Willowbrook Place –Named after Willowbrook, the town house in Fendalton Road belonging to, and named by, John Barton Arundel Acland (1823- 1904). He named his property after the childhood home of his wife. William Widdowson (1833-1915) originally bought the land, part of Rural Section 60, from William Guise Brittan in 1865 and built a 12-room house. He advertised the property for sale in 1868, as it was too far for his sons to travel to Christ’s College every day. Acland bought the property on 5 March 1874 and by the time Widdowson advertised an auction of his stock and chattels later that month the property had been named Willowbrook. Acland was a barrister, sheep farmer, and politician. He married Emily Weddell Harper (1830-1905), daughter of Bishop Harper. Her sister Ellen Shephard Tripp (1834-1916) married Acland’s business partner Charles George Tripp (1826-1897). She describes in her book their early life at Willowbrook, a house standing on the border of Slough and Eton, in England. The Christchurch Willowbrook was demolished about 1956 when the land was subdivided. By 1958 five homes had been built there and half of the total subdivision had been sold. A Home of the Year had been built there by Maurice R. Carter Ltd. First appears in street directories 1960.
A reasonable of information from the library website and I can’t see that I can add anything here. These are all well-known early settlers and if you google them there will be lots of information out there.
A small street that runs off Fendalton Rd and I didn’t take any photos here. Mostly brick houses with just a couple of newer houses. I remember thinking that this was a very ordinary looking street considering it’s location.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 