Northen Club / AFWT Serie #10 Traditional Geocache

THE CACHE

Small container with a pen, but just in case bring your own writting tool. It is quite well camouflaged, but I trust on your trained geocacher's eyes ;) It can be quite busy with muggles, but it is a bit off track so with a bit of stealth won't be a big problem.

Happy hunting!!

HISTORY OF THE PLACE

St Paul’s is the oldest church in Auckland, having been a light in the city since 1841. The first St Paul’s was built in Emily Place, just off Princes St, where a plaque still marks the site of the beginning of God’s church in the city of Auckland.

The Princess street since it's desing, has always been the center for the elite of Auckland. Good example for that is the still standing Freemasons Hall, once the meeting point of the first Lodge in Auckland, where really important members (as governor Geroge Grey himself) made trascendent decisions.

The Grand Hotel, at 9 Princes Street, was the leading hotel of the city from 1889 until 1966. The interior was furnished by large paintings collected by Moss Davis and Ernest Hyam Davis which leased the Grand Hotel building from the Ara Masonic Lodge through Hancock & Co. Ltd.

In 1901 the Grand Hotel hit the headlines with a massive fire. The fire almost destroyed the building and killed three children, a bank manager from Wellington and a maid. In 1987 the Auckland City Council approved the development of a 15-floor office tower on the site. It was to include the facades of the Grand Hotel and the neighbouring 1881 Freemasons Hall.

The Northern Club Building has a long history of association with the Auckland's social elite, having been built in 1867. It was constructed as the Royal Hotel, before becoming a gentleman's club two years later.The Northern Club was founded by a group of prominent professional and business men in 1869 when the popularity of a gentleman's club was at its peak throughout the British Empire. For over 100 years only men were allowed in the building, but In 1991 the Club voted to admit women.

The first Hebrew congregation began worship in Auckland in 1843. Their first formal place of worship was located in Nathan & Joseph's Warehouse in Shortland Street. By 1853 the congregation had grown to 100 and worship was held in a small building in Emily Place. By the 1860s this building had become too small for the rapidly increasing Jewish population and funds were raised for the construction of a synagogue.