Devonport has significant Māori, colonial, military and maritime history. Maungauika/North Head was used as a Māori pā and later developed as a coastal defence site, with tunnels, gun positions and fortifications dating mainly from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The suburb also contains historic houses, churches, commercial buildings and naval sites. Torpedo Bay includes surviving structures from a nineteenth-century submarine-mining establishment and now houses the National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Heritage remains visible across the street pattern, waterfront and residential areas, rather than being limited to a single museum or protected precinct.