THE CIVIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE CIVIC

contains rather more than six acr s, as a Crown grant to the council and burgesses of Auckland. The document making the transfer conveyed the land to the City Council “to hold in trust for the purpose of a public market for the use and convenience of the inhabitants,” power being granted “in case the said parcel of land shall be more than sufficient to satisfy the object aforesaid, to hold the remainder for the benefit of the people of the City, or to same and apply the proceeds for the use and benefit of the inhabitants.” That was in March, 1855. Upper Queen Street and Grey Avenue were originally ridges standing between deep gullies, and the ridges had to be cut down when the present highways were formed. At the foot of the gullies lay a tract of low-spread land, which was practically co-extensive with the “civic centre.” and was deepest about where the Civic Theatre now stands. Here, and behind the old Market Hotel, a large amount of reclamation was done before the land was brought ro its present level. How deep was the “made ground” may be judged from the fact that the original Market Hotel, * wooden building erected more than 65 years ago, was two storeys below the present street level! When the reclaimed land came into commercial use one prominent site upon it was occupied by a sawmill, which operated for some years at the back of the new building, rising so magnificently on the “square.” Then business premises gradually crept along all the frontages of the block. One of the advances in municipal enterprise in the “seventies” was the provision of the City Market Buildings, erected in the middle of the block. For some years this market with its stalls of fancy goods dealers, greengrocers, poulterers and what not, was one of the recognised institutions of Auckland. It was a popular Saturday night promenade when entertainments were staged on one of the sections.