Until 1910, shopping in Takapuna was limited to just the Halls Corner area. From then on, the growth of the ‘golden triangle’ of Anzac Street, Lake Road and Hurstmere Road was greatly encouraged by new tram lines down Hurstmere Road past Anzac Street towards Milford, and the nearby Lake Road-based tram shed.
In the 1950s, the Takapuna Borough Council decided that the existing shopping area should be developed to meet the challenges of the forthcoming Auckland Harbour Bridge. In 1955 the council commenced planning for the provision of parking for 224 cars, the demolition of the old North Shore Transport bus sheds, and allowed consent for a two-storey department store and other shops on the triangle. In 1954, chain store Milne & Choyce opened a branch in Hurstmere Road, and both Rendell’s and Woolworth’s joined it in November 1958. MacKenzie’s menswear shop arrived a little earlier in 1958, or possibly late 1957. To allow for even more shops, planning began to move St Peter’s Anglican Church from its long-standing home in Anzac Street to the site of the old Brett homestead in Killarney Street. Takapuna was readying itself to become the leading retail area on the North Shore, with the Auckland Harbour Bridge opening on 30 May 1959. Takapuna became a fully-fledged city on 5 October 1961, with a population of 20,415.
Traffic lights came to Halls Corner in Takapuna in March 1961 and between 1960 and 1963, no less than 70 new shops and office buildings were opened along Anzac, Hurstmere, and Lake roads. By 1964, Takapuna had new branches of Hill & Stewart Ltd, Bond & Bond Ltd, Kean’s Ltd, Maple Furnishing Co, Irvin & Stern Ltd, Modern Bags Ltd and ‘Charles Begg & Co, amongst others. Ian G. Brickell became the North Shore stockist of the iconic Crown Lynn crockery and pottery, and the words Crown Lynn Tableware Centre are still visible above what was his shop at 102 Hurstmere Road.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Takapuna central business district retained its status as the premier retail, commercial and administrative centre for the North Shore. In fact, planners projected that central Takapuna would ultimately have a workforce of 8,000 people; well up on the approximately 3,000 people who were working there in the late 1970s. Further expansion of Takapuna’s retail and entertainment outlets was projected and the nearby Wairau Valley continued to grow its commercial and industrial focus. Nevertheless, the neighbouring Glenfield mall opened in 1971, and the Albany mall dates from the 1990s.
By 1979, Hurstmere Road was now all retail to the Mon Desir Hotel and Killarney Street, while Lake Road was all retail to Bracken and Park Avenues. Anzac Street was all retail between Hurstmere and Auburn Streets and mostly on the other side of the road. The range of shops had also expanded with the opening of the Shore City Shopping Centre on 23 October 1974.
When first opened, Shore City offered two department stores, two supermarkets, a licensed restaurant, a cabaret and over 60 specialty stores spread over three levels. The initial 432,000 square foot complex has since been made over on several occasions.
To background the attached image, Takapuna Borough, and then Takapuna City, developed a series of block sheets for its Land Information Memorandum (LIM) team. The sheets cover the whole of the Takapuna area and provide a lot of information including the footprint of both individual houses and commercial buildings, and structural materials used for those buildings. They are available online on the Auckland Council archives website.
david.verran@xtra.co.nz
