Tory Street takes its name from the Tory sailing ship, which arrived in 1839 carrying Colonel William Wakefield, his nephew Edward Jerningham Wakefield, naturalist Ernst Dieffenbach, and draughtsman Charles Heaphy.
In the early 1900s, Tory Street adjoined the Chinese district of Wellington and was home to many Chinese stores and fruit shops. One such store, located at 108-110 Tory Street, wasDick Lee & Company. The store also functioned as an important meeting place where the community could socialise, play mahjong and eat.
176 Tory Street is also known as Tory Street Hall, a former Methodist Mission purchased by the Open Brethren church in 1905. They continued to run it as a mission hall until they moved to Elizabeth Street in 1958.
Prior to the 1920s, developers planned to turn Tory Street into a commercial and industrial area. In 1917, a building was constructed at 5 Tory Street for the New Zealand Acetylene Gas Lighting Company. In 1924, over 100 residents were evicted and houses demolished to make way for a new Bryant and May match factory. During the 1930s, mock disasters were staged in the factory to train the St John Ambulance Brigade. In 1931, Wellington’s Municipal Milk Department moved from Dixon Street to a larger premises at 133 Tory Street.
Since 1999, The Compassion Soup Kitchen has been located at 132 Tory Street. The kitchen has been in operation since 1901, and its original premises at Buckle Street is not far from the current site.
Remnants of the Te Aro railway station (1893-1917) were unearthed from below a demolished Warehouse building on Tory Street in 2009. The line was eventually closed in favour of trams, which were quieter and less polluting.
In 2012, 19 Tory Street (now 17 Tory Street) was brokered by Letting Space and run as an open-source community art gallery, and was a vital community space for artists, collectives, and activists.
