World's Steepest Residential Street

The world's steepest residential street, Baldwin Street in New Zealand, is bound to come with some interesting history. When people come to New Zealand, they naturally look for New Zealand things to do. Why not come experience the history of this oddity for yourself!

Baldwin Street gets it started, like many of the architectural curiosities in this part of the world, in England. Most of the streets in New Zealand are laid out in a grid pattern. No, this isn’t because New Zealanders love grids! It is because most of New Zealand was planned by city planners an entire world away in London.

The world's steepest residential street was laid out by people who would never see the sight first hand! Architectural survey teams have debated how to measure the steepness of streets and they use Baldwin Street as a key example.

People looking for New Zealand things to do could scratch “visit the world’s steepest street” off their list for a while. Baldwin Street temporarily lost this title due to a technical error, but was quick to win it back when an advanced team used a survey laser to remeasure the residential street in 2019. It looks like it will be a long while before a steeper street is built.

When you’re in New Zealand, you should take the time to visit Baldwin Street. There’s nothing like getting to experience these architectural oddities first hand!

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