Dominion Ave – May have been named after the Dominion Home Builders. The building company built many of the homes in the street which is first mentioned in The Press in 1922. First appears in street directories in 1924. NB New Zealand had become a dominion in 1907.
A small amount of information from the library website. I actually walked this street last week but forgot to write it up. From Papers Past there were ads for sections in 1922 and houses for sale in 1924. Couldn’t find anything about the naming of the street but the word Dominion was used a lot for the naming of streets in New Zealand so my personal feeling for the naming is New Zealand becoming a dominion. QV had the houses built either 1920s or 1960s.
Most houses are wooden villas but a couple of brick houses. Back entrance to South Intermediate is on this street. The street is tree lined and the colours are lovely in autumn.
Edited as I found out in January 2024 that this street was originally called Simpson’s Lane.
Simpson’s Lane AKA Dominion Ave in Spreydon. Simpson’s lane doesn’t exist and it is now part of Dominion Ave. The library website doesn’t mention Simpson’s Lane in connection with Dominion Ave. The 1912 map of Spreydon shows at least 6 properties on one side of the street and one larger property on the other side. A small number of entries on Papers Past. In 1915 there were complaints about the state of the road. In 1920 Dominion Home Builders were removing old buildings on this street. In 1923 there were several ads for the sale of sections. Note most of the houses on this part of Dominion Ave date from the 1920s. In 1929 the Education Dept were looking at the purchase of land fronting onto Simpson’s Lane for a new school. A further mention of the school describes Intermediate school in Addington with frontage on Selwyn St and access from Milne St and Simpson’s Lane. Milne St is now Manhire St and the school is Christchurch South Intermediate.
I couldn’t find out which Simpson had the lane named after him as a couple of men with that surname lived in the area but none in the immediate area. Alexander Simpson owned a shop on Colombo Street South. Stephen Simpson lived at various addresses and at one stage he was living on Harper St which is now Orbell St. My personal favourite is Stephen Simpson but only because he was bankrupt in 1879. He owned a grocer shop and at one stage was in partnership with John Wilson.
I walked Dominion Ave in April 2020 but because the library website didn’t mention Simpson’s Lane I didn’t look up the information. If you are looking at the date of when I walked Dominion Ave yes we were in lockdown but this street was in easy walking distance for me from my home. I did a lot of walking during lockdown.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 