Eden Terrace

Plan of Surrey Hills, Arch Hill and Eden Terrace, circa 1880s[2]

David Burn (c.1799 – 1875) was the first landowner in Eden Terrace to start subdividing farmland up for residential development. David (in 1863) was the first editor of The New Zealand Herald[3][4] (then called the Herald). He was also a playwright, journalist, and author of the first Australian drama to be performed on stage, The Bushrangers.[5]

Scottish-born David immigrated to Auckland in 1847 and in 1849 bought land at the top of Symonds Street from William Smellie Graham, who in turn had bought the land from the Crown in December 1848. David built his house, Cotele, on this property. The house was located at the intersection of Symonds Street, Mount Eden Road and New North Road, enjoying views north to the harbor and west to the Waitakeres. He later moved to Emily Place and leased Cotele to various tenants.[6]

In 1861 then again in 1863, David subdivided the land around Cotele into hundreds of small building allotments and sold them off at a considerable profit.[7] New roads appeared as the land was subdivided; David was always "warmly attached to the navy and nautical matters"[8] which could explain his choice of road names: Basque; Dundonald; and Exmouth – all associated with famous sea battles.

David Burn died in 1875, "in comfortable circumstances" thanks to selling the Cotele allotments at such high prices.[8]

The early Victorian house built by Burns, Cotele, was replaced around the year 1900 by a two storied Edwardian Arts & Crafts house. In the 1930s one storied shops were built on the frontyard of the house. The wooden house was just visible above the shops from Symonds Street until it burnt down in 1995. In the 2000s the site was completely cleared of buildings. It was proposed that this was to be the entry to the new Underground Railway Station but in 2014 it was announced that the Newton Station was to be dropped from the Central Rail Link (CRL).

Eden Terrace formed its own district in 1875.[9]

Looking east from Arch Hill towards Eden Terrace, circa 1860–1880[10]

The statistical unit of Eden Terrace, which also covers Newton and Khyber Pass west of the Auckland Southern Motorway, but does not cover the area west of Dominion Road, had a population of 3,933 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 204 people (5.5%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,035 people (35.7%) since the 2006 census. There were 1,803 households. There were 2,091 males and 1,839 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.14 males per female. The median age was 30.7 years, with 189 people (4.8%) aged under 15 years, 1,653 (42.0%) aged 15 to 29, 1,965 (50.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 120 (3.1%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 54.6% European/Pākehā, 5.5% Māori, 3.0% Pacific peoples, 37.3% Asian, and 6.9% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).

The proportion of people born overseas was 58.2%, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people objected to giving their religion, 55.3% had no religion, 25.8% were Christian, and 15.0% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 1,917 (51.2%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 84 (2.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $45,700. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,487 (66.4%) people were employed full-time, 522 (13.9%) were part-time, and 156 (4.2%) were unemployed.[11]

• Orange Coronation Ballroom .[12] Architect: Arthur Sinclair O'Connor.[13] Located at the top of Newton Road, the Orange is an interesting minor gem of interwar stripped classicism. The Orange was built in 1923 by the Auckland Orange Hall Society, a branch of Irish Protestants in Auckland. Dances and public entertainment were held there up until 1987. Dame Kiri te Kanawa performed there, early in her career.[14] Its sprung dance floor is still reputed to be one of the best in Auckland.
• Edinburgh Castle Hotel. Corner of Symonds Street and Newton Road. Built in 1865, it is an example of one of the simpler versions of the Italianate style. Surface plaster hides its original wooden construction. An Auckland Trotting Association was formed at a meeting held in the Edinburgh Castle on 21 May 1890. This club changed their name to the Onslow Trotting Club a little later, part of the origins of the Auckland Trotting Club and their racing today at Alexandra Park.[15]
• Pierce Bldgs - Corner of Symonds street and Khyber Pass Road. Brick group of retail shops from around 1912 built for Eleanor Piece, the widow of Mr George Patrick Pierce who had died in 1891. George Pierce had been a church warden for the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Mrs Pierce died in 1912. The family sold the property in 1944 to Grace Brothers Ltd, a Furnishing Company.
• Former Post Office building. A fine Art Deco structure from the 1930s.
• Former Eden Vine Hotel. Corner of Mt Eden Road, New North Road and Upper Symonds Street. The Eden Vine Hotel was built for William Galbraith in 1868. It lost its licence in 1905 and closed. For most of the 20th century this was occupied by an Undertakers Firm.[16]
• Former Grafton Public Library - 2 Mt Eden Road. neoclassical building from 1917 by Edward Bartley. This was the first branch of the Auckland Public Library System - it was closed in the early 1990s and has subsequently become a Pub called Galbraith's.
• Pumping Station - 4 Mt Eden Road. 1950s modernist building by Tibor Donner. Donner's first substantial design for the Auckland City Council was this reinforced concrete pumping station designed to draw water from the Hunua main supply to the Mt. Eden reservoir. Completed early in 1948, the building's incised v-cut painted plaster finish exhibits the architect's characteristic precise and deliberate detailing. These concerns are further revealed in the tapering exterior hoods (now sawn off), sills, doorways, windows, stairways, glazed internal screens, handrails and built-in ply furniture. With this utilitarian structure, Donner was free to develop a functional modern solution that may not have been acceptable in other civic locations. It remains his most purely unaffected modernist work.
• Mount Eden Baptist Church - 8 Mount Eden Road. Wooden Gothic Church from the early 20th century.
• ABA Stadium - 1 Ngahura Street. Boxing stadium that launched careers of Shane Cameron, Soulan Pownceby and Junior Fa.

• Basque Park

• Photographs of Eden Terrace held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections.