Longfellow Street in the suburb of Sydenham, Christchurch

Longfellow Street in Sydenham- Named after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).Longfellow was an American poet. 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 1907.A small amount of information from the library website. A lot of entries on Papers Past about the Camelot Settlement which was built on the land that was originally the Police Paddock. The street became a public street in 1887. In 1890 constructing and widening the street was deferred pending negotiations for the widening. Mrs Woolley declined to give land for this purpose. Also an old clay pit would have to be filled in before the widening could happen and this pit was on W B Perceval’s land. Eventually happened as in 1898 the street was gravelled. Several mentions about the stormwater drain as the council wanted a bridge over the drainage. The council also wanted it fenced for safety reasons. There were often clashes between the council and the drainage board. In 1890 there were complaints about the city council dumping rubbish on a vacant section in the street. The Sydenham Borough Council requested that the city council stop doing this but they continued dumping the city’s rubbish here. In 1903 the street was extended to Southampton St and there still is a funny dogleg at this end of the street. From 1907 onwards there was many articles about the workmen’s homes under the Workers Dwelling Act. The settlement was called Camelot Settlement but at the beginning was called Sydenham Settlement. The house at 52 Longfellow St was originally built for the International Exhibition in Hagley Park that was held in 1906. In September 1907 it was dismantled and reassembled in the Camelot Settlement. Google 61A Tennyson St and you will get a lot more information. In 1928 there was a petition from the residents to stop a shop from being built on the corner of Longfellow St and Wembley St. Still several houses here that were the original Workers Dwelling and most are in good condition. There are a huge number of houses / flats from the 1970s and they are the typical style from the 1970s of either summerhill stone or concrete block. The modern houses here are fairly ugly and when I saw who had built them I could see why. Personally I wouldn’t touch one of these modern places as they have been built by developers that I don’t trust. Not showing my bias much. I actually walked this street on the first day of level 2 and the research sometimes takes longer than actually walking the street. A pleasant street and the older houses mostly looked lovely. There is a house from 1890 here and it has been modernised so I didn’t recognise it as being that age. I am getting rather good at guessing the ages of houses from the style of the house.