Family History 1.103

Gaze History:NSG Memoir

43 Franklin Road, Freeman’s Bay

 

Noel spent a lot of time in the home of his Gaze grandparents Charles and Alice.  It was one of the three original houses in this famous street.  You can see the street described in detail in the Historical Atlas of New Zealand. The house has been extensively renovated over the past thirty years, including the addition of a second floor.

 

 

 

43 was a small, four-roomed cottage. In the back yard, not far from the back door, was a well.

 

This house remained in the family until the death of Noel’s last aunt, Lizzie, at a great age in July 1952.  She was the first member of the family to be born in New Zealand.

 

15 Ruarangi Road, Mt Albert

 

When Noel and Mary married in 1932, there was no way they could afford to buy a house.  Their income was around $100 a year, and this house cost $1800.  It was a wedding present from Noel’s parents.

 

 

Ruarangi Road was a cul-de-sac off Mout Royal Avenue, which left Mt Albert Road about 500 m from the Owairaka tram terminus and shopping centre at the corner of Owairaka Avenue. Ruarangi was part of one of a very few subdivisions south of Mt Albert Road in those days.  Everything south of there was farmland, with large areas of ponding in the winter, and gravel roads. 

The other houses in the street were all recently built.  Some years after Noel and Mary came to live there, the State Advances Corporation began building state houses in the sections opposite.  But the adjacent section to the west was vacant.  In it the neighbourhood children used to play and during the war Noel dug an airraid shelter for his family.  The street Guy Fawkes celebrations used to take place on this empty section next door. 

In the Summer the tennis club used to operate on Saturday afternoons next door on the other side.  In the winter the courts turned to Basketball (Netball) and sometimes Mary and her friends were involved.  The courts had been dug out of the hill, and between No 15 and the Tennis Club was a steep drop, which was protected by fences and hedges.

View north to city

 

From Ruarangi Road, one could see everything to the north until the ridge along Karangahape Road and Mt Eden and across to One Tree Hill.  The neon signs flashing on Karangahape Road were a feature of the view after dark. 

From the end of Ruarangi Road, next to the Gaze section, a walkway ran past the Tennis Club courts, turned left and came out on Mt Albert Road just at the bend before the shops. That was how Noel walked to and from his tram to get to and from work.  The fare to town was twopence hapenny for adults and a penny hapenny for children. 

View north-east to Mt Eden and One Tree Hill

The house was originally two bedrooms, but at the end of the thirties a lounge and enclosed porch for use as a bedroom were added at the back, together with a verandah at one side.  The enclosed porch in front of the sitting room also served as a bedroom.  By 1942, with the birth of Stuart, the house was too small, and a shift was inevitable.