Menzies Street in the suburb of Sumner, Christchurch

Menzies Street in Sumner – Formerly Euston Street. Named after Euston Road in the London borough of Camden. Re-named Menzies Street. Named after John Francis Menzies (1881-1954) Euston Street is listed on the original 1874 plan of the Town of Wakefield. Land in Euston Street in the Township of Wakefield, Sumner Bay is advertised for sale in the Star in 1880. Re-named Menzies Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. Menzies was the last town clerk of the Sumner Borough Council 1928-1945.A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Found one mention of Menzies Street on Papers Past in 1949 from a report about erosion at Sumner and high tides. There were a lot of entries for Euston Street on Papers Past as there was also a Euston Street in Riccarton so that would explain the name change in 1948.Many sections were offered for sale in 1877 and then again in 1880. .It was probably a much shorter street in 1877 as in 1885 a Mr Appleby offered land through his property to extend the street to Colenso St. The Sumner Town Board declined his offer from Mr Appleby made another offer and as the road does now go to Colenso St the offer must have been accepted. In 1890 the road was extended from Nayland St to the beach and contributions was requested from householders. The houses on this street dated from 1890 to 2019 with many built in 1910. The older houses here are gorgeous wooden villas and there is one modern toilet block style which clashes with the other houses here. It looks so out of place. The most unusual house is an Art Deco house from 1950. It has been renovated recently and a second story added to it so that it is no longer a flat roofed house. It was looking rather rundown before the renovations. There is also a school called The Star of the Sea which is at the Colenso St end of Menzies St. I loved the houses here on this street.