Walk Details

NZ Walking Routes > Auckland > Central Auckland > Historic Grafton

Historic Grafton

Location

Starts at the gates of Auckland Domain in Park Road.

Description

The heritage walk area is bound by Park Road on two sides Khyber Pass Road and Grafton Road.

Begin in Park Road at the Domain gateway. Cross over Park Road, walk a little to your left and turn right into Boyle Crescent. Notice restored villas on your right and more in Glasgow Terrace. Turn back into Park Road and walk to the next corner on your right. This big old homestead is now a backpackers hostel.

Little Outhwaite Park is on the opposite corner of Carlton Gore Road. This site was once the home of Thomas Outhwaite, a solicitor who came to New Zealand in the 1840s. There is a children’s play area and picnic tables and seats with large trees here.

Turn right into Carlton Gore Road, named (and now missing an ‘e’ in its spelling after Hugh Carleton, a journalist and member of the Provincial Council in the 19th century. The original homestead ‘Carleton Gore’ was gutted by fire in 1891 and another was built , but demolished in 1957.

In Carlton Gore Road you pass a villa with a Marseilles tile roof and Victorian square villas at number 7 & 9. Turn right into Khyber Pass, then take the next right turn into Parkfield Terrace, where several early 20th century villas still stand.

A short walkway at the end of Parkfield Terrace takes you back to Carlton Gore Road. Turn left, and left at the next corner into Claremont Street. There are historic cottages at numbers 12 & 13 as well as a double-storey Georgian house at number 9.

At the end of the street turn back and cross Carlton Gore Road into Park Avenue; a couple of two-storey early houses were renovated and now have stucco facades from the 1930s. The house at number 11 is a Calfornian-style bungalow (built in about 1915). Turn left where Park Avenue meets Park Road and then turn left again into Seafield View Road. The 1920s buildings here house shops and apartments. Walk down Seafield View Road where workers’ cottages were built. Now many students reside here with Grafton Hall of Residence at number 40.A right turn takes you back into Carlton Gore Road and to a Gothic revival-style building built in 1928 once the Wesleyan College and now the Whitecliffe Art School. From Whitecliffe the stretch of Grafton Road to the bridge is mainly apartments. From here you can cross the Grafton Bridge into the city or turn back along Park Road to return to Domain gates. The high-rise Auckland Medical School is on the right just before you round the corner to Domain gateway.

Duration

1.5 hours

Amenities

• Historical
• Picnics
• Playground

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