Hurstmere Green (49 Hurstmere Road)

Hurstmere Green is an old park that was originally developed as a small open space on Hurstmere Road. In the 1920s, Bill Conning ran his blacksmith shop from the site. A plaque recognising this fact is located by the steps below ASB. A second plaque beside a white camelia is located at the northern corner of the park and is dedicated to Kate Sheppard to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand (1893–1993).

At the bottom of the green was once Takapuna Kindergarten. This school moved from the bottom of The Strand to Hurstmere Green in 1955. In 1974, the kindergarten moved again and the North Shore Horticultural Society took over the building to use as a hall. The building remained in use until 1985, when it was demolished and the property was added to the green.

By the late 1990s, the North Shore City Council was eager to revitalise Hurstmere Green. In 2006, it ran a competition to expand and improve the space. The winner was Sills van Bohemen (SvB), which immediately began developing a new Modernist look for the area, using Rangitoto Island as its main inspiration. The architects used a combination of concrete panels and bronze colours for decoration, many of them printed with designs by Brett Graham. The newly designed green opened in December 2012 and won several awards.

Just below the green, the Takapuna City Council chambers were erected around 1983. Purpose-built, the chambers only served their function until North Shore City completed its new building across The Strand in 1991. The old chambers were used as offices before being leased to a succession of tenants. North Shore City Archives, later Auckland Archives North, remained in the basement of the building until 2021.

Take the ramp to the bottom of Hurstmere Green and continue through the carpark to the grassy area above the beach.