Viaduct Harbour, formerly known as Viaduct Basin, is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront that has been turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments,[3] office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a formerly run-down area of the Freemans Bay / Auckland CBD waterfront in Auckland, New Zealand. As a centre of activity of the 2000 America's Cup hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, as well as the 2022 Rally New Zealand, the precinct enjoyed considerable popularity with locals and foreign visitors.
Charles Bailey started off a series of firms. He was an apprentice of and took over George Beddoes' Devonport yard in 1870. He moved to a larger yard on Customs Street West, where he built PSBritannia for Devonport Steam Ferry in 1885.[8]William George Lowe was an apprentice with Charles Bailey and later joined Lane & Brown at Totara North. When Charles (junior) and Walter Bailey started at Freeman's Bay as C & W Bailey, W G Lowe returned to join them. That firm was dissolved in 1900, when W G Lowe started on his own, but was soon joined by Walter Bailey to form Bailey & Lowe,[9] which had a yard on Customs Street West in 1903,[10] until Walter Bailey died in 1927.[9] In 1904 Charles Bailey's yard was opposite Gleeson's Hotel,[11] which was on the corner of Hobson Street and Fanshawe Street.[12]Charles Bailey & Son had a yard at Beaumont Street, Freeman's Bay,[13] which caught fire in 1907,[14] where Ernest Charles Bailey died in 1943[15] and several Devonport Steam Ferry ships were built.[16]W G Lowe & Son then took on the Beaumont yard from 1927,[17] though W G Lowe died on 14 June 1935.[9] They built 5 boats in 1937[18] and were still at Freeman's Bay in 1942.[19] As part of a programme for the war effort,[20] the minesweepersHinau, Manuka, Rimu and Tawhai were built at the Marine Department's Beaumont Street yard, initially in timber, before taking over another yard in 1943 for steel ships,[21] the first being Waikato, with a boiler by Hutt railway works,[22] woodwork by W G Lowe and steel hulls by Mason Brothers,[23] who had a yard in Beaumont Street[24] from 1927, after moving from Port Chalmers.[25]Rimu was laid out by Charles Bailey and built by Senior Foundry,[26] which had been near Albert Street in 1913,[27] was bought by Northern Steamship in 1927[28] and was in Beaumont Street in 1941. About 1971 it became part of Cable Price Downer,[29] which in 1987 was associated with Brierley Investments.[30]Seagar Brothers were on Albert Street in 1892[31] and later worked on the machinery and steelwork of Hinau at the Beaumont yard.[32]
Henry Niccol
John Bigelow was working at John McLeod's yard in Onehunga in 1863. Keane and Bigelow were near Queen St in 1873,[34] R S Bigelow & Sons built Kate McGregor in 1874[35] and John Bigelow raised a sunken ship in the bay in 1891.[36] They moved to Customs Street West in 1893.[37] John Bigelow died in 1903.[38]
[33]
had yards near the foot of Hobson Street[39] and in Poore Street,[40] now Westhaven Drive, on the western reclamation.[41] After W H Brown retired, Percy Vos and Shipbuilders Ltd had yards in Poore Street, from 1922.[42] The Percy Vos yard moved to nearby 37 Hamer Street in 1937 and is now preserved by the Maritime Museum.[43] Shipbuilders replaced their fire damaged site with a new one nearby in 1945.[44]
William Hoile Brown
James William Carr had a boatyard near the foot of Nelson Street from about 1865.[46] He died in Upper Nelson Street in 1909,[47] aged 81.[48]
[45]
Duthie & Ross launched the 200 ft (61 m) long steamer, , from their Smale's Point yard in 1870.[49]Ross had a yard in 1873.[50]Duthie had a yard on the reclamation in 1878.[51]
Golden Crown
David Gouk repaired the barque Crishna in 1871. C Gouk launched the 66 ft (20 m) long scow Dominion in Freeman's Bay[53] on 24 April 1908.[54] His yard started in Customs Street West[55][56] and he raised over 60 wrecks between 1863 and 1908.[57] From about 1901 the firm mainly built wharves and bridges.[58]
[52]
Henderson and Spraggon, opposite Gleeson's Hotel, was founded by Adam Henderson, who was a shipwright by 1866. His son, Robert, retired in about 1928.[60]
[59]
C Hewson and R Melville (a Henderson and Spraggon foreman) had a yard at Breakwater Road, near the foot of Princes Street between at least 1879 and 1889.[62]
[61]
had a yard on Customs Street West.
Robert Logan
Captain Richard Mackay had a yard from about 1855 near the foot of Albert and Hobson Streets. His largest ship was the 112 ft (34 m) long brigantine, Defiance, launched in 1880[64] and his last ship was the barque, Northern Chief,[65] built in 1887.[63]
[63]
had a Fanshawe Street yard, near the Kauri Timber depot, between at least 1905[66] and 1924.[67]
George Niccol
The quarter seen from the Sky Tower, with approximate boundaries shown marked in red
The original redevelopment on the eastern side of the Viaduct Harbour
