MacMillan Ave – Named after Professor John Macmillan Brown (1845-1935). Brown was a university professor and administrator. His home was at 35 Macmillan Avenue. First mentioned in The Press in 1908 when Professor Macmillan Brown advertises “60 beautiful hillside sections” for sale. Macmillan Avenue was expected to be the “finest thoroughfare to be found anywhere on the Port Hills”. First appears in street directories in 1912.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I found the same article from 1908. There were also sections for sale from 1910 to 1913 and the area was called MacMillan Brown Estate. Professor MacMillan Brown was born in Irvine, Scotland and after attending local schools in Irvine and Glasgow he went to Oxford University. He travelled to New Zealand for health reasons and took up a position at Canterbury College. He married Helen Connon who became principal at Christchurch Girls High. Their grandson was James K Baxter. Both Professor MacMillan Brown and Helen Connon have Wikipedia pages.
This street has houses covering every decade from 1910 onwards and there are several still being rebuilt after the earthquakes. At least two toilet block styles being built. The older houses are gorgeous and I had a lovely chat with the owner of the Art Deco house. I am pleased that he went against the advice of friends who recommended that he demolish the house. This is a narrow street in many parts and parking is difficult. The houses prices here are well beyond my budget. I used to visit a friend who lived on this street but I couldn’t work out which was her house and it has been so long that I don’t know if she still lives on this street.
I came up the walkway from Valley Rd to get to MacMillan Ave and there was a geocache hidden on the walkway.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 