Memorial Avenue in the suburb of Ilam and Burnside, Christchurch

Memorial Ave – An extension of Fendalton Road. Burnside Road. Fendall Town Road was cut through Rural Section 18, 50 acres in Fendall Town purchased by W. C. Fendall. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1857. Fendalton Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1864 and first appears in street directories in 1894. At that time Fendalton Road extended into what became Burnside Road (later Memorial Avenue). Burnside Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1903 in a report of a meeting of the Riccarton Road Board. Re-named Memorial Avenue on 14 December 1956. It was dedicated in 1959 to the memory of the men and women of the New Zealand armed forces who gave their lives in World War II.A reasonable amount of information from the library website but it doesn’t say why it was named Burnside Road. My best guess is that one of the early settlers in this area was from Burnside in Scotland. Several mentions on Papers Past and there were sections for sale in 1907 and 1908 as well as 1927 and 1946. Land for at least two domains were discussed in 1934. In 1906 the road was widened and shingled. In May 1945 there was support for a Memorial Avenue in Burnside Road from Harewood aerodrome for a distance of 2 or 3 miles. Avenue to be two chains wide which was an increase of one chain. A number of landowners agreed to give land for the widening. There were a couple of objections and one was because the the potential for a bottleneck at the Fendalton Rd end. The second objection was about the golf course losing land. In June 1945 they talked about the memorial being for fallen airmen but the two plaques at ither end of the Avenue both state that it is for fallen servicemen.This is a long road and it took me an hour and a half to walk it. At the airport end there are at least three plaques as well as the spitfire and the Totem Pole. With all the businesses in the area including a supermarket they don’t stand out as well as they used. They are a familiar sight for returning travellers. Then there is the new overbridge which is an interesting design. Once past the bridge there is the golf course on one side and on the other side a huge section of empty land. This land was in the news recently because it has a new owner who is going to develop the land. Yet the previous owner wanted to develop the land but had problems with consents. Then there are 2 or 3 hotels and at least one of them is currently an isolation hotel. A little bit further on is Avice Hill Reserve. The houses on this street date from the 1920s and cover every decade since. The ones built in the 1920s and 1930s are hard to see as they are behind well established trees and gardens. There is a huge mixture of designs but the one that stood out was a dome house. I have frequently driven on this road and can’t believe that I have never noticed this house before. Just shows that you see so much more when walking. The house dates from about 1980 and there is a photo of it from 1983 on the discovery wall at the library. There is Burnside Park along here and it is huge and further along there are a couple of smaller parks. Just before Grahams Rd the street sign used to have large Pac Man stickers but sadly they have now gone. I quite liked them so disappointed that they have gone. They were there for several years. A few shops but most are at the Fendalton Rd end including a supermarket. Both Burnside Primary School and Burnside High School are bordered by Memorial Ave. There is one lonely Art Deco house near the supermarket. I took a lot of photos here.