Story: Auckland places

The bathhouses at Waiwera hot springs look deserted in this early 1900s photograph. For centuries Māori had travelled to the area to relax in the beachfront hot water. In 1875 the entrepreneur Robert Graham developed the site, building bathhouses and a large hotel for guests. The springs were well known for their healing effects. After one stay a guest wrote to Graham: ’I came here ten days ago suffering from asthma – the result of a severe attack of the congestion of the lungs but from taking a hot bath daily, followed by a cold shower bath, and copious drinks of water, the asthma has gone, and my breathing becomes free and regular.’ In the early 2000s it was attracting 350,000 visitors a year. Following a series of poor business decisions and the construction of a motorway bypass, the Waiwera Thermal Resort closed in 2018.