Symonds Street tram stop and toilets

By The Auckland Psychogeographer

Sitting hunched at the intersection of Symonds Street, Grafton Bridge and Karangahape Road, the 1910 tram stop and toilet block is a humble reminder of overlapping Auckland histories.

Perhaps the most ornate public amenity in the city, it speaks of an era when architecture reveled in decorative features and long-lasting structures. What a robust and picture-book spot to spend a penny, or wait for your ride home out of the rain. Contemporary public facilities are so anonymous and ubiquitous they are almost a style unto themselves, the deeply bland design of airports creeping onto every high street. Here the jaunty spires and elegant arch are exactly the kind of anti-utilitarian elements that would infuriate modern designers, but lend cheer to the passerby.

The building also serves as an unofficial gateway down to the Symonds Street cemetery; despite some 1960’s graverobbing in the service of motorways, it remains home to some 10,000 souls. Unlike English cemeteries focused on individual churchyards, this one collated different faiths into one site on the periphery of the then city. The tram stop and loos no doubt were designed with a certain gravity and dignity in mind. While not exactly a temple for contemplation, the place would have at least allowed a moment or two of solitude, and a dignified place to rest before the onward journey.

And that journey may have been up the hill in a tram, or perhaps on foot across the extraordinary Grafton Bridge, completed just before the tram stop conveniences. At the time it was the longest-span bridge in the world, made of reinforced concrete and thoroughly innovative. It was the 1910 replacement for an 1884 Kauri footbridge that had become so degraded by the turn of the century that men were stationed at either end to regulate public foot-traffic, perhaps dissuading the numerous sportsmen visiting the Auckland Domain from running, jumping and other boisterous behavior. Our tram stop and loos therefore would have been visited by many a cricketer slightly worse for wear, on his way back from a long slog.

Symonds Street itself has a forgotten past – records of businesses from the prewar era show the street was thriving with dozens of small businesses like milliners, cartwrights, dressmakers, and down the hill, on what would become known as Anzac Avenue, importers, exporters and businesses connected to boatbuilding and shipping. Since that busy time, Symonds Street has remained a busy thoroughfare for public transport – buses these days, even double-deckers – but lively, small-scale commerce has disappeared, replaced by the monolithic structures of the University of Auckland.

Over time the bus stops have migrated both up and down the hill, leaving the little tram-stop and toilets essentially a curio. Rarely visited by the public – and given the colourful nighttime reputation of the cemetery, that’s no surprise – this building offers a philosophical amenity, no less worthy than its previous one.

Image Credits: The Auckland Psychgeographer