More Info →Lakelet in The Square

Looking across the lakelet to All Saints Church, which was built in 1914-1915. The pond was constructed in October 1909. It was the main feature of the last quadrant of The Square to be developed by the then Beautifying Society. The Lakelet is shaped as a butterfly, with the wings being bisected by a bridge as its body. It is also referred to as the Butterfly Lake. The Grand Hotel, on the left side of the photograph, was built in 1906. The cannon at centre was one of two installed in The Square in 1909. The guns were originally purchased by the Government in 1879 and installed at Fort Ngahauranga overlooking Port Nicholson, Wellington Harbour. They never fired a shot and were obsolete by 1900, when two were acquired by the Palmerston North Borough Council for display in the Square. By 1939, the Council decided the cannons had outlived their usefulness and sold them to a scrap dealer.