The front cover of this beautifully produced and well written book depicts a painting by Tony Ogle. His ‘Coach House Balcony Original’ dates from 1996 and shows a view from a balcony of the Lake House on its old site overlooking Takapuna Beach, framed by pohutukawa trees and with Rangitoto in the distance. It really sums up the nature of the book: respect for the historic building, acknowledgement of the old site and the encouragement of artistic expression.
Progressing through the book, individual people and families come to the fore. Land owner David Murdoch is followed by John Gordon (who had the Lake House built), the Scanlen family, the Sheppard family, the Winstone family, the Arthur family and then sister and brother Dorothy and Francis Gray. Developer Bob Green then enters the story, (really stories), along with painter Tony Ogle and other residents of Lake House, while it was still located on Takapuna Beach.
Part Two of the book features the rescue and revival of the Lake House, at that time also known as the Coach House, between 1995 and 2000 when it was eventually settled on its current site.. This also includes details concerning the formation of the Lake House Arts Trust, the restoration, the parties and the “garden gurus”.
The chapter entitled “Opening Day” brings Genevieve Becroft deservedly front and centre, as the real driving force behind the Lake House’s rebirth as an arts centre for Takapuna and the surrounding area. She served as a North Shore City councillor from 1989 to 2001 and was also active with The PumpHouse Theatre. We also learn about the addition of the barracks building at the current site and enjoy general photographs covering the 1995 to 2000 period.
The book has four appendices. The first is a well-warranted tribute to Genevieve, the second a poster for the 1995 ‘End of an Era’ exhibition, the third a 1920s watercolour of Partington’s Windmill painted by Lake House resident Mrs. Godden and the last a wonderful collection of reproductions of more recent artworks featuring the Lake House. These are from the Lake House Arts permanent collection and were on display in the Angela Morton Room on the mezzanine floor at Takapuna Library.
The book is available from the Lake House at $99.95, well worth it alone for the beautiful reproductions on quality paper at the end of the book.
Following on from my July 2025 column discussing the distribution of population across the North Shore in 1925, I decided to look at more recent polling booth data for further population trends.
From 1925 to 1928, the numbers of people voting at the various booths did not change much but I did note in 1928 there were new polling booths at Campbells Bay and Browns Bay. From 1935 there was also a new polling booth at Torbay and in 1938 at both Castor Bay and Mairangi Bay. Certainly, the Bays were to see a lot of growth from 1928 to 1945, transitioning from holiday residences to suburbia.
Takapuna Borough (at that time excluding Castor Bay) had a 19.67% population increase between the 1926 and 1936 census, but mainly in central Takapuna and Milford rather than Bayswater and Belmont. On the other hand, for the same period, numbers in Northcote and Devonport Boroughs decreased. As of 1 April 1938, the total population of the four North Shore boroughs (Birkenhead, Northcote, Takapuna, and Devonport) was around 23,100. This excluded the growing numbers in the surrounding Waitemata County, which included Glenfield, Albany, and the Bays.
In 1945, the total population of the four North Shore boroughs was 28,391, and the inclusion of Albany, Glenfield and particularly the East Coast Bays would have pushed that beyond 30,000.
david.verran@xtra.co.nz
