Manchester Street in the Central City, Christchurch

Manchester Street – Named after the English bishopric of Manchester. Named by surveyors Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850. The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1852 when 1/4 acre sections are advertised for sale there. Manchester Street from North Belt (later Bealey Avenue) to Dean Street (later Purchas Street), became a public road in 1899 on subdivision by the Church Property Trustees of the Anglican Church which owned much of the property in the area.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website. This is part one of Manchester St and today I walked from Bealey Ave to Moorhouse Ave part of the street. There are older houses at the Bealey Ave end including the massive McLean Mansion. A couple of months ago they were going to open up McLean Mansion to the public and I planned on going but sadly some health and safety people stopped the opening. Many new buildings here mostly for various businesses and also many empty sections. Near the Avon River is the Margaret Mahy Playground plus I found a Greening the Rubble space. Between the river and High St there is a lot of empty space which is used for community events. Between High St and Moorhouse Ave there is mixture of new and old buildings. At the Moorhouse Ave there is a large Pak n’ Save supermarket and car sale yards. Manchester St is mostly businesses from Avon River to Moorhouse Ave and a few older houses and modern townhouses from Bealey Ave to the river. The cancer society rooms used to be on Manchester St when I was going to the support group. Manchester St was also where prostitutes worked. I don’t know f they still work this area.
I took photos of a mixture of the older houses and new townhouses. A church school, a community garden and McLean Mansions. Also photos of new business buildings. NOTE: I actually walked this several months ago and since then I have managed to do the McLean Mansions tour. I also have realised that I haven’t finished walking this street.