Northern Club viewed from Princes Street
ca.1880 (unknown photographer) – 2025
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Historical image: unknown photographer | Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 7_A642
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The Northern Club Building, on the corner of Princes and Kitchener Streets, was built in 1866-7. It was intended to be a hotel, but was instead first used as government offices before becoming a gentlemen's club two years later (this information from Heritage New Zealand).
One assumes that the gents pictured here are club members off on an excursion. Does the image date from around 1880? That the younger man atop the carriage is wearing a straw boater suggests the possibility of a later date, but maybe this fellow was an early adopter.