Takapuna was settled by Tāmaki Māori in the 13th or 14th centuries, who utilised the resources of Lake Pupuke, and a pōhutukawa grove called Te Uru Tapu.

The area became a popular tourist destination for wealthy families of Auckland in the 1880s, when many large summer residences were being constructed on the shores of Lake Pupuke.

The suburb developed in the 1910s due to a private tramway, and by the 1930s gradually became a commercial centre for the North Shore.

Takapuna grew in importance after the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 1959, becoming the administrative centre for the North Shore.

When the waka stopped at Torpedo Bay, Hoturoa and the crew of the Tainui met the residents of the area and drank from the spring.

[7] The name Takapuna was gradually adopted to mean the settlement focused on the southern shores of Lake Pupuke over the 19th century.

[4][6] The North Shore is primarily uplifted Waitemata Group sandstone, that was deposited on the sea floor during the Early Miocene, between 22 and 16 million years ago.

The lava solidified into basalt rock, creating the Takapuna Fossil Forest, which was exposed an estimated 7,000 years ago due to coastal erosion.

To the west of Takapuna is Smiths Bush in the Onewa Domain, a remnant native forest, dominated by kahikatea and taraire trees.

[15][16] Takapuna is surrounded by the suburbs of Hauraki to the south-east, Northcote to the south-west, Hillcrest and Wairau Valley to the west, and Milford north of Lake Pupuke.

[23] Around the year 1350, the Tainui migratory canoe visited the Takapuna area, stopping at the freshwater spring southwest of Maungauika / North Head.

[4] Some members of the crew decided to settle permanently in the area, including Taikehu, and intermarried with the people of the North Shore.

His younger son Maraeariki settled the North Shore and Hibiscus Coast, who based himself at the head of the Ōrewa River.

[31][23] In the 17th century, Ngāti Pāoa attacked the settlements around the Waitematā Harbour, later intermarrying with the Te Kawerau ā Maki and Ngāi Tai people of the southern North Shore.

During intertribal war with Ngāpuhi, the pā at Maungauika / North Head was sieged in 1793, leading Ngāti Pāoa to refocus their settlements on Waiheke Island until the 1830s.

[8] Takapuna is part of the setting of Te Riri a Mataaho ("The Wrath of Mataaho"), a Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki traditional story (pūrākau) that describes the creation of Lake Pupuke and Ngā Mahanga "The Twins", two rock formations on Takapuna Beach.

[35][36][37] Two tupua (children of the Fire God Mataaho), Matakamokamo and his wife Matakerepo, lived on Te Rua Maunga, a mountain located at Lake Pupuke.

[38][36] The couple argued over some flax clothing that Matakerepo had made for her husband, and the argument became so heated that the fire outside their dwelling died out.

[38] Hinerei and Matamiha, the couples' twin children, were turned to stone, and remain as rock features on the southern Takapuna Beach.

[42] In 2021, vandals poisoned and cut down many of the trees in the grove, including karo, karaka, nīkau palms and tōtara, however did not target the pōhutukawa.

[48] Crops such as wheat, maize, barley, potatoes and kūmara were grown at these farms, and homesteads planted single acre orchards dominated by plums, apples and peaches.

[49] In 1849, the Catholic Church purchased land at Takapuna, where Jean-Baptiste Pompallier established St Mary's College, a school and later seminary that catered to both European and Māori.

[8][50] In 1852, the Crown granted 110 acres (45 ha) of land south of Lake Pupuke to Barry's Point / Awataha to Ngāpuhi chief Eruera Maihi Patuone, in order to create a shield for the City of Auckland against potential invasion from Ngāpuhi and other northern tribes.

[46][51][52] Patuone named his settlement Waiwharariki,[52] meaning "Waters of Wharariki", a mat made of harakeke flax.

The Takapuna and Milford Beach areas, as well as the land surrounding Lake Pupuke soon became popular spots for wealthy businessmen building summer homes to entertain in a rural surrounding, and eventually, many moved here permanently, commuting to work in Auckland via ferry.

[57] In 1914, a local cinema was opened in Takapuna, at the Forester's Hall in Anzac Street,[8] and Chinese market gardeners established farms at Barrys Point in the 1920s.

Summer residences were gradually replaced by permanent housing,[8] and Takapuna developed into a commercial centre on the North Shore.

[8] In 1962, Takapuna became the location where the COMPAC submarine communications cable connected Auckland to Suva, Fiji, and onwards to Vancouver, Canada.

In June 1889 the road board was dissolved, in favour of Takapuna being under the direct control of the Waitemata County Council.

[8] On 1 August 1974, the Waitemata County was dissolved,[71] leading to rural northern North Shore areas, such as Glenfield, Albany and Long Bay, to be incorporated into Takapuna City.