Bleakhouse Road
Back in the 1850s, two brothers from Cornwall set sail for the South Island aboard the Constantinople… but nature had other plans
Strong winds forced the ship into Auckland instead, a twist of fate that would shape East Auckland’s history.
Robert and Every Maclean decided to stay, purchasing land in East Tāmaki and settling into a Fencibles officer’s house in 1857. They called it Bleakhouse but why?
Some believe it was inspired by Bleak House, the Charles Dicken's book, published around the same time. But family legend tells a different story… when Mrs Mary Maclean first saw the property, she simply declared it “a bleak house” and the name stuck!
Although the original home was lost to fire in 1911, its legacy lives on today in Bleakhouse Road and even nearby Macleans College.
Funny how one gust of wind can change everything.
