the foreshore. Historically this cove (now completely reclaimed) had been used by Maori to beach their waka; this usage continued after European settlement and part of the foreshore was demarcated as a Maori hostel (currently used by police Commercial Vehicle Safety Team [CVST] as a heavy vehicle weighbridge and compliance checkpoint). Parnell Rail Bridge – 19th century metal rail bridge on massive volcanic basalt rock piers. This structure allows the rail line to cross over Parnell Road without disrupting traffic. Mayfair Apartments – 1930s brick Neo-Georgian highrise apartment block. Windsor Castle Hotel, 144 Parnell Road – a hotel which dates from the 1850s. The hotel was remodelled in the 1880s after the architect R. MacKay Fripp was commissioned to convert the existing hotel into a larger pub; the existing facade was built during this conversion. Former Heard Factory – three storeyed art-deco style industrial building built for a confectionery manufacturer. Heard Park – this land was donated to the city in 1953 by the Heard family, the owners of Heards Candy, the adjacent large Art-Deco Heards building. Church of St John the Baptist (Catholic), 204 Parnell Road – this church was designed by Edward Mahoney and formally instituted by Bishop Pompallier in 1861; it is the only Catholic church in Parnell and the oldest Catholic church in the city. The Sisters of Mercy had a convent here and a Catholic primary school ran for a century, until it closed due to falling rolls in the 1950s. Parnell Road Whitby Lodge, 330 Parnell Road – erected by the early 1870s, Whitby Lodge is one of few surviving colonial dwellings in Auckland constructed of the local volcanic stone basalt. Possibly erected as early as 1848 or 1852. It is possible that Fraser erected a building on the site at the time of his purchase in 1864, or improved an existing structure. The roof beams are not supported by the masonry walls, suggesting this is an earlier wooden structure which was subsequently clad in stone. The building was occupied by the Consulate General of the Cook Islands as an Embassy from 1978 until 1 December 1994. Hulme Court, 350 Parnell Road – a stone-built, Regency-style house surrounded by trellised verandahs, was built in 1843 for Sir Fredrick Whitaker; it is the second oldest surviving house in Auckland, and the oldest documented dwelling still standing on its original site. In its early years, the