26 Endeavour Street

Another piece of our history disappears – 26 Endeavour Street

This cottage stood on the corner of Gilfillan Street and Endeavour Street.

26 Endeavour Street cottage

Ten acres ran down from the corner of Gilfillan Street down Endeavour Street to Kinross Street in 1871 bought by land speculator Stephen Norris and sold on same day to George Foster, a ‘dealer’, who in 1881 sold the land to Margaret Johnson.

On 23 March 1886 Edward Brechon, of Onehunga, purchased the land and being a carpenter we have to assume he built the cottage. Although he does not appear in the next ten years on early directories as living in the Bay, these cottages were often used as holiday homes, the families would pack up and trek out to the Bay and stay for the summer.

Ten years later in 1896 John & Catherine Phelan had the cottage. From 1915 to 1919 there did not seem to be a permanent resident until Mr & Mrs John Linton with daughters Adeline and Elaine lived here, farming the land. In 1933 the Lintons built the brick house on the corner and moved in. We know of no other owners from this date, and presume the Lintons maybe rented out the now-vacant cottage.

By 1961 all of the original ten acres had been subdivided. A new Deed was issued in 1954 for the cottage and a large section behind it for Richard and Joan Ward, who moved in with their three children.

26 Endeavour Street cottage from the northern side.

The cottage was built with pit sawn rimu timber weatherboards. It had two bedrooms, a double fireplace between the front bedroom and dining room, a tiny sitting room at the front, and a tiny porch running across the front bedroom. There was a coal range in the kitchen with a chimney on the back wall. The interior walls were scrim on sarking timber.

With three children in the tiny cottage, the Wards extended a bedroom at the back, took out the coal range and chimney, and added on to the kitchen. A bathroom was added, and the front bedroom was extended out over the little porch.

This family lived in the cottage until 2019 when the large section of land was sold to a developer, and the cottage disappeared overnight in February 2020.