New North Road and Mount Albert Baptist Church (732 New North Road)

The Mount Albert Highways Board was established in 1867 to construct the ‘New North Road from Eden Terrace out to the farmland of Mount Albert and beyond—funded by a toll-gate on the corner of New North and Symonds Streets. But the locals at the city end were displeased at having to pay a toll to use a road which did not go anywhere, and Board Chair Allan Kerr Taylor (from the rural end of the road) was targeted by protesters who ‘maliciously destroyed’ the sheep in his paddocks.

Many years later, Auckland’s tram network slowly extended down this artery. Trams reached Kingsland in 1903, Morningside in 1912 and Mount Albert in 1915. From 1923 onwards, they ran at eight-minute intervals towards Customs Street, with the route then going out to Remuera. These were replaced with trolley-buses in 1956, which were themselves retired in the 1970s.

Across New North Road is Mount Albert Baptist Church. The first building on the site was erected by volunteer labour over six weeks in the summer of 1912/13. Before this, Baptists attended church in Mount Eden, but “it was not due to laziness to walk to Mount Eden each Sunday” that the church was built, “but because we have looked to the future”. They evidently did not look far enough into the future, because by 1953 the church was so crowded that they had to expand into the five adjacent properties. The Baptists then constructed the brick building you now see on the corner of Alberton Road.

Proceed straight down Alberton Avenue.