Devonport is a harbourside suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on the North Shore, at the southern end of a peninsula that runs southeast from near Lake Pupuke in Takapuna, forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. East of Devonport lies North Head, the northern promontory guarding the mouth of the harbour. The suburb hosts the Devonport Naval Base of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the main facility for the country’s naval vessels, but is best known for its harbourside dining and drinking establishments and its heritage charm. Devonport has been compared to Sausalito, California, US due to its setting and scenery.
The Devonport shops contain a variety of antique, gift and bookshops, and a number of cafes and restaurants, making it a popular destination for tourists and Aucklanders. Day trips combining a meal in Devonport with a trip up Mount Victoria or an exploration of the military emplacements on nearby North Head are popular. Of note is the Devonport Museum, located near Mount Cambria. In April 2017 the museum was given a complete makeover by local volunteers and a TV production company. The navy base at Devonport features strongly in the local character, with the North Shore City Council having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Navy which recognises the developing partnership between them. The Torpedo Bay Navy Museum is also located in Devonport.
Between the wharf and Mount Victoria are the Devonport shops and several landmarks:
The Esplanade Hotel – this is an elegant example of an 1890s seaside hotel, reminiscent of many an English seaside resort of the period. A modern extension was added on in the 1950s which has now been replaced by an apartment complex. The Edwardian building was sold for $7 million in 2015.
Windsor Reserve – located just to the east of the Devonport Wharf; it is an area of open lawn notable for the 1980s toilet block and the Edwardian archway at the northern end.
King Edward Parade Reserve – to the north of the Windsor Reserve on the other side of the road is the King Edward Parade Reserve; here are located the Public Library, the War Memorial (a bronze soldier figure by Richard Gross) and under the Moreton Bay Fig trees a 1950s styled bandstand.
The former Post Office – an Art Deco building from the 1930s.
The Left Bank – a 1920s neoclassical building now housing a cafe/bar/restaurant.
The Victoria Cinema – built in 1912 and remodelled internally and externally in the 1930s in the then fashionable Art Deco style; this is apparently the oldest cinema in the Southern Hemisphere in continuous use. The cinema was purchased for $1.55 million in 2006 by the North Shore City Council on behalf of the city.
Devonport Museum, a museum on local history, opened in 1977. Torpedo Bay Navy Museum, a military and maritime museum, opened to the public in 2010.
Today, ferry services to Devonport Wharf are more numerous again, and are subsidised by Auckland Transport, . A crossing between the Auckland CBD and Devonport takes about 12 minutes, usually on the ‘Seabus Kea‘, a newer double-ended ferry. The Devonport Wharf / Ferry Terminal received a variety of maintenance and repairs during 2011 in advance of the Rugby World Cup. Further structural works were carried out in 2012. In 2015 a $24 million redevelopment project to upgrade parts of Devonport including the wharf began. The renovation of the Devonport wharf is all but complete, with applications for retail services currently underway. The project includes an improved car park and an overall modernization of the building itself, as well as structural improvements and refurbishments.
