Southey Street in the suburb of Sydenham, Christchurch

Southey Street in Sydenham- Named after Robert Southey (1774-1843). Southey was Poet Laureate for 30 years. One of the “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham named by a committee of the Sydenham Borough Council on 19 January 1880. Made a public street from 1 January 1888. First appears in street directories in 1892. Declared a legal road on 23 August 1907.A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. Papers Past have the street declared a public street in 1887. Also in 1887 there was an agreement signed by all owners to dedicate land for straighten the street. Still in 1887 the tender from William Woolley for fencing in the street was accepted. In 1904 the Crown Land known as Police Paddock to be offered in small allotments on a 999 year lease. I did wonder if this was a mistake as most leases were 99 year leases. Residents not happy with this decision as they would prefer a public recreation reserve and this had actually been promised to them. Thomas Piper was living on this street in 1908 and in 1911 the property of G Piper was sold.There are 52 properties here with at least two dating from 1890 and several from 1905 and 1910. Several properties from 1970s and other from 2017.The street runs from Colombo St to Longfellow St. There is a gorgeous Art Deco on the corner of Southey St and Colombo St. The older houses are lovely but the more modern houses didn’t do anything for me. The street in narrowed in a couple of places with what they call calming zones to slow up the traffic. A pleasant street and it was a warmer day than I expected for walking.