Auckland Free Library
Late 1880s (Burton Brothers) - 2025
This then-and-now pair of images are shown separately, rather than overlaid, as it proved impossible to accurately match the camera position of the 1880s photograph; in the intervening years a wall was built in this space, which ruled out that possibility, though not by much. A case of close, but no cigar.
The Auckland Free Public Library opened in 1887. I presume this Burton Brothers picture of the Reading Room was taken around that time. The building also housed the Auckland Art Gallery, which eventually took over this space for its exhibitions.
1880s image: Auckland Free Library. By Burton Bothers. Te Papa (C.011204)
For two other then-and-now treatments of the Reading Room made some years later in the 1900s, click here.
