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Karangahape Road from the intersection with Pitt Street.

Karangahape Road (commonly known as K' Road) is a famous street in Auckland, New Zealand, known for cafes, boutique shops, nightlife and for once having been one of the main red light districts of the city.

It is located close to the CBD and runs mostly west-east, perpendicular to Queen Street. At its intersection with Ponsonby Road in the west, Karangahape Road becomes Great North Road, at its eastern end it connects to Grafton Bridge.

Etymology

The name stems from the Māori language. The original meaning and origin of the word as a street name is uncertain, but there are many interpretations - ranging from "winding ridge of human activity" to "calling on Hape". Hape was the name of a Māori chief of some importance living over on the Manukau Harbour, thus the name possibly indicates the route that was taken to visit him.^[1]

History

Remnants of a red-light past, the 'Las Vegas' strip club.

As it was a travel route used by the pre-European Māori, Karangahape Road is actually an older thoroughfare than Auckland's main street Queen Street which was only developed by Europeans in the 1840s.

From about 1900 to the early 1960s Karangahape Road was Auckland's busiest shopping street with many clothing shops large and small along with several Department Stores. Most retail chain stores had branches on K Road, often in preference to Queen Street. During the interwar period most of Auckland's main shops selling furniture, musical instruments, radios and other household appliances were located here.^[2]

After 1965 K Road lost most of its local customer base when construction of the inner-city motorway system resulted in over 50,000 people having to move out of the surrounding areas.^[2] The downturn in trade led to many shops closing and the relocating of businesses to other areas of Auckland. This accelerated the decline, and by the early 1970s the low rents meant it had acquired a rather seedy reputation as Auckland's red light district. Since the early 1990s there has been a move away from this image due to newly constructed apartment blocks attracting residents back to the area, as well as a general gentrification of close-by areas like Ponsonby. Nowadays only very few enterprises are connected with the adult industry.^[2] However, the 'Las Vegas' is thought to be New Zealand's oldest established strip club, and its nude 'Vegas Girl' sign has become somewhat iconic.

Alongside the few remaining shops and venues catering to the sex trade, K Road currently boasts an eclectic collection of shops, cafés and art galleries. At night its restaurants, bars and nightclubs make it a major part of Auckland's social scene. K Road has become a centre for much of Auckland's bohemian scene, with many venues for alternative music and fringe art as well as the LGBT community. It is also home to many trendy Op shops.

The street received a major upgrade of its footpaths and street furniture which finished in 2006, at a cost of NZ$3.5 million.^[3] As of 2009, approximately 400 businesses exist on K Road.^[2]

Buildings and attractions

Corner Pitt Street and Karangahape Road in 1909.

Heritage

Popular guided heritage walks are conducted on Karangahape Road. Notable buildings and sites include:

• Baptist Tabernacle, 1884 , Edmund Bell architect. Corner Queen St and K Road. This brick and stucco structure was designed in the Imperial Roman style. Based upon the London Metropolitan Tabernacle located at the Elephant and Castle.

• St Kevin's Arcade, 1924, extended 1926, Walter Arthur Cumming architect. A shopping arcade in the 1920s Neo-Greek style. Incorporates the K Road entrance to Myers Park.

• Ironbank, an award-winning modern (2009) mixed-used development lauded and criticised for looking like "rusting containers".

• Rendell's Department Store, 1904, extended 1911, William A. Holman architect. Brick and stucco retail building in the late 19th century italianate style. Holman was a relative of William Morris.

• George Court Department Store, 1924, Clinton Savage architect. Corner K Road and Mercury Lane. Proto-modern building showing the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright and Otto Wagner.

• Mercury Theatre, 1910, Edward Bartley architect. The oldest surviving theatre in Auckland. This English Baroque styled building was constructed in 1910 as the Kings Theatre. When it was converted into a cinema in 1926 a new entrance on K Road was built [now the Norman Ng building]. Between 1962 and 1990 it was the location of the Mercury Theatre Company. Currently owned by a church, it is occasionally used as a theatre.

Symonds St Cemetery.

• Symonds Street Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Auckland and the first official burial ground. Here are located the graves of many of Auckland's early settlers including Captain William Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand who died in 1842. The cemetery was officially closed in 1905 when it was handed over to the Auckland City Council as a park. When the motorway system was constructed in the mid 1960s, it required the moving of over 4100 bodies. These were reinterred in two memorial sites within the cemetery.

• Langham Hotel, occupying the site at the corner of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street where Partington's windmill stood from 1850 to 1950. The hotel was a Sheraton Hotel before becoming part of the Langham chain.

• Grafton Bridge, 1910. At the eastern end of Karangahape Road, a large concrete structure spanning Grafton Gully. When it was completed in 1910 it was the largest concrete single-span bridge in the world.

• Myers Park On the slope of the Karangahape ridge facing north towards the Waitemata Harbour is a natural gully now the site of Myers Park. This is, or rather was, the start of the Waihorotiu Stream also known as the 'Queen Street River'.

Media connections

Western part of K'Road, looking east.

K Road has gathered some appreciation as a film and audio visual precinct. It has six independent film-makers, three screening venues, two radio stations (K FM Radio and Boosh.FM) and New Zealand's only television arts channel. It was also the home of now defunct independent television station (Alt TV).

The Moving Image Centre, also known as MIC Toi Rerehiko, is a multidisciplinary cultural institution exhibiting international and New Zealand artists, via "contemporary film, video, digital media, installation, music and live performance". Funded by business and public sponsorship, it has an art gallery at 321 Karangahape Road.^[4]

The Auckland office and the reference library of the New Zealand Film Archive is located in 300 Karangahape Road, where the institute also has exhibition space.^[5]

In popular culture

The song Verona by New Zealand rock band Elemeno P, from their album Love & Disrespect, refers to the cafe/restaurant/bar of the same name at 169 Karangahape Road. The current Verona building dates from 1923 and gets its name from the Victorian house that previously occupied the site; Mrs Bishop's "Verona" Boarding House.

References

• "The Lively Capital, Auckland 1840-1865" Una Platts, Avon Fine Prints Limited New Zealand 1971.

• The Heart of Colonial Auckland, 1865-1910. Terence Hodgson. Random Century NZ Ltd 1992.

• 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.

• Heritage Walks-The Engineering Heritage of Auckland. Elizabeth Aitken Rose. Tourism Auckland & IPENZ; Auckland Heritage Engineering Committee. I2005

• Karangahape Road Heritage Walk, Edward Bennett. Karangahape Road Business Association, 2005

External links

• K'Road (official K'Road business association website, includes good heritage section)
• Karangahape Road Online (mainly a business listings website, includes timeline, virtual tour - streetscroll)

Coordinates: 36°51′28″S 174°45′35″E / 36.8577935°S 174.7597039°E / -36.8577935; 174.7597039