French Bay House
The Development of Titirangi as a Suburb
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| The shops in Titirangi 1950s. Photo Gerhardt Rosenberg |
Mixed farms were established on the cleared land. Titirangi remained a small settlement until well into the twentieth century. Few farms survived the difficult years of the First World War; farm labour was scarce and untended farms quickly reverted to bush. As farming declined, Aucklanders discovered a new interest in the scenic beauty of the Waitakere Ranges. During the early years of the twentieth century few tourists had made their way into the hills beyond Titirangi. The roads into the ranges remained poor until the 1930’s when the construction of Scenic Drive provided the first all-weather road through the ranges.
After the First World war several of the properties around Titirangi were subdivided. This included a block of land on South Titirangi Road (then known as School Road). It was subdivided in the 1920’s into two acre lots and advertised for auction:
‘MAGNIFICENT SITES, with unexcelled panorama of THE MANUKAU HARBOUR, THE CITY, THE WAITEMATA AND THE HAURAKI GULF...
Fern and Forest-clad Hills with deep water frontage to Manukau Harbour...
SUMMER HOMES in the Kauri Forest....
MAGNIFICENT FISHING, BOATING and BATHING’
In 1919 nearby land had been subdivided into 70 one acre lots. This was part of the 300 acre Atkinson Estate that was subdivided and sold during the early twentieth century. The 1919 subdivision was bounded by Otitori Bay and Tanekaha Roads on the west, and Wood Bay Road to the east. Roads were also surveyed in through the land block. By October 1923 thirteen of the allotments, which had failed to sell, were further subdivided. These sites on Otitori Bay Road and Valley Road were divided into 37 allotments measuring just over one rood each.
During this period Titirangi, and the Waitakeres beyond, were promoted as a playground for Aucklanders. The Titirangi Hotel opened in the late 1920’s adding to the holiday feel of the area. However, the Titirangi subdivisions were slow to sell. Several of the one acre lots from the original 1919 subdivision remained unsold in 1930. Similarly the 1923 subdivision failed to take off. By 1930 only 28 of the 37 sites had been purchased. In 1935, Otitori Bay Road had nine heads of households listed in Cleave’s Auckland Provincial Directory. Amongst those listed were a manager, nurse, boarding house-keeper, agent and a master mariner.
Titirangi had grown with the influx of population occasioned by the subdivisions following the First World War. However, improvements to roads and services were slow to come. As late as 1944 there were only four and a half miles of sealed roads in Titirangi and virtually no footpaths. This situation improved over the years and travel to and from the city became much easier. The Titirangi of the 1950’s earned the description: ‘a sprinkling of raffish cottages, the hideaway homes of society’s casualties and the weekend baches of city dwellers.’
Lot 11 on Otitori Bay Road was part of the 1923 subdivision. Measuring one rood, the site sold in 1939 to Herbert Godfrey Harpour. It is likely that Harpour built the small bach on the site soon after his purchase of the land. The dwelling was one of several baches nestled in the bush in an area which became known as a ‘sylvan slum’. In 1950 it was purchased by retired hairdresser Albert Mason and his wife Matilda. Three years later Colin McCahon purchased the property.
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