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Lancashire Dairy – an early Remuera business on the L J Keys corner site

The recent demolition of the old L J Keys building on the corner of Clonbern and Remuera Road prompted a Remuera Heritage member Andrea Blanchette-Forde to write about the history of the Lancashire Dairy which is featured in the famous photo of L J Keys’s building in Remuera

Remuera Railway Station and Signal Box restoration project 2025-2026

The scope of the restoration project is to strengthen and weatherproof the exterior of the signal box and station building,

Progress on track – the 2011 electrification of Remuera Railway Station

Edward Rooney reports on the optimistic future for Auckland's rail commuters - at Remuera Railway Station 2011

39 Manawa Road (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

First built around 1860, the multi-gabled cottage at 39 Manawa Road is one of only a small number of mid-nineteenth century dwellings surviving in Remuera. Although extended over time, the place is a tangible reminder of the suburb’s early settlement, social history, and way of life. It even has links with one of Remuera’s earliest schools.

‘Orakei Bay Village’, 228 Orakei Road

Located between the Orakei Basin and Hobson Bay, ‘Orakei Bay Village’ occupies a mid-century building with an interesting history. Purpose-built as a factory for manufacturing and distributing radios in 1954, the building subsequently had a decades-long association with New Zealand’s liquour industry. Now a popular boutique shopping precinct, the substantial concrete, steel, and glazed structure still retains evidence of its industrial past.

Remuera’s Hungarian restaurant – Café de Budapest

Underneath Hutchison’s Arcade on Remuera Road, at number 351, was a Hungarian restaurant, Café de Budapest.

Johnnie’s Dancing School

Johnnie’s Dancing School, also known as Johnny’s, was a Remuera social institution from the 1920s through to the 1950s.

Greener pastures at the Remuera Bowling Club

The Remuera Bowling Club (RBC), was formed in 1895, and the land purchased for the club in the same year.

Remuera women who signed the Women’s Suffrage Petition of 1893

In 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in national elections. Approx. 70 Remuera women signed the Women’s Suffrage Petition.

The Remuera Story

The Remuera Story is a StoryMap created using a digital online application to tell the story of our heritage and history.

Ohinerau Mt Hobson war memorials

In 1948 members of the Remuera and Meadowbank Garden Club began gathering daffodil bulbs for a mass planting on Ōhinerau in memory of the boys from Remuera who played on the mountain maunga and lost their lives in World War I and II.

A.G.M. Holms 1911-2011

Archie Grant Melville (AGM) Holms was principal of Victoria Avenue School from 1966 to 1969.

Orakei Gin Distillery

Where Orakei Bay Village is now, situated next to the railway line and Orakei Station, there used to be a gin distillery owned by the New Zealand Distillery Company. It occupied the space where Ampersand café and restaurant and Farro Fresh are now located.

20 Orakei Rd (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

The striking Arts and Crafts-inspired residence known as ‘Te Roti’ has a long and interesting history. Built for the well-known Winstone family in 1897, it is one of only a few surviving examples of the work of the important, yet short-lived, architectural practice of Fripp and Goldsbro’. During the twentieth century, the place continued to have associations with individuals who made significant contributions to Auckland’s history, including a noted businessman, prominent medical practitioners, and a highly-regarded historian. It even has links to a popular 1980s TV show!

A famous WW1 poem and its connection to Remuera

The Soldier by Rupert Brooke was noted for its words, If I should die, think only this of me: that there’s some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England.

Dr David Morris – growing up in Remuera in the 1940s and 50s.

We were twins, Richard and I, born on the day Singapore fell, 15 February 1942, often told this and as a reminder that the Japs were coming. Who were the Japs we never knew but we were told this to explain why there was a deep trench dug in the garden near the front hedge of our place.

Ten biggest mistakes in the history of transport in Auckland

Remuera trams

In February 1886, horse-drawn trams were operating between Auckland and Temperance Terrace (now St Vincent Avenue) off Remuera Road, running from Queen Street via Wellesley Street East, Symonds Street, Khyber Pass Road, and Manukau Road to Newmarket.

War Memorials and Plaques at St Aidan’s Church

As Anzac Day 2019 approaches, readers might be interested in the effect which two global conflicts had on the fabric and grounds of St Aidan’s, including the war memorial cross

History of Waitaramoa – past and present

Waitaramoa was the original Māori name of the land around Hobson Bay from Taurarua / Point Resolution to the Orakei Basin. This includes Hobson Bay, Shore Road, Shore Road Reserve, Thomas Bloodworth Park, the Remuera or Ōhinerau or Portland Stream and Waitaramoa Reserve and Portland Reserve in Remuera.

Norman Berridge Spencer 1891-1968

Norman Berridge Spencer was a noted businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and Freemason

‘Oaklands’ / ‘Cotter House’, 2 St Vincent Avenue (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

The striking Victorian residence once known as Oaklands and later Cotter House, stands as a valuable remnant of Remuera’s early agricultural, social and residential history.

An Exceptional Renovation by KiwiRail of The Strand Train Station 66 The Strand, Parnell, Auckland

Congratulation to KiwiRail on the excellent restoration and renovation of the station and signal box buildings at 66 The Strand, Parnell.

One hundred years of flooding and landslides on Shore Road in Remuera

The storm that struck Auckland city on Anniversary Weekend 27 January 2023 broke all previous rainfall records with flooding and landslides causing widespread damage. It was not the first time that landslides had occurred on Shore Road.

‘The Tower’, 258 Remuera Road (Remuera’s Century-Old Buildings Project)

The substantial timber building long-known as ‘The Tower’ is a valuable remnant of Remuera’s residential, social and educational history.

Growing up in Remuera

Robyn Bridgman grew up in Burwood Crescent during the early days of the 2nd World War and went to Remuera Primary School.

State housing in Remuera

Remuera has many excellent examples of State Houses built from the late 1930s when Labour governed for the first time and were determined to provide quality rental housing to returned servicemen and the working poor.

Shooting at Lake St John – Sarah Bernhardt In Remuera

In the late 19th century, Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was the most famous actress in the world. In 1891 she sailed from San Francisco via Honolulu and Auckland to Australia. Her stay in Auckland was brief but memorable.

Claude Megson’s Remuera Townhouses

Claude Megson (1936–94) was a brilliant, if controversial, architect and teacher, who built five single-family houses and three townhouses in Remuera during the 1960s and 1970s.

Barochan 226 Remuera Rd

Barochan at 226 Remuera Road was designed by architect John M. Walker and built in 1916. Extended in 1935 by architect William Gummer,Barochan is a substantial home and one of Remuera’s finest.

The Remuera Hall and Chapel, 488 Remuera Road (Remuera’s Century-Old Buildings Project)

The two-storey timber building once known as Remuera Hall stands as a valuable remnant of Remuera’s religious, social and commercial history.

Henry Kulka 1900-1971 (Architects of Remuera): a forerunner of New Zealand modern architecture

Henry Kulka (1900–71) is often cited as a forerunner of New Zealand modern architecture.

Lillian Chrystall (Architects of Remuera) – A very inspiring and influential architect

Lillian Chrystall was an exceptionally gifted award-winning architect. She was accepted into the University of Auckland (UoA) School of Architecture as one of only five women and designed several houses in Remuera.

Ōhinerau Mt Hobson: its creation and history

Dr Bruce Hayward, geologist and marine ecologist, gave a hugely informative and entertaining talk on the eruption and formation of Ohinerau Mt Hobson, Mt St John and the Orakei Basin, at our Auckland Heritage Festival event on 7 October 2022.

St Ann’s, 43 Arney Road, Remuera (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

Previously described as ‘an English country cottage on a grand scale’, St Ann’s is a notable example of the domestic work of architect, B. C. Chilwell and makes an important contribution to one of Remuera’s most prestigious streetscapes.

Binswood, 229 Remuera Road, Remuera (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

Designed in 1927, by Roy A. Lippincott, ‘Binswood’ has important associations with a number of individuals who made significant contributions in their respective fields.

Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022: The Queen at Ellerslie Races, Boxing Day 1953

On her first visit to New Zealand in 1953, newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II, with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, attended a Boxing Day meeting at Ellerslie racecourse.

The Glen District of East Auckland, from 1843

At a Remuera Heritage event on 9 September 2022 Vivienne Wilson spoke about her Taylor ancestor Lieutenant General William Taylor and the houses he and his family built in Auckland.

Aachen House, 39 Market Road – Sold July 2022

39 Market Road Remuera has been owned by the Dilworth Ulster Institute (Dilworth School) and the Dilworth Trust Board for 100 years

‘Capri’, 231 Remuera Road, Remuera (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

Described as "one of the most substantially built brick houses in Auckland", the dwelling at present-day 231 Remuera Road was built in approximately 1903.

37 Bell Road, Remuera (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

The original dwelling at present-day 37 Bell Road was built sometime before 1892 reflecting the style of residence that had begun to characterise the residential suburbs of Victorian Auckland.

Horace Lovell Massey, WW1 Serviceman and Notable Architect (Architects of Remuera)

Horace Lovell Massey (1895-1978) was a notable architect who designed distinctive houses in Remuera. He designed many commercial and public buildings as well as residences in Auckland.

31 and 33 Bell Road, Remuera (Remuera’s Century-Old Homes Project)

Built as identical two-storey houses in c.1885 on the corners of Bell and Shera roads, the subject residences are two of Bell Road’s earliest buildings and stand as a direct link to Remuera’s early residential history.

In memoriam: Joan Thompson 1926-2022

Joan Thompson recorded an oral history with Remuera Heritage in 2018. She was the last surviving pupil of Ladies College in Remuera.

Strathcona, 35 Seaview Road, Remuera

The residence located at present-day 35 Seaview Road, known as Strathcona, was built before 1905. Although the exact date of the villa’s construction is not known, records indicate that a number of buildings had been established on the site by 1884.

Binswood, 229 Remuera Road, Remuera

This house on the side of Ohinerau Mt Hobson was originally built in 1927. It was designed by the noted American architect Roy Alstan Lippincott (1885-1969) who worked in New Zealand from 1921 to 1939.

561 Remuera Road, Remuera: Formerly Harvey Furnishings

You may have noticed the transformation underway of the building at 561 Remuera Road on the corner with Minto Road, Remuera. The shops that were Harvey Furnishings are to become a Four Square supermarket.

The Hillary Houses of Remuera

Sir Edmund Hillary’s family had a long involvement of residing in Remuera in most of the 20th century.

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