FIND THESE STEPS – At 89 Fitzherbert Terrace and from Murphy Street down the steps just before the motorway.

A surprising garden lies just beyond the Murphy Street steps.

On the other side of the steps a pathway to the US Embassy, the original site of the Katherine Mansfield Memorial in 1933 and moved to the present location after the completion of the motorway.

Katherine Avenue intersects Fitzherbert Terrace.

Mansfield’s father, Harold Beauchamp, erected the memorial to his daughter in 1933, She lived in Wellington until she was 19, and moved to London in 1903. The family had lived in Thorndon until 1893 when they moved to Karori. The Thorndon house at 25 Tinakori Road is open to the public.

FItzherbert Terrace is named for Sir William Fitzherbert, who arrived in Wellington in 1841 and later served, among other posts, as Speaker of the House. Ms Irvine-Smith notes he was described by Gibson as ‘Able and astute, he was the Ulysses of Statesmen.’ She describes this area, before the motorway cut through it, as ‘one of the city’s most sylvan residential streets.’ The memorial ‘tramwait’ located here described by Ms Irvine-Smith has disappeared.

FIND THESE STEPS- At the ‘Parliament end of town’ – Lambton Quay and Bowen Street or across from the Backbencher pub on Molesworth. Near the Wellington train station.

The steps to the New Zealand Parliament are open for visitors. No guards send you away even though these steps lead straight up to the sitting House. If visiting Parliament you do enter from the left of the steps, through security, but even so, these are the steps where the Prime Minister greets visiting officials, where the Queen has descended, and where, often, protesters can be found.

The New Zealand Parliament moved to  Wellington in 1865 but a fire in 1907 destroyed the original building and this structure was completed in 1918. The Library was spared from destruction by the fire by the hard efforts of firefighters.

The modern Beehive, beside the Parliament building, was built in 1979 and is loved by many (some?).

Parliament Library, Parliament Buildings, and the Beehive.

White camellias, once worn in support of women’s suffrage during that long and successful struggle, planted by women members of Parliament 1993 and were the gift of the National Council of Women in celebration of 100 years of women’s votes in New Zealand.

The Cenotaph

The Cenotaph was unveiled for Anzac Day 1931, to honour the war dead from World War I and, later, World War II. It is located at Lambton Quay and Bowen Street, just before you come up to Parliament.

The corner was rebuilt in 2014 – 2015 to remove a few trees, change the traffic configuration, and add a grand staircase up to Parliament grounds.

The view from the top of the steps leading to Lambton Quay and the Cenotaph.

View from across Bowen Street.

‘Walk the Line’, a feature added in the revation, is 231 carved jade discs to mark the path of the Wai Piro Stream running under the Cenotaph with a speaker providing sounds of a running stream.

Non-protesting pigeons on a wet day but with a view toward the steps to Parliament grounds.

And around the back of Parliament at the corner of Museum Street and Bowen Street are these few steps.

 

THANKS TO

Jane Selby

Katie Fleming

Stephanie Lambert

Miraz Jordan

BOOKS

Irvine-Smith, F. L. (November 1948). The Streets of My City. Wellington, New Zealand. A. H. & A. W. Reed. ‘Published with the aid of the New Zealand State Literary Fund.’

A thorough, witty, incredibly detailed history of Wellington through telling the stories of its streets.

Fanny Louise Irvine-Smith was a teacher and lecturer in New Zealand history and Maori culture at Wellington Teachers College. She organised a petition to establish a library in Khandallah, which was successful, and  has a memorial collection of New Zealand books in her name bought from the royalties from her book. Ms Irvine-Smith died just before her book was published.

More about this remarkable historian here .

OTHER BOOKS

O’Brian, G. and White, L. (2000). Big Weather. Poems of Wellington. Wellington, New Zealand (Mallinson Rendel).

Brannavan Gnanalingam – A Briefcase, Two Pies, and a Penthouse . Wellington, New Zealand (Lawrence & Gibson Publishing Collective, 2016).

(Wellington Steps – coming soon)

STYLE GUIDE

‘The Government New Zealand Style Guide

A simplified and uniform guide for grammar and punctuation.

APA Referencing Style Guide

PRINT AND ONLINE SOURCES

Living Streets Aotearoa

Dominion Post

The Wellingtonian (no longer in publication)

Paperspast – The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa

Wellington Library

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

NZ on Screen

Wellington City Heritage

Thematic Heritage Study of Wellington, Wellington City Council, January 2013

MAPS

Open Street Map

STEPS – ONLINE AND BOOKS ABOUT STEPS AND STAIRCASES IN OTHER CITIES

PublicStairs.com

‘The web site devoted to the discovery and documentation of major outdoor public stairways anywhere in the world. This web site is a labor of love brought to you by Doug and Joan Beyerlein of Mill Creek, Washington.’

Los Angeles – and Charles Fleming has a webpage.

Portland, Oregon

San Francisco

Pittsburgh

Find these steps – From The Terrace, follow along from Allenby Street, between 223 and 225 The Terrace. From Dixon Street, follow the street level of Percival Street to the end of that street. At the lower level, come along Boulcott Street from Willis Street, near the Majestic Centre, and turn left just before the St Mary of the Angels church. 

That’s the hill to The Terrace ahead, Backpacker’s lodging on the left, and St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church on the right.

One of the more extensive patches of hidden staircase and pathways lies behind the St George Hotel and St Mary of the Angels church on Boulcott Street, and very near the grand Church Street steps.

The brisk climb from Boulcott Street allows time to ponder the unexplained (by my research) lower case “r” in O’reily Avenue, named for the first Catholic priest assigned to Wellington, Father Jeremiah Joseph Purcell O’Reily, O.S.F. Both Google and the city map at the top of Allenby Terrace list the little avenue without a capital “r”. Father O’Reilly was the only Catholic priest in Wellington from his arrival in 1843 until 1850, and he secured the location for this, the first Catholic church in Wellington.

Flagstaff Hill

Steps up to Flagstaff Hill

And there it is – the flagstaff!

According to The Streets of My City, in 1843 “in fear of native attack, a battery mounted with two 18-pounders was erected.” Apparently they never saw action here.

A few years ago the surround was a bit more colourful. But now it is a picnic spot and a place to simply enjoy.

It’s a tiny part of Wellington – reported by the Dominion Post to be 1630 square metres and now owned by Wellington City. In 2017 it was designated as an official public open space; it was previously owned by a brewery.

The little parcel is historic, as reported in the Wellingtonian newspaper (20/5/2010):

“After the Wairau Affray, a bloody confrontation between Maori and Pakeha near Blenheim in 1843, settlers established a series of flagstaffs in Wellington to warn of impending Maori attack.”

The Dominion Post (12/12/2017) reports that the first flag was raised at the site in 1857 and the name came about in 1891.

The parcel was owned by Victoria University, then sold to the developers of the nearby hotel, but finally acquired by Wellington City Council in 2017 to be maintained as a public park.

The steps up from Flagstaff Hill toward upper Percival Street.

Percival Street

Percival Street forms the upper level of the walkway and steps surrounding Garden Terrace.

It was built in 1878 by Thomas K. Macdonald (of nearby McDonald Crescent and Kennedy Street in Mt Victoria) and named for his business partner, Percival Johnston. Mr Macdonald was a land and estate agent and according to Ms Irvine-Smith, his telephone was No.1.

From Dixon Street walk to the end where the staircase leads down the hill. Turn to the right at the bottom of the stairs then continue to another staircase, turning to the left at the bottom to follow on to the concealed little park, and the location of Flagstaff Hill, and its flagstaff.

View towards Garden Terrace park from the top of Percival Street.

The small precinct of this collection of pathways and stairs is laid out around a small meadow, Garden Terrace. When viewed from the stairs at Percival Street, with Dixon Street to your back, the Garden Terrace forms one side on the right, and Percival Street, as a footpath, continues along to the left. Both join and ascend to emerge at either Percival Street or Allenby Street on The Terrace.

Unexpected bush in the Wellington CBD formed around Garden Terrace park.

Looking back up the steps to the street level of Percival Street.

More views of Percival

Terrace Gardens

A surprise – you suddenly come into such a different aspect to the surrounding city. You turn a corner and there is a glen, a miniature meadow. As Ms Irvine-Smith notes dryly, “more terrace than gardens,” it is, even so, a welcoming one.

Garden Terrace – A peaceful and usually quiet little park. Sometimes evidence of partying can be found as well.

 

And the long walk to the steps up to Flagstaff Hill – To start the walk again.

Concern about the condition of the Gardens is historic – here a clipping from the Evening Post 11 April 1934.

(Paperspast, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga O Aotearoa)

 

FIND THESE STEPS – From The Terrace between 223 and 225, and from Willis Street, at the Boulcott Street intersection go along up the hill, then left at O’reily Avenue following through to the end of the parking lot next to St Mary of the Angels Church. 

Allenby Terrace, Percival Street, and Terrace Gardens form a loop around a lovely little garden, hidden away from the traffic along The Terrace, and providing an amazing spot of seclusion in the CBD.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

Allenby Terrace opens from The Terrace along a footpath but then becomes a steep staircase leading, passing Percival Street – actually a footpath in this section – on the right.

The steps are named for Field Marshall Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, who led the British Empire’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the First World War, of whom it was said “Many of Allenby’s officers believed that he was incapable of any emotion except rage…” (Wikipedia)

From The Terrace entryway.

Heavily traveled by locals, the pathways and steps are surprisingly busy for such a hidden passageway and a most difficult exercise on the way up.

 

 

 

 

Known previously as Harbour View, Allenby Street’s view of the harbour is more obscured now, but still impressive.

 

 

 

Find inspiration wherever you can….

 

Percival Street, on the left above from Allenby, leads to the Terrace Gardens, a secluded, woody meadow above the St George hotel.

Washday at Allenby Terrace.

 

The lower access is through the parking lot of St Mary of the Angels Catholic church, by way of a little street named for the first priest assigned to Wellington, and who raised most of the funding for the church. Interestingly, the priest was named O’Reily but the street marker is O’reily. The street was formerly named for Martin Ellers, who arrived in Wellington in 1873.

 

 

 

 

View of the last cascade of Allenby steps.

O’reily Street, the church parking lot, and the former St George hotel are through to the right from the bottom of the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

Find these steps – From Aro Street, find the sign posted between Garage Project brewery and the edge of Aro Park; the steps section of Abel Smith Street is an extension of the street at the intersection with The Terrace.

Pointing the way to St John Street along Aro Street, beside Aro Park and the public toilet (not the toilet made famous in the 1960s for its participation in the Soviet spy incident – that one is further up Aro Street). The rusty letters grandly spell out ‘Aro’.

 

 

 

 

Coming down toward the Abel Smith entryway.

Continue on down Abel Tasman Street and just to your left is another set of steps leading down, again, to Aro Park and Aro Street.

At the top of the steps leading down to Aro Park from Abel Tasman.

Steps from Abel Tasman toward Aro Park, and back to Aro Street park again, with the Community Centre on the right.

The historic cottages next to the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find these steps – Hankey Street, in the Mt Cook area of Wellington, can be found at the top of Thompson Street and the lower access is a short walk from Taranaki Street, just before Bidwill Street, and across from Wellington High School.

Ms Irvine-Smith, author of Streets of My City, gives a very brief history of the street. It is named for Thomas Allers Hankey, a London banker connected with the New Zealand Commercial Company – members of which also provided the names of Constable Street, Dixon Street, nearby Hopper Street, as well as several others around town – which Ms Irvine-Smith calls “Company Streets.”

Hankey Street is in several parts – the lower flat street just off Taranaki, then the steps and elevation from the section above to the next higher section, a short flat stretch, and then on to bushy – and often very busy – zigzag steps to the top.

It is a good uphill walk – 48 steps from lower Hankey street and then 145 more to the top.

To reach the steps from Taranaki Street you pass the new, sleek housing complex recently (2013 – 2018) built by Wellington City Council and a little neighbourhood dairy, and there, guarded by a sturdy horseman, is the beginning of the steps.

From the top of that first section you pass Council housing on one side and little cottages on the other to reach the foot of the next set of stairs. a grand zigzag that climbs the hill to Thompson Street.

Looking down the first set of steps toward Taranaki Street.

This is a fun set of steps – it winds around in its own seclusion, bushy, and surprising in a city.

You begin a wonderful walk up past little houses and gardens, and you may even hear tui, fantails, and chickens as you pass by.

One of the houses is designed by noted New Zealand architect Bill Toomath.

Te Kohanga Reo National Trust Board is sited at the top of Hankey Street, in the former Anderson House, built in 1875 and designed by an unknown architect. David Anderson was an early English settler, arriving in 1849 and immediately opened a grocery and spirit store, and became one of Wellington’s successful merchants.

Behind this grand collection of trees is a park dedicated to Peter Harcourt, known for his work in radio and on the stage, his successful effort to save the St James Theatre, and, also, this park.

FIND THESE STEPS – In Pipitea, Moore Street intersects Thorndon Quay at No. 63,  north of the Wellington train station; from the top at the intersection of Moturoa Street and Pipitea Street.

Near the Pipitea Marae, just off Thorndon Quay and at the top of Moore Street is an unexpected and well-used passageway along from Wellington Girls’ College. Sitting in a light industrial area, it is just a short set of stairs, and made lovely by the huge tree   beside it.

From the top – Pipitea Street.

Opposite the functional Council street sign, a more interesting street sign appears – relic of the past or a more recent addition?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wall of the business near the steps features a terrifying wild cat, and in this instance, a visiting and indifferent domestic one.

 

FIND THESE STEPS – 114 Lambton Quay and from the Terrace at 39 The Terrace.

Recognising the need to improve these much-used steps, in 2015 Wellington City Council decided to rebuild the steps to ‘transform the whole area’, and Councilor Nicola Young told the Dominion Post that they decided to open the steps to more light because ‘it’s too scary at the moment.’

And you probably would agree with her. The previous steps were dark, steep, and dismal, but enlivened by a bright mural. The mural was left to crumble and, over time,  graffiti appeared. At some earlier time, someone had decided to provide some interest and spirit to the climb.

From 2014 – a dark and dismal staircase but with a good attempt to liven the experience.

And Peter Blake appears to be helping with the original paint work.

City Council’s efforts were full-on, and you notice the difference from Lambton Quay.

 

Little history of the lane appears to be known. Even Ms Irvine-Smith, in Streets of My City, reports little about this passageway other than it was ‘originally a track up the cliff to the Terrace over a section owned by W. Mason’, who owned a blacksmith shop.

Paperspast includes  a reference to a letter to the Wellington newspaper The Evening Post, 29 January 1913, in which the author, signed “Early Memories” offers his or her own history of the steps:

Evening Post, 29 January 1913, CC-NZ-by-NC-SA

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19139129.2.110

 

The recent renovations add greenery as well.

And Council now sponsors ‘Masons Screen’, a public screen which displays local artist’s videos on a monthly rotation and programmed by CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand.

Pause, if you can, and catch the latest video – and enjoy what is certainly one unique set of stairs. Bravo Wellington!

 

 

FIND THESE STEPS – Just beside 160 Willis Street.

Just a few paces further along Willis Street from the Terrace Gardens (past the Art Deco former St George Hotel on the corner of Willis and Boulcott where the Beatles stayed during their tour of New Zealand in 1964) and you find another staircase, hidden between narrow buildings. Little used and over grown with bright grass, it heads up to a small corner of a little street that eventually turns out onto The Terrace.

Distinguished by their constant clutter, these steps shorten the passage to the Dixon Street flats. The flats were part of the effort of the first Labour Government to provide sufficient housing for the New Zealand population. They were build in 1944; unknown building date for the steps.

 

The steps are steep but a bench has been thoughtfully provided.

 

Just at the top of the stairs you find a passage to a little park and more steps to the flats.

 

From a certain angle, they seem to go on and on – nearly into infinity. You might have sympathy for the walk up these steps with a load of shopping.