A hive of enticing eateries, beautiful boutiques, and vibrant bars and cafes, Ponsonby Central serves as a microcosm of what makes its namesake neighbourhood Auckland’s – many would say Aotearoa’s – most stylish suburb.
The Ponsonby Ridgeline
The Ponsonby ridgeline marks a traditional Māori transport route and walking track that ran from Mount Eden/Maungawhau through Newton Gully/Te Uru Karaka to pa sites overlooking Okaa present day Victoria Park. The ridgeline is known as Te Rimutahin in te reo, which translates as ‘the lone rimu tree’, believed to be a reference to an ancient tree that grew from the intersection between present day Ponsonby and Karangahape Roads. For generations, Māori – and later Asian and Pacific Island communities also – dominated the creative and diverse, if somewhat dilapidated, suburb that was once known as Dedwood. The neighbourhood is credited with birthing the nation’s reggae scene.
Ponsonby Community Centre
Ponsonby Community Centre was originally built in 1897 as an infant school. In 1970, it incorporated Aotearoa’s first inter-cultural marae, officially opened by Mr Maclntyre, Minister of Māori and Island Affairs, and also hosted the nation’s first Citizen Advice Bureau and first Tongan pre-school. Rooms there have been named after notable locals like seaman, waterside and trade unionist Johnny Mitchell, and dancer Freda Stark who was a star of Auckland’s Wintergarden cabaret and nightclub during the second world war, earning the nickname ‘Fever of the Fleet’ by US troops stationed here.
Western Park
At the top of Ponsonby Road, Western Park, opened in 1879, is one of the city’s oldest green spaces, blossoming with established pūriri, tanekaha, karaka, rimu, pōhutukawa and Morton Bay fig trees. Just a short stroll in and it’s almost impossible to imagine that such a shady oasis exists so close to the bustling streets, with hilly, winding paths passing sports areas and a colourful playground replete with one of the city’s best and biggest flying foxes! As equally memorable as the woodland are the distinctive sculptural artworks by John Radford semi-buried in the grass near Ponsonby Road (Verve interviews John on page 32).
Three Lamps
Dedwood was a name originally bestowed upon the Three Lamps junction at Ponsonby, Jervois, College Hill and St Marys Roads, after a farm on Shelly Beach Road. It changed to Ponsonby in the 1870s – there are a handful of contenders who it may have been named after, including Major-General Sir Henry Ponsonby who was Queen Victoria’s private secretary at the time. Three Lamps served as the departure point for horse-drawn buses to the city centre, with waiting passengers using the lamps’ stone base as a bench, and politicians using it as soapbox. The spot blossomed thanks to the development of surrounding stores, the post office, and a hotel that later became the Gluepot, Auckland’s coolest live music venue that hosted performances by the likes of Hello Sailor and Mick Jagger. Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett leapt so that high he headbutted a hole into the ceiling during one legendary performance.
Hotel Ponsonby
Now home of Hotel Ponsonby, the Heritage-listed post office building opened in 1912. The handsome structure certainly has many a story to tell, including being the site of a world first for a capital crime when Dennis Gunn was convicted of killing Postmaster Augustus Braithwaite in 1920, based almost entirely on fingerprint evidence. Gunn’s fingerprints matched those found on cash boxes and a gun believed to have been used during the robbery. Though Gunn held his hands up to the robbery, he claimed that an accomplice had killed the post office boss. The jury didn’t think so and Gunn was sentenced to death by hanging.
