North Shore Heritage Thematic Review Report ... - Auckland Council

y the Devonport Welfare League for depression relief work in 1932, and subsequently became Devonport
Bag Wash. In the 1980s it was converted into dwellings.
Fig. 12. Devonport Gasworks 1884, North Shore Libraries D GBB 0003
Before the advent of electricity, gas was widely used for lighting, heating and cooking. In 1882 the
Auckland Gas Company bought land on Lake Road and was producing gas from coal two years later. By
the 1930s it was the largest industrial plant on the North Shore, supplying 100 million cubic feet to 6,000
consumers. Gas was produced in vertical chamber ovens, with metallurgical coke, roading tar and
ammonia for the freezing industry. 34 The works also made clay products such as pipes and bricks. 35 The
gasworks closed in the early 1960s and the gasometers, a distinctive feature along Lake Road, were
dismantled in 1993. Part of the complex is now used as a community workshop known as The Claystore,
with facilities for wood and metal working.
Places that represent this theme include:
Former Devonport Power Station 47-49 Church Street
Former Gas Co Building 81 Victoria Road
Former Gasworks, claystore and concrete wall 27 Lake Road
Theme 3 Building the City
34 Fifty Years a-growing: Devonport celebrates its Jubilee, 1936.
35 Bruce Petry [Salmond Reed], „Claystore, General Assessment of Cultural Heritage Significance‟, 1992, p. 4.
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