Coventry Street in the Central City, Christchurch

Coventry Street – Formerly Chapel Street. There is no church listed there in street directories. Re-named Coventry Street. Named after the English cathedral city. This street was formed on the site of the Ferry Road Nursery belonging to William Barbour Wilson (1819-1897). Formed when the nursery land was subdivided in 1877. Chapel Street is mentioned in an advertisement in The Press in 1878. Re-named Coventry Street in 1909. A small amount of information from the library website. On the website Papers Past there were several ads for the sale of sections in 1879 and 1880. There was also a new house and shop for sale in 1877. By 1940 there was a warehouse and factory for sale but still a few residents living here. I found several mentions about the renaming of the street in Papers Past in 1909 but it is highly likely that it was renamed because there was another Chapel St in St Albans near Holly Rd. There were at least three letters to the editor of The Press protesting the renaming of the street. Two of the objections related to the position of the street to the Catholic Cathedral as they believed that the name of the street was because of the Cathedral. I enjoyed the letter dated 4th December 1909 because of the wording. One sentence said The Special Committee of the City Council has experienced another spasm of street renaming. I loved this sentence. In another sentence they asked if the City Fathers will erect a statue of Lady Godiva. It is possible that the street was called Chapel Street after a nearby Wesleyan Chapel on High Street. I couldn’t actually walk this street as it was mostly blocked off and it runs through the centre of Ara Institute formerly CPIT. In 1909 there was a Seddon Memorial Technical College on Moorhouse Ave.