Family History 1.107

Gaze History: NSG Memoir

Churchill Road, Murray’s Bay

 

The first house built in this road, right at the top of the rise, on the landward side of the street, with a superb view down the Rangitoto Channel, was a novel design, now unrecognisable. 

In 1955 it had a butterfly roof, two low-pitched rooves which met in the middle.  As you looked at it from the street, it had a lounge/living room on the right in front and a kitchen behind that, about half as wide as the lounge.  Behind the kitchen was bathroom and toilet and a back bedroom. 

The Murrays Bay house around 2000

On the left of the lounge was the main bedroom, with another bedroom behind it.  The feel of the house, with its painted walls, bare floors, and undeveloped section, was very much of a holiday bach. 

The toilet was a separate shed down the back path, which contained a large black tin which was collected weekly by the nightcart men (during the daytime). 

The section and all the surrounding open areas were poor soil, covered with stunted grass and very low manuka plants.  In the wet weather the clay was slippery and the water poured off  the land into the drains and streams.  The street was unsealed at that stage, before the Harbour Bridge was built. 

But the North Shore Bus Company ran its buses along Beach Road at the bottom of the hill, about 500m away and so contact with the city by bus and ferry was very possible.  Driving to Murrays Bay from the city was more of a problem.  Most times of the day or night, there was a long wait in the ferry queue both ways.  Sometimes you could get a quicker trip by going by the Northcote vehicle ferry rather than the Devonport one. 

But to be sure of getting there in under an hour it was best to travel by the Great North Road to Riverhead and then through Albany and East Coast Road to the East Coast Bays.  When the Northwestern Motorway was opened to connect Pt Chevalier with Lincoln Road, that cut the time down considerably.