Lyttelton Street – Named after the Lyttelton family. From Lincoln Road to Edinburgh Street was formerly Hellewell Street. Named after James Henry Hellewell (1848-1919). Several streets in this area have names associated with the Lyttelton family because they were formed on Rural Section 76, 700 acres on the “Lower Lincoln Road, Heathcote Bridge” purchased by Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (1798- 1857) and Conway Lucas Rose (1817- 1910). Spencer’s interest in the land was passed on to his nephew, the Hon. George William Spencer Lyttelton (1847-1913), the 4th son of George William Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton (1817-1876). The city section of Lyttelton Street first appears in street directories in 1887. Hellewell Street is first mentioned in the Star in 1897 in a report of a meeting of the Spreydon Road Board. Hellewell was a carrier and a resident of Hellewell Street in 1902 when it first appears in street directories. He died at 26 Lyttelton Street in 1919. Lyttelton Street was a continuation of this, running from Neville Street to Cobham Street. Hellewell Street was incorporated into Lyttelton Street in 1907.
A huge amount of information from the library website. The first mention of Hellewell St that I found on Papers Past was in 1897 plus in 1907 there were several ads for the sale of sections.
Lyttelton St gets a bit more confusing and I suspect that there were two streets with the name Lyttelton St.There were several entries for a Lyttelton St that was off Madras St South and near Manchester St. It was described as a blind alley. It was also near the railway station. I was amused by the several entries about a house of ill-fame.
There was an article in 1878 about a survey of Lyttelton St to check that it was in proper order before being taken over by the City Council because it was a hot bed of sickness. I don’t know which Lyttelton St it was referring to but suspect it was the one in the city centre as the narrowness of the was mentioned. My reasoning for this is that Lyttelton St in Spreydon in 1870s is unlikely to have come under the City Council.
The street runs from Lyttelton St to Rose St and has a mixture of styles of buildings on it. Many lovely older wooden villas still exist mixed in with 1960s to 1990s brick houses. At the Lincoln Rd end there is a big empty section where a supermarket used to stand. Another victim of the earthquakes. Further along is the South West Baptist Church, George Manning Retirement Village and West Spreydon School. At the Rose St end is Pioneer Stadium and Centennial Park. A busy street for traffic and I am not sure if I would like to live here yet parts of it I do like. There is a wee walkway where the Little Free Library stands and I think that it goes through to Windsor Crescent. Note I did find another Lyttelton St which is now Rope St.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 