Dunedin Street Art Trail

Dunedin's Warehouse Precinct is a block of Victorian and Edwardian brick warehouses south of the Octagon, built when the city was the richest in the country on gold money and then left to decay for most of a century as the economy moved north. From 2014 a trust began commissioning large murals on the blank walls, bringing in artists including Phlegm, ROA, Pixel Pancho, Natalia Rak and Belgian artist Bier, alongside New Zealand painters - and the works became the visible face of a wider effort to get the warehouses strengthened, reoccupied and used rather than demolished. That has largely worked; the precinct now has bars, roasters and design studios among the murals. A published map and app cover about thirty to forty works within walking distance of each other. As with Christchurch, murals are lost to weather, redevelopment and repainting, so check the current map rather than an old list.

What you actually see

• The warehouse precinct - Victorian brick built on gold money.
• The international murals - Phlegm, ROA, Pixel Pancho and others.
• The regeneration - bars and studios reoccupying the buildings.
• The published map - the reliable guide to what is still up.

When to go

Any season; a dry day for walking. Use the current map or app - works disappear as buildings are redeveloped or repainted.

Honest expectations

Specific murals may be gone; older guides are unreliable. It is a walking route through a working district, some of it still rough. Dunedin weather is changeable and the walk is exposed.

Nearby

The Octagon and Toitu are north; the railway station is a few minutes away.