Heritage Room

The Heritage Room was set aside as a special space when the new library extension was opened in 1999. The Heritage Room is where the original library was located and has changed very little since then.

Library facilities did not exist at Auckland Grammar School until 1910, when a small room was set aside in the Symonds Street building to house the first books, bound in buckram, funded by the generosity of Old Boys. Once the School moved to Mountain Road in 1916, a larger room in the Main Block was set aside to house the Library, but this too was soon outgrown.

The original stand-alone Library was designed in the Spanish Mission style of architecture to match that of the Main Block. A gift from the Old Boys’ Association, subsidised £ for £ by the government, it was built to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee in 1929 of the foundation of Auckland Grammar School.

Construction was completed around the end of 1930, and the Library was opened on 16 February 1931 by Professor Thomas, the Chair of the Board of Governors of the School.

Today, following the opening of Te Ara Mātauranga, the Heritage Room has been transformed into a space worthy of its name, with the addition of eight large wall panels describing the early history of the School. This includes the Cadet Battalion, the development of sports, and a display of the photos of the 709 Old Boys and Masters who had died during World War I and II.