Fitzgerald Ave – formerly East Town Belt and East Belt. North Avon Road from Fitzgerald Avenue northward. Formerly East Town Belt and East Belt. Named by the Canterbury Association surveyors who laid out the boundaries of the original city within roadways called “belts” or “town belts”. Re-named Fitzgerald Avenue. Named after James Edward Fitzgerald (1818-1896) East Town Belt first appears in street directories in 1878. Re-named Fitzgerald Avenue on 11 January 1904 after the merging of several boroughs into the City of Christchurch in 1903. Fitzgerald was a journalist, provincial superintendent, politician and public servant. North Avon Road from Fitzgerald Avenue northward was re-named Fitzgerald Avenue on 24 May 1926.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and the naming of the street is fairly obvious as the history of James Fitzgerald is well known.
I actually walked this street at the beginning of March but have had at least two trips south to geocache so ran out of time to research. Papers Past had a huge amount of information about this street and I have possibly missed interesting information. Even with only searching 4 newspapers there were thousands of entries. When named East Belt there were lots of mention of the East Belt hockey team. In 1885 and 1886 there were several mentions of storm water drains flooding. Note in 1908 and 1910 there were still storm water drains and flooding being an issue. Construction of a sewer was also being discussion in connection with the flooding issue. The East Belt Schoolroom / school had many groups hold meetings in the building. The East Belt Mutual Improvement Society, Young Men’s Group and Canterbury Band of Hope Union were just a few of them. There was the East Belt Church and the East Belt Wesleyan Church Schoolroom. I suspect the church and the schoolroom were actually the same complex. By 1897 the Oddfellows Hall and Salvation Army Barracks were being mentioned. The earliest mention that I could find of East Belt was an entry on the electoral roll in 1862. The council agreed to form and metal the road. In 1884 Colliers Hotel was mentioned. I was amused about the complaint about goats running loose as they were jeopardising the plantations. In 1892 there was a letter to the editor complaining about the East Belt larrikins and that it wasn’t safe for elderly persons to go out at night. In 1897 there were still letters complaining about the larrikins. The earliest mention of Fitzgerald Ave was for the Kauri Timber Company yet this was an Auckland company. From 1910 onwards both the Wesleyan and Methodist Churches are mentioned frequently. The tramway had many mentions especially around 1915. Between 1910 and 1914 there was mention of trees on the Avenue dying and gas leakage was being blamed. These were all letters to the editor and the writers were against the gas pipes that had been laid. There must have been several maternity homes on Fitzgerald Ave as there was Nurse Ferguson at No 138, Nurse Gomm was at No 184 and she called her home Allandale and Nurse Stewart was at No 171 and her home was called Woodvale. I couldn’t find a mention of an address for Nurse King’s home apart from it being on Fitzgerald Ave. There were birth notices for all of these maternity homes. In 1935 there were many complaints about a single men’s home. This was a building to house the relief workers during the depression. This is a long street and it runs from Moorhouse Ave to Bealey Ave. It still has trees running down the middle of it. The Moorhouse end has lots of businesses and too many for me to name them. As you walk towards Bealey Ave you start getting houses. The houses here date from most decades with huge numbers of high density flats built in 1970s and 1990s. The QV website has the date of 1905 as the oldest house. The date that they have for Englefield being built is 1915. Englefield was built for William Brittan in 1855/ 1856 and I have noticed before that the QV website has mistakes. Englefield must be the saddest building on the street and it is an historic building. When you get to the river there is green spaces where buildings were demolished and it is unlikely to be rebuilt on. There are some lovely older houses on this street and it is only by walking that you can really see them as they are overshadowed by the 1970s and 1990s buildings.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 