NZ Visual Diary - entry 295

cottage home - Falcon Street (Parnell | Auckland)

Established in 1841, Parnell was Auckland’s first suburb. It remains today one of the city’s most upscale locations. The growth of Parnell as an ecclesiastical centre of the Anglican Church in New Zealand is inextricably tied to the church’s first bishop George Augustus Selwyn. Arriving in 1842 and first settling in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand’s North Island, Selwyn made his way within a few years to Auckland and then the fledgling suburb of Parnell.

Selwyn was known as a man of prodigious energy, active not only in spiritual endeavours but also in material pursuits. In the latter case, Selwyn undertook an ambitious effort to establish the physical footprint for the church in Parnell, beginning with the construct in the 1850s of his residence at 4 Takutai Street. His partner in several construction projects was Benjamin Strange, a stonemason who emigrated to New Zealand after completing an apprenticeship at Buckingham Palace.

Selwyn commissioned master stonemason Strange to build several residential dwellings in Parnell including the grand stone edifice known as the Kinder House.

For his own residence, Strange built in 1863 a stone cottage on Falcon Street. Strange lived at the Takutai Street residence (mentioned above) until he completed his dwelling on Falcon Street. Sometime in the first decade of the current century, his dwelling on Falcon Street was converted into 6 character homes, one of which is featured in today’s photographic entry.