Durham Street in the Central City, Christchurch

Durham Street – Enfield Street was incorporated into Durham Street. Blackheath Place was incorporated into Durham Street. Named after Blackheath in south-east London. Frank Hathaway Hitchings (1844-1921), a bricklayer, bought land there in 1876 and began building houses on it. He also built the first double-brick house at 63 Durham Street. First appears in street directories in 1908. Incorporated into Durham Street in 1917. Named after the bishopric of Durham. One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850 by Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage. The section north of Bealey Avenue was developed in 1929. A Mr Reid of Eversleigh Street requested that the new part be named Enfield Street because his family had come from Enfield, at one time in Middlesex, England and now part of Greater London. In 1933, residents asked the city council for the name to be changed to Durham Street. On 21 October 1985 the council resolved for the two separate sections (with Gloucester Street and Cashel Street in between) of Durham Street to be renamed Durham Street North and South. At the same time a new piece of road from Cashel Street over the Bridge of Remembrance was formally named as Durham Street South.
A lot of information from the library website.
Part One – from Brougham St to Moorhouse Ave it is purely a business area with a mixture of businesses including a WINZ office. Took a photo of a giraffe and a giant sheep here. Also a photo of the Blackheath building. The Blackhealth building has several businesses here and it is an historic building. I vaguely recall that I had a book about this building at one stage.

Part Two – from Moorhouse Ave to Cambridge Tce. The new building for a supermarket is here and again this is a business area of the street. I chatted to a man who was painting a new street art painting. St Michael’s Church is here but I didn’t take photos as I have previously taken lots of photos of this church when they had an open day. Did take a photo of the new law courts building. There is a lovely Tudor looking building that has been various restaurants over the years but is currently empty.
Here the street becomes Cambridge Tce and then at Gloucester St it becomes Durham St again.

Part Three – from Gloucester St to Bealey Ave. Here are the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings which are still closed to the public. I really hope that these buildings are repaired as they are lovely. The Casino is along here and this is an interesting building. The empty sections where buildings were demolished are slowly getting new buildings. A couple of the interesting looking buildings here looked like church types of buildings. One was a chapel and the other was possibly a Synagogue.

Part Four – from Bealey Ave to Springfield Ave and Caledonian Rd. Southern Cross Hospital is on the corner of Bealey Ave and Durham St. Then along the rest of the street here was what looked like a pensioner housing complex. The street then splits into a T shape. Most of the houses here were older and most were lovely. There were some newer houses and at the Caledonian Rd end there was a huge building being built and it looks like it will be apartments or possibly social housing.

I actually walked the full length of this street in July 2019 and the New World supermarket is now open. This street covers more than one suburb as it is a long street. The Blackheath buildings in Sydenham are lovely and I still can’t find my book about them.