This is an image from Mark Bishop. Here are the previous posts: Queen and Wellesley, Newton Rd, Kingsland, Mt Eden Rd, Dominion Rd, Karangahape Rd, Mt Eden South
These images were developed by merging together various historic black and white photographs (all from the “Sir George Grey Special Collection” – Auckland Library) with contemporary colour photographs taken at the same location.
The black and white photographs were taken between the years 1900 to 1940, and cover a number of areas of the city and the outlying suburbs. The colour photographs were all taken in early 2015.
The intention of these images is to use photography to help show how much has changed – or not changed – over almost one hundred years by focusing on locations that are familiar to Aucklanders.
It is interesting to think that the people, horses and trams seen in these images passed by around a century ago where we walk and drive today.
View looking east up Parnell Rise and shows Beach Road in foreground. Black and white photograph (Mar 1904) from “Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries 1-W942.”
This is the last of the series so many thanks to Mark for providing them.
Processing...
It’s amazing how wide the street is, when you take out all the parked cars. Why, there is room for a double track for trams, and loads of other room besides! NB: this is also a very good road for going down fast on a bicycle.
It was widened further if I recall correctly as there was a plan for some sort of expressway up the hill into Parnell at some stage, I remember reading that when there was a discussion by the Local Board to do something out Lower Parnell Rd which is ridiculously wide and despite that still just caters for SUVs and parking.
Well that’s another area of the city that was ruined for the sake of maximising truck and car throughput at the expense of everything else.
This has been a great series of images. To me they’ve shown how the early transport planners had it right – they’d put in the infrastructure like tram lines and wires, train lines that go above (not through) the roads, and built w – i – d – e roads for future growth. They’d done all this when the extent of the sprawl was as far away as Mt Roskill. Look at that gentleman on the bottom right of the picture, strolling along Beach Road in the midday sun. He had options. He could’ve taken a tram, a horse & cart, steam train or a car (yes, Auckland’d had cars for 5 years when that photo was taken), but he chose to walk.
Along the way Auckland grew, but the transport options didn’t keep up. For years it was neglected and judged to be “enough” while the city grew and grew, and the people kept moving in. After years of congestion, only now does it feel like the knots are being loosened again and we finally have transport options like our forefathers.
Yes, you may choose to drive a car along here (just don’t expect to park it anywhere near that vehicle in the photo), take a link bus that heads up the hill, an electric train across the bridge, or a bike along the cycleway in the foreground. Or you may choose to be like that gentleman and take a nice walk on a sunny Auckland afternoon 🙂