Worcester Street in the Central City, Christchurch

Worcester Boulevard – Part of Worcester Street. First appears in street directories in 1993.Worcester Street – Named after the English bishopric of Worcester. One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850 by Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1852 when land for sale there is advertised.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. The information that I found about naming of the Boulevard part of the street gave me the date of 1995 and said that it was when the Christchurch tramway was formed. The boulevard part of the street is a main tourist attraction with the Art Centre and cafes plus the tram. There used to be the Art Centre market but after the earthquakes this creased operating. It restarted a couple of years ago on a Sunday but sadly Covid has forced the closure of the market again. There were a huge number of entries on Papers Past so I have concentrated on pre 1870. The earliest mention that I found was electoral roll entry for Lucas Conway Rose JP living on the street in 1853. In 1854 Dr Alfred Barker had a freehold property on the street. In 1862 Strickland Field complained about the state of the street and this amused me as this man was given fines for letting his horses run loose on the street. In 1865 there were complaints about the artesian well on the premises of the Club House overflowing onto Worcester St and Latimer Square. R D Bust who I believe was an auctioneer had ads about auctions at various yards including ones belonging to Mr Richardson and Mr Rickman. In the 1860s Mrs James Parker had a Registry for Servants in Worchester St / Cathedral Square. In 1867 the council put out a tender for the shingling of the road. Also in 1867 there was a letter to the editor objecting to the plan to widen Mr Lane’s Bridge and that a new bridge over the Avon on Worcester would be better as the old bridge is ricketty. The writer also thought that a bridge that could take vehicles would be better than the current foot bridge. There were lots of entries concerning this bridge as it was washed away in the floods of 1868 and much discussion about replacing it. In 1869 there was an ad from Jones and Tombs about a new newspaper called The Independent. A couple of hotels were mentioned in 1867 and one was the Clarendon Hotel and the other was Coker’s Hotel and Boarding House. Coker’s was in the house that had belonged to his honour Judge Gresson. The female house was mentioned a few times and it only took women of good character. In 1866 there was an article about fundraising so that a training school could be built and attached to the female home. It was to be founded by Mrs Cookson. The female home was started in September 1863 by Miss Rye and a house rented in Worcester St in January 1864. In 1869 the house was up for rent and described as Cookham House and the late female home. I seem to have two different surnames so will doublecheck this. In 1870 the museum was finished being built and stands in the Government Domain at the end of Worcester St West. There was also discussion in 1870 of the street to be extended from Latimer Square to East Town Belt. Also in 1870 Mr Stiffe offered a piece of freehold land for £400 in Hereford St and Worcester St for a fire station. I walked from Rolleston Ave to Fitzgerald Ave. At the Rolleston Ave end is the Art Centre and on the other side are older houses that are either boutique hotels or house businesses. Cross Montreal St and there is a restaurant and a bit further along there is the back entrance to the council building. The Art Gallery is on the other side of the road but the main entrance for this building is on Montreal St. Walk across the bridge and there is the Old Municipal Chambers now known was Our City O-Tautahi. This was earthquake damaged and has been propped up ever since. They have finally started work on the building. Then there are boarded up buildings on one side and empty section being used as a car park on the other side. You come to the Square and on the other side of the Square is the Old Government Building plus an old church on the corner of Worcester St and Manchester St. An entrance to Cathedral Junction is here. A block of green space where all buildings were demolished. As you get closer to Latimer Square there are many apartments including new ones being built. Christchurch Club is on the corner of Worcester Street and Latimer Square. This building is frustrating as I can see a plaque but the gates are locked. I love plaques. I then walk through Latimer Square and Worcester Street used to run through here and was open to cars. I remember in the 1970s that I used to frequently walk here and when my sons were in scouts I remember meeting here for an event. There were several entries online about the closing of the street to traffic and the discussion started in 1998 and it was finally closed in 2006. The most entries were from 2003 and most people seemed to be against the closing of the street. I continued walking and not far from Latimer Square is two older houses from 1905 and they are fenced off as they are in a very dilapidated state. When I was 18 years old I rented a room in one of these houses and used to walk to work as I worked at Mrs Popes those days. I am talking 1972 or 1973. I ended up talking to a man who lived on this street and he used to be a window dresser and Mrs Popes was one of his clients so I probably had met him when I worked there. He pointed out a couple of buildings from the 1970s that he liked and I quite liked them as well. Vagabond Backpackers was in an older house and it looked really nice. Between Latimer Square and Fitzgerald Ave the street had a few older houses but most were modern apartments crammed together. A huge number of them were built in 2000 plus many 2017 and later.