Auckland Grammar School, Boys' secondary school in Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland Grammar School is a secondary school on Mountain Road in Epsom featuring Spanish Mission architecture. The main building and war memorial structures form the heart of the campus.
Auckland Grammar School was endowed in 1850 by Governor Sir George Grey and recognised as an educational establishment by the Grammar School Appropriation Act of 1868. It opened in 1869 in the old Immigration Barracks on Howe Street with 78 boys, moved to Symonds Street in 1880, and became boys-only again in 1909 when Auckland Girls Grammar took the Howe Street site. In 1916 it moved to Mountain Road in Epsom, opened by Governor General the Earl of Liverpool; Mount Eden Prison inmates quarried adjacent stone used in the 1916 building.
The Latin motto Per Angusta ad Augusta, meaning "Through difficulties to greatness", appears on the entrance arch and as the last line of the school song. The main block hosts daily assemblies beneath honours boards listing top scholars, and the grounds hold an obelisk commemorating former students who fought in wars.
The campus occupies 16 hectares on Mountain Road in Epsom, with the main block set back behind a war memorial obelisk. The 1960s motorway construction cut off part of the northern land, so access is from Mountain Road. The grounds hold an artificial turf hockey field, tennis courts, a heated pool and two indoor gymnasiums.
The obelisk in front of the school lists former pupils who died in wars, among them a son of headmaster James William Tibbs (1893–1922), after whom Tibbs House boarding hostel is named. The 1916 main block was built partly with stone quarried by inmates of the neighbouring Mount Eden Prison, who worked two quarries beside the school.
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