CITY PIONEER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 708, 6 July 1929, Page 18

CITY PIONEER

Mr. George Rhodes’s 80th Birthday

EARLY AUCKLAND MEMORIES I Remembering well how as a boy of 13 he landed at Auckland on the long wooden jetty known as Queen Street Wharf. Mr. George Rhodes, who rei cently celebrated his 80th birthday, is one of Auckland’s pioneer builders. His father, of the same Christian name, was formerly a journeyman bricklayer in the Cathedral City of York. In 1854, however, Mr. Rhodes, sen., left with his family on the ship Juno for Tasmania. Pie spent eight years at Launceston as a building con- | tractor, and in September, 1862, arrived at Auckland on the brig Reliance. The family secured a small cottage in Wyndham Street near where The Sun office now rears its five storeys to the sky. Young George was sent to a school conducted by a Mr. French at the junction of Pitt and Hobson Streets and had. as one of his fellow pupils, the late Mr. T. Cotter, K.C.. On leaving school, about IS6S, Mr. Rhodes worked as an apprentice under his father, who was then erecting the Bank of New Zealand building in Queen Street. This structure, with its Doric pilasters and iron railing, was designed by a Melbourne firm of architects, Messrs. Terry and Oakden, and was built under the supervision of Mr. j Richard Reals, who had previously designed the New Zealand Insurance Company’s Building. FATHER DROWNED Mr. Rhodes, sen., secured the contract for the extension of the building in 1882, but unfortunately the father met his death some months later when bathing alone at Herne Bay one morning. Mr. Rhodes, jun., carried on the work and had the building completed within the required time. Mr. Rhodes later spent some time on tho Thames goldfield, where he built a four-stamp battery at the Union Mine. After returning, to the building trade, Mr. Rhodes remained in business on his own account until 1908, after which his three elder sons joined him and the present firm of George Rhodes and Sons, Limited, was established. Mr. Rhodes lost his wife last month. He has long been a member of the Old Colonists’ Association, and is well known as a supporter of the New Church, and of temperance and Sunday school work. He is an original member of the Pacific Club.