Street down Karangahape Road, showing premises of Rendells Limited, George Court and Sons Limited, Hallenstein Brothers Limited, Sanford Limited, A S J Lamb, J A Bradstreet and J A Starmont and Sons. Also showing people hopping on tram headed for Wellesley Street. (Photo: Auckland Libraries Heritage).
Karangahape Road, affectionately called K’ Road by many, has always been a colourful and diverse area of Auckland. In the heyday of tram travel, Karangahape Road was a hugely popular destination for people who flocked to its retail stores, dance halls and cinemas. However, after the tram and trolley bus era ended, locals and visitors had to make do with one public transport option – the bus. City Rail Link will change all that – bringing underground rail to Karangahape Road and once again making this vibrant destination more accessible to the rest of Auckland.
Early days
K’ Road as a destination
The Karangahape ridge and the valley to the south was a rural area outside the town of Auckland until well in to the 1860s. However, the elevated north facing slope attracted wealthy settlers who built substantial houses – the first Government House was built on this ridge.
In 1882, this area became part of Auckland City. The replacement of horse drawn trams by electric trams in 1902 added to the attractiveness of the area and brought people from outlying areas. Virtually all the tram lines from the outer boroughs travelled the Symonds Street or Karangahape Road routes.
The Māori track along the ridge was the main route to the north and was developed into a road joining Great North Road. It was this traffic that attracted shops and other business to the crossroad of Pitt Street, Karangahape Road and Mercury Lane. This area, outside the main settlement but close enough to the centre of the city, was ideal for large sections to be allocated by the Crown to religious groups. Some still remain in the area today, such as the Wesleyan or Methodist Church built on the Pitt Street corner in 1866 and the beautiful Hopetoun Alpha in Beresford Square, built by the Congregationalist Church in 1875. The Naval and Family Hotel on the corner of Pitt Street dates from 1897, although there is evidence that a hotel was on this site in 1865. The Auckland City Fire Station was built on the corner of Grey and Pitt Streets in 1901 and the St John Ambulance Station across the road was begun in the same year as part of the fire station complex. It was built in stages, with the Beresford Street building erected in 1912. Designed for horse drawn fire engines, it enclosed a central courtyard with a large arched entrance. The tower was intended as a lookout over the city and for drying hoses. The Beresford building was converted to private dwellings in the 1990s.
From about 1900 to the early 1960s, Karangahape Road was Auckland’s busiest shopping street, with a large range of clothing and shoe shops and several department stores, such as George Courts and Rendells. It was also the centre of entertainment, with many cinemas and dance halls. After 1965, Karangahape Road lost most of its local customer base when construction of the inner-city motorway system resulted in over 50,000 people having to move out of the surrounding areas. The downturn in trade led to many shops closing and the relocating of businesses to other areas of Auckland. By the early 1970s, the lower rents in the western portion of the street meant it had acquired a rather seedy reputation as Auckland’s red-light district, although the adult industry never accounted for more than four percent of the businesses in the area at any time. Since the early 1990s, there has been a move away from this image, largely due to newly constructed apartment blocks attracting residents back to the area and the gentrification of neighbouring areas such as Ponsonby.
Tram travel Auckland’s electric trams ran from 1902 to 1956. Running from downtown at the Waitemata Harbour and across to Onehunga on the Manukau Harbour, they were then the world’s only coast to coast tramway system. Karangahape Road was well served by trams, taking passengers to a number of Auckland destinations. Beresford Street – the site of the new Karangahape Station – once had a tram spot that took passengers to the Farmers Department Store on Hobson Street. Post-WWII, the decision was made not to put more money into the tram network. Instead Auckland was to follow Los Angeles by being dominated by motorways and the decision made to rip up the tramlines and use buses.
Laying the rails for electric tram. (Photo: Auckland Libraries Heritage).