Situated in central Auckland, Myers Park Historic Area demonstrates the re-ordering of urban landscapes in the early twentieth century, influenced by town planning movements and notions of social improvement. Incorporating Myers Kindergarten (1916), a commercial Terrace of Shops (1908-12) and the Theosophical Society Hall (1922-3) as well as part of Myers Park (1915) and Queen Street road reserve, it is particularly connected with the histories of women, children and broader working-class communities. Retaining ongoing connections to disadvantaged groups in the upper Queen Street locality, it has later associations with sex work, the Rainbow community, and student protests in the 1960s. It remains part of an earlier, Māori landscape of historical, cultural and spiritual significance, being associated with pre-European settlement in the Waihorotiu valley and guardianship by the taniwha, Horotiu.
The area lies near the south end of the valley, which is closely associated with the shapeshifter Horotiu, kaitiaki (guardian) of Te Wai o Horotiu or the Horotiu creek. Māori settlement beside this watercourse included occupation on the site of the current Auckland Town Hall and adjoining Aotea Square. Also in the vicinity was a kāinga for female hawini (attendants) and kaimahi (helpers) who cared for Horotiu. The gully occupied by the present Myers Park formed a taniwha mahinga kai or taniwha feeding/grazing area. In 1840, Ngāti Whātua provided land for Auckland to be created as a colonial city. By the mid-1860s working-class housing developed in the gully, next to the upper end of Queen Street - by this time the city’s main commercial thoroughfare. At the turn of the century, numerous groups expressed concern about the perceived poor condition of such housing and both the moral and physical welfare of its inhabitants - exacerbated by bubonic plague scares and other fears. Renewed prosperity in Queen Street from the mid-1890s likely also stimulated middle-class desires for beautification.
In 1908-12, a handsome, brick terrace of shops containing first floor dwellings was erected on the Queen Street frontage, tenanted mostly by single-person businesses at low rents. This development was commissioned by leaseholder, Neville Newcombe, on land owned by Methodist authorities - themselves active in social movements intended to alleviate poverty. The year after its completion, Liberal MP and prominent member of Auckland’s Jewish community, Arthur Myers (1867-1926) donated funds to the City Council to acquire land in the gully opposite the shops for a children’s park, presaging further beautification. An early proponent of Town Planning laws in New Zealand, Myers was influenced by the ideas of his American sister-in-law Martha Washington Myers (1867-1945), who promoted the importance of parks as healthy settings for children’s activities, notably in association with free kindergartens. Myers’ donation occurred in the context of simmering class tension in Auckland and elsewhere, which came to a head in the 1913 General Strike.
The proposed park was framed by its proponents as an experiment that would help establish the scientific basis of town planning to improve the health and lives of community members, particularly local, working-class mothers and infants. After nearly all pre-existing houses were removed from the site, the park opened in January 1915 with a new playground and wading pool. Myers also funded construction of Myers Kindergarten, a large two-storey brick building of Arts and Crafts design (1916) housing both a free kindergarten and a school for children with special learning needs. In addition to further landscaping, formal park gates at the Queen Street entrance were erected.
The area’s transformation continued with construction of a Young Women’s Christian Association or YWCA building (now demolished) on the south side of the Queen Street entrance in 1917, intended to serve women working in the vicinity. By the inter-war period, the 1908-12 shops were tenanted by a high proportion of women’s businesses involved in fabric and textile work. The Theosophical Society, a world organisation for the promotion of brotherhood and encouragement of the study of religion, philosophy and science, also built a visually striking hall of neo-Classical design to the north of the entrance in 1922-3.
From its inception, the park was a meeting place for people other than those for whom it was formally designed. By the 1960s it had become the site of many student protests, with regular gatherings forming a precursor to Jumping Sundays at Albert Park. It was also part of sex workers’ beats for many decades, including for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2000, the Theosophical Society Hall was converted into an adult entertainment club.
Retaining its operational kindergarten and row of shops, the park and its associated area continues to reflect notable aspects of its early 1900s purpose, as well as serving alternative needs of its surrounding communities.
The area lies near the south end of the valley, which is closely associated with the shapeshifter Horotiu, kaitiaki (guardian) of Te Wai o Horotiu or the Horotiu creek. Māori settlement beside this watercourse included occupation on the site of the current Auckland Town Hall and adjoining Aotea Square. Also in the vicinity was a kāinga for female hawini (attendants) and kaimahi (helpers) who cared for Horotiu. The gully occupied by the present Myers Park formed a taniwha mahinga kai or taniwha feeding/grazing area. In 1840, Ngāti Whātua provided land for Auckland to be created as a colonial city. By the mid-1860s working-class housing developed in the gully, next to the upper end of Queen Street - by this time the city’s main commercial thoroughfare. At the turn of the century, numerous groups expressed concern about the perceived poor condition of such housing and both the moral and physical welfare of its inhabitants - exacerbated by bubonic plague scares and other fears. Renewed prosperity in Queen Street from the mid-1890s likely also stimulated middle-class desires for beautification.
In 1908-12, a handsome, brick terrace of shops containing first floor dwellings was erected on the Queen Street frontage, tenanted mostly by single-person businesses at low rents. This development was commissioned by leaseholder, Neville Newcombe, on land owned by Methodist authorities - themselves active in social movements intended to alleviate poverty. The year after its completion, Liberal MP and prominent member of Auckland’s Jewish community, Arthur Myers (1867-1926) donated funds to the City Council to acquire land in the gully opposite the shops for a children’s park, presaging further beautification. An early proponent of Town Planning laws in New Zealand, Myers was influenced by the ideas of his American sister-in-law Martha Washington Myers (1867-1945), who promoted the importance of parks as healthy settings for children’s activities, notably in association with free kindergartens. Myers’ donation occurred in the context of simmering class tension in Auckland and elsewhere, which came to a head in the 1913 General Strike.
The proposed park was framed by its proponents as an experiment that would help establish the scientific basis of town planning to improve the health and lives of community members, particularly local, working-class mothers and infants. After nearly all pre-existing houses were removed from the site, the park opened in January 1915 with a new playground and wading pool. Myers also funded construction of Myers Kindergarten, a large two-storey brick building of Arts and Crafts design (1916) housing both a free kindergarten and a school for children with special learning needs. In addition to further landscaping, formal park gates at the Queen Street entrance were erected.
The area’s transformation continued with construction of a Young Women’s Christian Association or YWCA building (now demolished) on the south side of the Queen Street entrance in 1917, intended to serve women working in the vicinity. By the inter-war period, the 1908-12 shops were tenanted by a high proportion of women’s businesses involved in fabric and textile work. The Theosophical Society, a world organisation for the promotion of brotherhood and encouragement of the study of religion, philosophy and science, also built a visually striking hall of neo-Classical design to the north of the entrance in 1922-3.
From its inception, the park was a meeting place for people other than those for whom it was formally designed. By the 1960s it had become the site of many student protests, with regular gatherings forming a precursor to Jumping Sundays at Albert Park. It was also part of sex workers’ beats for many decades, including for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2000, the Theosophical Society Hall was converted into an adult entertainment club.
Retaining its operational kindergarten and row of shops, the park and its associated area continues to reflect notable aspects of its early 1900s purpose, as well as serving alternative needs of its surrounding communities.
