Epsom, New Zealand facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Epsom
Basic information
Local authority	Auckland Council
Electoral ward	Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa Ward
Coordinates	36°53′21″S 174°45′59″E / 36.8892°S 174.7665°E / -36.8892; 174.7665
Population	19428 (2018)
Surrounds
North	Grafton, Newmarket
East	Remuera
South	One Tree Hill, Greenlane, Greenwoods Corner
West	Mount Eden, Mount Albert

Epsom is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the centre of the Auckland isthmus between Mount Eden and Greenlane, south of Newmarket, and five km south of Auckland CBD.

Notable buildings

Campbell Memorial Fountain and Statue

• St Andrews Church – St Andrews Road. Wooden 19th-century Anglican church in the Selwyn style. Dr Purchas was vicar here. Once the centre of a rural parish this church is attended by a graveyard of significant age and importance. Little of the 1846, or 1867 churches remain, but the church has had a Category 1 listing since 1989.
• Dilworth Chapel – Great South Road. Modernist chapel for a prominent boys' school.
• Rocklands Hall – 187 Gillies Avenue. A grand country residence in the French Second Empire Style designed by Auckland architect John Currie (1849–1919). The home of Thomas Bannatyne Gillies who was a farmer, lawyer, politician, judge and naturalist. He arrived in Dunedin in 1852 and served in the provincial and national parliaments during the 1860s, being elected speaker of the Otago chamber in 1861. He moved to Auckland in 1865 where he recommenced his political career; he served as Superintendent (1869–73) and as a MHR, serving briefly as colonial treasurer in 1872. He also became a Supreme Court Judge. the house was built around 1865–66, with the major addition of a ballroom in 1889. This was once a centre for hunting on Horseback when the surrounding area was largely open farmland and scrub covered countryside. Now a student hostel for the adjacent teachers' college.
• Te Unga Waka Marae – corner Clyde Street and Manukau Road.
• Epsom Public Library – Manukau Road. 1990s building which replaced an earlier building from 1917 built for the Epsom Road Board.
• Liberal Jewish Synagogue – Manukau Road. Modernist building from the 1950s by John Goldwater. This is one of the two Synagogues in Auckland.
• Vasanta School – Margot Street. Two storied wooden Victorian House with a turret, used by the Theosophical Society as a school.
• Marivare – Ranfurly Road. A large 19th-century country house from around 1862 built for Henry Ellis (1828–1879). Ellis was elected to the Provincial Council in 1869. He later worked as an immigration agent and subsequently as the Immigration Officer for Auckland before becoming a Wesleyan minister in mid-life. The residence was purchased by prominent Auckland lawyer and businessman John Russell in the early 1880s and renamed Marivare. Following Russell’s death in 1894, Marivare was purchased by his eldest daughter Ada Carr. Now surrounded by suburban housing – the Carr family donated the last part of the estate to the city as a War Memorial – the Marivare Reserve.
• Former One Tree Hill Borough Council Building – Manukau Road near Ranfurly Road.
• St Cuthbert's College – Market Road. 1920s Classical building for a private girls' school.
• Epsom Post Office – Manukau Road. Arts & crafts building by the office of John Campbell from around the time of the First World War. Brick, stucco and Marsailles tile building of a type typically created by the Ministry of Works to harmonise with suburban houses.
• Campbell Memorial Fountain and Statue – Located at the Manukau Road entrance to Cornwall Park is a baroque fountain commemorating Sir John Logan Campbell. It is made of a massive pile of basalt rocks surmounted by a red granite pedestal and an over life-sized bronze statue. The sculptor, Henry Alfred Pegram (1862–1937), was based in London and worked from photographs to achieve a likeness. On discovering that the completed statue would be mounted on such a large base he increased the scale of the statue. The statue was finally unveiled on Empire Day, 24 May 1906.
• Former Tram Company Building – Greenlane. Office block built after the Electric Tram System was created in 1902 – Epsom is halfway between Auckland and Onehunga and so was a convenient place to locate the large Tram Sheds. These Sheds were demolished in the late 1970s and replaced by office buildings. The former Office block survives as a restaurant.
• Lido Cinema – Manukau Road at Greenlane. Neo-Greek building from the 1920s.
• Alexandra Park Raceway Gates – Greenlane Road. Brick, stucco and Marsailles tile lodges with wrought iron gates dating from the early 1920s.
• 1905 Totaliser Building – Alexandra Park Raceway. This is a wooden structure from the early 20th century. One of the oldest surviving items on this site.
• Our Lady of the Sacred Heart – Banff Avenue. Roman Catholic Church with adjacent school.

Notable buildings

• St Andrews Church - St Andrews Road. Wooden 19th-century Anglican church in the Selwyn style. Dr Purchas was vicar here. Once the centre of a rural parish this church is attended by a graveyard of significant age and importance.
• Dilworth Chapel - Great South Road. Modernist chapel for a prominent boys' school.
• Rocklands Hall - 187 Gillies Avenue. A grand country residence in the French Second Empire Style designed by Auckland architect John Currie (1849-1919). The home of Thomas Bannatyne Gillies who was a farmer, lawyer, politician, judge and naturalist. He arrived in Dunedin in 1852 and served in the provincial and national parliaments during the 1860s, being elected speaker of the Otago chamber in 1861. He moved to Auckland in 1865 where he recommenced his political career; he served as Superintendent (1869–73) and as a MHR, serving briefly as colonial treasurer in 1872. He also became a Supreme Court Judge. the house was built around 1865-66, with the major addition of a ballroom in 1889. This was once a centre for hunting on Horseback when the surrounding area was largely open farmland and scrub covered countryside. Now a student hostel for the adjacent teachers' college.
• Te Unga Waka Marae - corner Clyde Street and Manukau Road.
• Epsom Public Library - Manukau Road. 1990s building which replaced an earlier building from 1917 built for the Epsom Road Board.
• Liberal Jewish Synagogue - Manukau Road. Modernist building from the 1950s by John Goldwater. This is one of the two Synagogues in Auckland.
• Varsanta School - Margot Street. Two storied wooden Victorian House with a turret, used by the Theosophical Society as a school.
• Marivare - Ranfurly Road. A large 19th-century country house from around 1862 built for Henry Ellis (1828-1879). Ellis was elected to the Provincial Council in 1869. He later worked as an immigration agent and subsequently as the Immigration Officer for Auckland before becoming a Wesleyan minister in mid-life. The residence was purchased by prominent Auckland lawyer and businessman John Russell in the early 1880s and renamed Marivare. Following Russell’s death in 1894, Marivare was purchased by his eldest daughter Ada Carr. Now surrounded by suburban housing - the Carr family donated the last part of the estate to the city as a War Memorial - the Marivare Reserve.
• Former One Tree Hill Borough Council Building - Manukau Road near Ranfurly Road.
• St Cuthbert's College - Market Road. 1920s Classical building for a private girls' school.
• Epsom Post Office - Manukau Road. Arts & crafts building by the office of John Campbell from around the time of the First World War. Brick, stucco and Marsailles tile building of a type typically created by the Ministry of Works to harmonise with suburban houses.
• Campbell Memorial Fountain - Located at the Manukau Road entrance to Cornwall Park is a baroque fountain commemorating Sir John Logan Campbell. It is made of a massive pile of basalt rocks surmounted by a red granite pedestal and an over life-sized bronze statue. The sculptor, Henry Alfred Pegram (1862-1937), was based in London and worked from photographs to achieve a likeness. On discovering that the completed statue would be mounted on such a large base he increased the scale of the statue. The statue was finally unveiled on Empire Day, 24 May 1906.
• Former Tram Company Building - Greenlane. Office block built after the Electric Tram System was created in 1902 - Epsom is halfway between Auckland and Onehunga and so was a convenient place to locate the large Tram Sheds. These Sheds were demolished in the late 1970s and replaced by office buildings. The former Office block survives as a restaurant.
• Lido Cinema - Manukau Road at Greenlane. Neo-Greek building from the 1920s.
• Alexandra Park Raceway Gates - Greenlane Road. Brick, stucco and Marsailles tile lodges with wrought iron gates dating from the early 1920s.
• 1905 Totaliser Building - Alexandra Park Raceway. This is a wooden structure from the early 20th century. One of the oldest surviving items on this site.
• Our Lady of the Sacred Heart - Banff Avenue. Roman Catholic Church with adjacent school.

History

From the 1840s until the 1890s Epsom was noted for its rich pasture land which supported both dairy herds and grain crops. Towards Mt Eden is Windmill Road which was the site of the Bycroft Windmill.

Initially large country houses and farms dotted the landscape but from the 1890s onwards suburban development spread southwards from Newmarket across the fields of Epsom. Most of the housing in the area dates from 1900 to 1930, often large houses built solidly of wood, many in the Californian Bungalow or "Stockbroker Tudor" styles.

The area has been long noted for its tree-lined, well-ordered streets, parks and a great variety of architecture, with century-old villas competing with late 20th-century modern housing. Following WWII increasing numbers of the larger properties were subivided and smaller houses appeared. Since the early 1990s there has been a considerable amount of "infill" housing with clutches of townhouses altering the streetscapes in some parts of Epsom.

Demographics

Epsom, comprising the statistical areas of Epsom North, Epsom Central-North, Mount St John, Epsom Central-South, Epsom East and Epsom South, had a population of 19,428 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 36 people (0.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,323 people (7.3%) since the 2006 census. There were 5,904 households. There were 9,285 males and 10,140 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.92 males per female, with 2,856 people (14.7%) aged under 15 years, 5,271 (27.1%) aged 15 to 29, 8,640 (44.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 2,667 (13.7%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 47.2% European/Pākehā, 4.2% Māori, 2.9% Pacific peoples, 48.9% Asian, and 3.3% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).

The proportion of people born overseas was 50.3%, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people objected to giving their religion, 47.6% had no religion, 32.5% were Christian, and 15.3% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 7,251 (43.8%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 1,314 (7.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 7,908 (47.7%) people were employed full-time, 2,442 (14.7%) were part-time, and 570 (3.4%) were unemployed.

Education

Auckland Grammar School and Epsom Girls Grammar School are single-sex state secondary schools (years 9-13) with rolls of 2587 and 2176 respectively.

Dilworth School, Diocesan School for Girls and St Cuthbert's College are single-sex private composite schools (years 1-13) with rolls of 499, 1660 and 1558 respectively.

Epsom Normal Primary School is a contributing state primary school (years 1-6) with a roll of 598. Kohia Terrace School is a full state primary school (years 1-8) with a roll of 365. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School is a state-integrated Catholic school (years 1-8) with a roll of 211. These schools are all coeducational.

Rolls are as of April 2023.

Due to the phenomenon of the "Grammar Zone", parents wishing to live in-zone for Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls' Grammar, housing in Epsom has become desirable and expensive. Houses within the Grammar Zone come with a premium of at least NZ$100,000 compared with an identical house just outside the Grammar Zone.

The University of Auckland Faculty of Education (formerly known as the Auckland College of Education) campus is also situated at this district.