The founder and owner of Auckland’s iconic Wingate Club, Peter Graham, has died aged 94, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy as the man who created one of New Zealand’s most enduring spaces for gay and bisexual men.
Peter Graham, the founder and owner of Auckland’s Wingate Club, died peacefully at home on 17 September 2026, aged 94.
An engineer, pilot and businessman, Graham spent more than three decades building and maintaining a venue that became an important part of Auckland’s gay community.
His story began long before Wingate opened its doors.
A qualified civil engineer, Graham worked for the New Zealand Works Department, helping construct hydroelectric dams on the Waikato River and contributing to major motorway projects.
That practical, hands-on approach would later shape one of his most significant achievements.
In the early 1990s, Graham purchased a property at 76–80 Wingate Street in Avondale, where he set about creating something quite different from the inner-city gay venues of the time.
He helped construct the buildings himself, opening the Wingate Club on 28 November 1992.
Situated on approximately 5,000 square metres beside the Whau River, the property offered something exceptional: extensive gardens, bush, lawns and an outdoor pool alongside its sauna, spa, steam room, private rooms and social facilities.
At the time, Wingate Street ended at the club’s gates, giving the venue a level of privacy that was particularly valuable to gay and bisexual men.
Graham’s vision was always for Wingate to be a social club as much as a gay men’s bathhouse.
Visitors could spend an afternoon relaxing beside the pool, catching up with friends over coffee or enjoying the more intimate areas of the property.
For some, it was also somewhere they could simply be themselves, without explanation or judgement.
Opening just six years after homosexual law reform, Wingate became a place where generations of men could meet and connect as New Zealand’s attitudes towards sexuality continued to evolve.
Keeping the club operating for almost 34 years was no small achievement.
Graham guided Wingate through the global financial crisis, changing social attitudes, the arrival of dating apps and significant development around the surrounding neighbourhood.
One of the greatest challenges came in 2013, when a major fire forced the entire club to close for four weeks. Parts of the facilities subsequently reopened while the damaged back wing was rebuilt, with a full reopening in June 2015.
Graham was also determined to protect the property’s distinctive privacy. When proposed development around the neighbouring Avondale racecourse threatened the secluded grounds, he and his staff made their case through Auckland Council’s planning process.
His commitment extended to sexual health, with Wingate supporting the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, now Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, and providing a venue for community HIV and STI testing services.
Beyond Wingate, Graham enjoyed an adventurous life.
A keen traveller, he made regular trips to Thailand, often visiting several times a year until the 2013 fire brought him home. He never returned after that.
He also held a private pilot’s licence and was involved with Ardmore Aero Club.
One of his favourite stories involved flying passengers to Hawke’s Bay during the turbulent 1981 Springbok Tour. He was arrested after landing, only to be told by a judge to go home, an experience he reportedly delighted in recounting.
In his later years, Graham lived with increasing dementia, but continued working and overseeing the club until just weeks before his death.
He died in his own bed at home, exactly as he had wished.
Across more than three decades, thousands of men have passed through Wingate’s gates. Some found friendship, some found intimacy, and others discovered a sense of belonging that had previously been difficult to find.
Very few people create a physical space that becomes such an enduring part of a community’s history.
Peter Graham did.
His legacy lives on in the gardens, buildings and social spaces he created, and in the countless connections made there since November 1992.
Peter Graham, 1932–2026. Rest in peace.
