Over the years, as different streets in the Lansdowne area have been constructed, tree names have been applied to them, although sometimes this has been a contentious issue. When a section on Titoki Street was subdivided in 1976 the developers proposed to call the new street Barton Place, after the man who built the house on the site, E.F. Barton. The house was called ‘Wai Iti’ (small water) because it looked out over the dam that Williams and Beetham built between Lansdowne Hill and Opaki Road. The Borough Council agreed to the street being called Barton Place at first, but later changed its mind and asked that either Maire or Kauri Grove be used. Kauri Grove was chosen, a decision perhaps influenced by the kauri tree that Mrs Barton had planted some years before.
Pic: New Zealand's most famous kauri, Tane Mahuta.