Hammond Place in the suburb of Spreydon, Christchurch

Hammond Place in Spreydon – Developed in the subdivision of Hancock’s block. In a government housing subdivision and developed off Barrington Street to give access to the state houses to the north-west of Howard Street. Named in 1938. A small amount of information from the library website and not a lot that I can add. In April 1938 names for streets were submitted by the Director of Housing Construction Mr A Tyndall and they were approved by the council. In August 1938 it is mentioned that 22 sites will be developed on Hammond place and 10 will be brick and 4 will be plaster. Didn’t say what the rest would be built from. There was a note saying that the new road took longer to construct than expected and that the building of the houses had been delayed by bad weather. The construction firm was Paynter and Hamilton and that is a name that you hear these days. I have no idea where the name Hammond came from and is most likely to be the surname of someone connected to the housing development.There are 29 properties here and most were built in the 1930s but a few built in 1990s and one in 2019 and these later houses are all back sections. The houses are obvious state house designs and many will now be privately owned. Most are in reasonable condition and it looked like a pleasant street. There are new houses being built for Kainga Ora and I will have to confess that this would put me off living here. The new Kainga Ora houses look so cramped together whereas the old State Houses / Housing Corp houses had larger sections which would have been better for families. In saying this even private housing seems to be cramped with hardly any outdoor space but then where I live it is on the edge of the central city. In my area and other suburbs close to the central city a house will be demolished and 3 or 4 apartments built in the same space. Creates a terrible parking issue on these streets.