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Story: Auckland region

State housing sightseers

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State housing sightseers

In 1937 the Labour government initiated a new state (public) housing scheme to ease a housing shortage. Some of the first houses were built in Ōrākei. Many Aucklanders went out to the new suburb to view the dwellings first-hand. These cars are crawling bumper to bumper along Coates Avenue.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/4-086901; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Margaret McClure, Auckland region – Farming and city building: 1900–1939, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/15903/state-housing-sightseers (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Margaret McClure, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 August 2016.