Southampton in the suburb of Sydenham, Christchurch

Southampton Street in Sydenham- Probably named after Southampton in Hampshire, England. First appears in the Star in 1882 when a house to let is advertised Southampton Street. First appears in street directories in 1887. A small amount of information on the library website. Nothing that I can add about the name of the street and possibly one of the naming committee had a connection to Southampton. This is a long street that runs from Colombo St to Tennyson St. There wasn’t as many mentions on Papers Past as I expected and this is because it would possibly was a working class area. In 1882 there were two new cottages for sale. The houses here date from 1910 to more recent houses. A couple of toilet block style houses but many are wooden older villas. They are in a similar style with one big bay window in the front of the house. Most are in a reasonable condition but a few looking a bit rundown. There is one Art Deco house on the street. At the Colombo St end there is a big building housing Salvation Army Headquarters and a op shop. There is a lovely house near Colombo St end which I loved and it is next to an identical house that was very rundown. A local that I chatted with said that the rundown house was just as rundown inside. There is an entrance to Essie Summers Retirement Village here and a huge number of apartments which are possibly part of Essie Summers. The retirement home is named after a Christchurch author who wrote romance novels. I don’t normally read this genre but will confess to have read some of her books because they set in Christchurch. Another street that I walked in February but only posted on Facebook and not here. I obviously did a lot walking in February so I checked my steps and I walked over 34,000 steps in a two day period.