Looking north-north-west down Parnell Road, Ports of Auckland and Waitemata Harbour visible in the distance. The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country Area Newmarket is an Auckland Suburb to the south-east of the Central business district. Grafton is a Suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand. The suburb is named for the Duke of Grafton, a patron of the first Governor of New Zealand The Auckland CBD (the Central Business District, usually just referred to as the 'CBD' or sometimes 'Central City' is the The Auckland CBD (the Central Business District, usually just referred to as the 'CBD' or sometimes 'Central City' is the Ports of Auckland ( POAL) the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities

The Anglican Cathedral, with old St Mary's church behind it

Parnell Rose Gardens during the 2006 Rose Festival. Holy Trinity Cathedral is situated in Parnell, a wealthy residential Suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.

Parnell, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, dates from the Pakeha settlement of Auckland in 1841. The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island To its west lies the Auckland Domain, to the south Newmarket, and to the north the commercial area of St Georges Bay with mainly office-space. Newmarket is an Auckland Suburb to the south-east of the Central business district.

Parnell Rise and Parnell Road make up the main road through Parnell. Parnell Rise leads to the central business district to the west; Parnell Road runs from Parnell Rise uphill to the top of the suburb, and then bends almost 90 degrees and continues towards Newmarket in the south-east, where at the intersection with Davis Crescent it becomes Broadway. A central business district ( CBD) is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city Early European settlers knew Parnell Road as "Manukau Road" until well after the formation of Khyber Pass (or Khyber Pass Road) in 1845.

Parnell has become one of the preferred places to live in Auckland, with house-prices rising rapidly over the last three years. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

History

The Borough of Parnell amalgamated into the Auckland City Council area in 1913^[1] or in 1915. Auckland City Council is the Local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand. ^[2]

Buildings

The Anglican Cathedral, which stands at the top of the hill, has become an iconic feature of Parnell. Holy Trinity Cathedral is situated in Parnell, a wealthy residential Suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It replaced the old wooden St Mary's, demolished in 1888, having served the community for 28 years. The current building has two parts: the brick choir and body of the church date from about 1960 and represent a "modern" simplified version of Gothic. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began This closely resembles Guildford Cathedral, by Edward Maufe, completed in 1961. The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit Guildford is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England. Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe was an English Architect born 12 December 1883 in Ilkley. (Guildford exempllifies Municipal Gothic: one commentator described it as "the dying gasp of the Gothic Revival in England". ) The massing of the forms, the detailing of the masonry and the smooth expanses of plain brick occur in both buildings. Over the transept entrance stands a bronze sculpture of the Archangel Michael defeating the Devil, very similar to the Epstein sculpture of the same subject on Coventry Cathedral (finished 1962). Michael (מִיכָאֵל Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; Μιχαήλ Mikhaíl; Michael or Míchaël; ميخائيل Mikhā'īl) is an mainstream Christianity, the Devil is named Satan, sometimes Lucifer. Sir Jacob Epstein ( 10 November 1880 – 19 August 1959) was an American-born sculptor who worked chiefly in the UK where Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry

The front part of the church, built in the 1990s to the design of Professor R. H. Toy and John Sinclair, recalls the new Coventry Cathedral built after World War II. Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry It features large stained-glass windows, illuminated by the sunlight at certain times of the day. Māori motifs and symbols appear in the newer part of the building, which awaits a large spire to finish the composition. This article discusses the Māori people of New Zealand For their language see Māori language, and for other meanings see Māori (disambiguation.

Next to this building stands the smaller wooden Gothic St Mary's. This dates from 1885 and served as the pro-cathedral after the demolition of the earlier St Mary's and until the building of the current cathedral. Designed by B.W Mountfort, it stood on the other side of Parnell Road until the 1980s. Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort (13 March 1825 &ndash 15 March 1898 was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of that country's most prominent

Across the road, on St Stephens Avenue near the intersection with Parnell Road, stands Bishopscourt or Selwyn Court, the residence of the Anglican Bishop of Auckland. This wooden gothic house, designed by Frederick Thatcher, has a chapel and an octagonal turret. Rev Frederick Thatcher (1814 – 19 December 1890) was an English and New Zealand architect and clergyman Bishop Selwyn and his wife moved here in May 1865. The Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878 was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand.

In this area stand two houses of the same period as Bishopscourt, both open to the public: Kinder House, the residence of the Rev. John Kinder; and Ewelme Cottage. At the end of St Stephens Avenue one finds the Parnell Rose Gardens, Judges Bay and the Parnell Swimming Pool.

During the early 1970s the suburb became rather dilapidated. A local businessman revitalised it as a week-end tourist shopping-destination. A businessperson (also businessman or businesswoman) is someone who is employed at usually a profit-oriented enterprise, or more specifically someone This involved Parnell reinventing itself as a set of "Ye Olde Worlde Shoppes". As many other Victorian buildings underwent demolition in Auckland at the time, period materials became available cheaply, and the buildings of Parnell village emerged altered, extended and tarted up in a somewhat fanciful but fun Victorian style. Some of this restyling remains in evidence.

Along the upper part of Parnell Road stand a number of these houses, most of them now used by law firms, accountancy firms, shops, and a few restaurants.

The lower part of Parnell has a larger concentration of Edwardian retail buildings, including a number of fashionable boutiques, nightclubs and bars. The streets to each side of Parnell Road remain mainly residential in character, with some townhouses and apartments, especially towards St Georges Bay Road.

At the bottom of Parnell Rise runs Beach Road, so called because it ran round the beach-front of the now-reclaimed Mechanics Bay and Official Bay. Area St Georges Bay disappeared at the same time. Here stands the former Auckland Railway Station, an impressive brick 1930s structure, designed by Gummer and Ford. History Railway use The station was built by the New Zealand Public Works Department between 1928 and 1930 and sits on reclaimed land close to the The City Fathers relocated the Railway Station here from the bottom of Queen Street to become the centrepiece for the new downtown business area of Auckland. The plan did not prove successful; the station building has ceased to operate as a station and the Britomart Transport Centre has taken over the earlier location. Britomart Transport Centre (often simply Britomart) is the CBD This has started to prove a great success.

Politics

Mayors

The following served as Mayors of the Borough of Parnell until its incorporation into Auckland City:^[3]

• 1877 - 1877 Henry Matthew Nation
• 1877 - 1878 J. W. Melton
• 1878 - 1879 William Coleman
• 1879 - 1880 J. W. Robinson
• 1880 - 1881 J. Friar Clark
• 1881 - 1883 Robert Walker
• 1883 - 1885 D. H. McKenzie
• 1885 - 1887 Jonathan Winks
• 1887 - 1888 Seymour Thorne George
• 1888 - 1891 H. B. Sealy
• 1891 - 1892 Seymour Thorne George
• 1892 - 1894 John McCabe
• 1894 - 1895 George S. Kissling
• 1895 - 1896 Spencer Von Sturmer
• 1896 - 1897 Joseph Thornes
• 1897 - 1898 N. W. Pollard
• 1898 - 1903 Hugh Campbell
• 1903 - 1906 John Fitt
• 1906 - 1909 George W. Basley
• 1909 - 1913 Richard Stevenson Briggs

Electorate

Parnell forms part of the Epsom Electorate for Parliamentary representation, and of the Hobson Ward for council representation. Epsom is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The Parliament of New Zealand consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and until 1951 the New Zealand Legislative Council Parnell represents approximately 20% of the population in each of these. The current Member of Parliament for Epsom, Rodney Hide, represents ACT New Zealand, and the serving councillors all stood on the Citizens and Ratepayers Now ticket. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Rodney Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a New Zealand politician who became leader of the political party ACT New Zealand in 2004 The New Zealand political party ACT New Zealand (commonly known as "Act" and pronounced to rhyme with "fact" though internal image-makers push the phrase Citizens & Ratepayers is an established centre-right leaning local body ticket in Auckland, New Zealand.

Further reading

• The Heart of Colonial Auckland, 1865-1910. Terence Hodgson. Random Century NZ Ltd 1992. ISBN 186941148X
• Colonial Architecture In New Zealand. John Stacpoole. A. H & A. W Reed 1976.
• Decently And In Order, The Centennial History of the Auckland City Council. G. W. A Bush. Collins 1971.
• Auckland Through A Victorian Lens. William Main. Millwood Press, 1977.
• Auckland's Original Shoreline. Dr Neride Campbell. Heart of the City 2005.
• The Lively Capital, Auckland 1840-1865. Una Platts. Avon Fine Prints Limited New Zealand 1971.

External links

• Parnell Mainstreet's Guide to Parnell
• Parnell Heritage Walks
• What's happening in Parnell
• http://www.parnell.school.nz/ Parnell District School

Footnotes