Mount Albert, New Zealand

Mount Albert, comprising the statistical areas of Mount Albert West, Mount Albert North, Mount Albert Central, Mount Albert South and St Lukes, had a population of 15,204 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 720 people (5.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,515 people (11.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 4,866 households. There were 7,626 males and 7,584 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.01 males per female, with 2,877 people (18.9%) aged under 15 years, 3,741 (24.6%) aged 15 to 29, 7,107 (46.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,479 (9.7%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 60.3% European/Pākehā, 8.3% Māori, 8.1% Pacific peoples, 31.5% Asian, and 4.3% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).

The proportion of people born overseas was 40.2%, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people objected to giving their religion, 49.3% had no religion, 31.4% were Christian, and 14.4% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 5,154 (41.8%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 1,077 (8.7%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 6,489 (52.6%) people were employed full-time, 1,893 (15.4%) were part-time, and 477 (3.9%) were unemployed.[3]

Mount Albert has been administered by Auckland Council since 2010, and Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010. An early local government body was the Mount Albert Highway District Board, which was formed in 1866 and became Mount Albert Road Board in 1883. The road board became Mount Albert Borough Council in 1911, and then Mount Albert City Council in 1978. It amalgamated with Auckland City Council in a nationwide local government reorganisation in 1989.[4]

Mount Albert has been part of the Mount Albert electorate since 1946, except for the 1996–99 term, when it was the Owairaka electorate. The electorate has been held by Jacinda Ardern of the Labour Party since 25 February 2017.[5]

• Michael John Coyle, 1911–1914
• Murdoch McLean, 1914–1917
• Thomas Benjamin Clay, 1917–1921
• Alfred Ferdinand Bennett, 1921–1923
• Leonard Edgar Rhodes, 1923–1931
• Wilfred Fosberry Stilwell, 1931–1933
• Raymond Ferner, 1933–1936
• Henry Albert Anderson, 1936–1959
• Francis Gordon Turner, 1959–1968
• Francis Ryan, 1968–1978

• Francis Ryan, 1978–1989

• Mt Albert War Memorial Park - 773 New North Road.
• Mt Albert War Memorial Hall - 773 New North Road. Large modernist single span shell auditorium. Built in 1960 by the citizens of the borough of Mt Albert in memory of those who gave their lives in the service of their country. On 24 September 1989 the last civic function of the City of Mt Albert was held which marked the final act of 122 years of autonomous local government in Mt Albert.
• Mt Albert community and recreation centre - 773 New North Road.
• Rocket Park - Early 1960s children's playground with metal jungle gym shapes formed like planets, stars, comets, space ships & flying saucers.
• Mount Albert Baptist Church - 732 New North Rd. Modernist church from the 1950s.
• St Mary's Catholic Church - 10 Kitenui Ave. Roman Catholic Church attendant on the adjoining churches.
• Marist School -Alberton Avenue - Roman Catholic School.
• Marist College - 31 Alberton Ave. Roman Catholic Secondary School.
• Ferndale House. 830 New North Road. A wooden Carpenter Gothic house near the main shopping area. This was built by Jonathon Tonson Garlick as a four-room cottage in 1865 and extended in 1881. His widow sold it to Mount Albert Borough Council in the 1940s. The family firm 'Tonson Garlick' manufactured furniture. The property is distinguished by several enormous Norfolk pine trees planted in the 1860s. The house is now a community venue.[6][7]
• Mt Albert Methodist Church. 831 New North Road. Across the road from Ferndale is the wooden Gothic Mt Albert Methodist Church. The land for this building was donated by local resident Mr Stone.
• Mr Stone's House. 4 Alexis Avenue. Large masonry house in the Italianate style. Stone was reputably the first white baby born in New Zealand.
• Former Post Office. 911 New North Road. 1970s brick building with distinctive cylinder turrets.
• Mount Albert Railway Station. Opened in 1880, significantly upgraded 2013–16.
• Former Deluxe Cinema. 960 New North Road. 1920s building.
• Mt Albert Presbyterian Church. 14 Mt Albert Road.
• Alberton. 100 Mt Albert Road. A large wooden house with distinctive turrets, was built as the residence of Allan Kerr Taylor.[8] This two-storied wooden house has wrap-round verandahs and turrets in the Anglo-Indian style, possibly due to the family having spent time in India before coming to New Zealand. Originally this property commanded a view towards Auckland across a thousand-acre (4 km²) farm. Over the years the family sold off land for suburban development leaving only one acre around the house. Allan Kerr Taylor's wife Sophia was an outspoken advocate of the vote for women, as well as a singer, gardener and mother of 10. She ran the estate for 40 years after her husband's death, with her three unmarried daughters running it for a further 40 years, the last of whom left the house to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1972. Allan Kerr Taylor had three brothers who lived in Auckland near the Tamaki River: Charles John Taylor at Glen Orchard (now St Heliers), William Innes Taylor at Glen Innes, and Richard James Taylor at Glen Dowie. The names of their properties later became the names of the suburbs. Claims of paranormal activity have been reported at the well-known homestead.[9]
• Crown Research Institute 120 Mt Albert Rd. The main building is a modernist highrise block from the 1960s.(Former DSIR - Department of Scientific and Industrial Research)
• Mount Albert School Primary School on Taylor's Road. School built in its current location in 1940 on the site of Wilson's Quarry.
• Mount Albert Grammar School Alberton Avenue. Main building from the 1920s was designed by Walter Arthur Cumming this school is unusual for an urban facility as it has an agricultural department - this is the last open ground left from the Alberton Farmlands.
• Mt Albert Aquatic Centre 38 Alberton Ave, Mt Albert.
• Winstone House. 29 Summit Drive. Late 19th century Italianate style house located on the slopes of Mt Albert. Built for George Winstone in Upper Symonds Street and relocated here around 1910. George Winstone founded the well known Transport firm.
• Caughey House, 15 McLean Street. Distinctive house with turret. Moving to Mt Albert in 1888, Andrew Caughey (of Smith & Caughey's Department Store) built this two storied wooden house on 4-acres of Edward Allen's land. Architect Arthur White designed a 16-room house where Caughey, his wife and seven children lived until 1923. The property is now run as part of the private school, Hebron Christian College
• Former St Helens Hospital. 28a Linwood Ave. Officially opened on 15 February 1968.[10] One of a number of St Helens Hospitals built around New Zealand since 1905 and named by Prime Minister Rt Hon Richard J Seddon after the town of St Helens in Merseyside, England, near which he was born.[11] The hospital closed on 12 June 1990 following a formal closing ceremony.[12] The property was purchased by Auckland Institute of Studies in 1992,[13] refurbished and reopened the following year as the institute's St Helens Campus.

Showing Mt Albert and the road or rail leading into the quarry, about 1905

Mount Albert from Big King. Mt Albert Research Centre is visible on the right.

Mount Albert from Mount Roskill

Mount Albert in a postcard from around 1910

Rugby player Sonny Bill Williams and actress Lucy Lawless both grew up in Mount Albert. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, famous acoustician Sir Harold Marshall and the former TVNZ's Breakfast presenter Petra Bagust are current residents of the area.

Famous New Zealand athlete, Sir Peter Snell (triple Olympic gold medalist and world mile record holder and NZ's athlete of the 20th century), was educated in and a long-time resident of Mt Albert as was Bryan Williams, an All Black great and president of the NZRFU.

Mount Albert Grammar School is a high school (years 9-13) with a roll of 3248.[14] Opened in 1922, it was a single-sex boys' school until 2000, when it became co-educational.[15]

Marist College is a Catholic state-integrated girls' college (years 7-13) with a roll of 774.[16] The college was founded in 1928, and originally called Marist Sisters College,[17] changing its name to Marist College in 2000. Marist School is a Catholic contributing primary (years 1-6) school on the same site as Marist College. It has a roll of 299.[18]

Mount Albert School and Gladstone Primary School are contributing primary schools (years 1-6) with rolls of 458 and 861, respectively.[19][20] Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Nga Maungarongo is a full primary school (years 1-8) with a roll of 112.[21] It is a Māori language-immersion school.

All these schools apart from Marist College are coeducational. Rolls are as of March 2020.[22]

Tertiary education providers in the area include Auckland Institute of Studies and Unitec.

Mount Albert is the home of association football club Metro F.C., who compete in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Premier, and Mount Albert-Ponsonby, who compete in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 2.

Mount Albert is home to both the Marist Saints and the Mount Albert Lions, who split from Marist in 1927. Both clubs compete in the Auckland Rugby League's top division, the Fox Memorial.