Walnut Avenue in the suburb of Strowan, Christchurch

Walnut Ave in Strowan – Formerly St Andrew’s Terrace. Named because of its proximity to St Andrews College. Re-named Walnut Avenue. Named after the walnut tree once on the corner of the street. St Andrews Terrace is first mentioned in The Press in 1924 where it is referred to as a street “known as St Andrew’s Terrace, off Norman’s Road and off Hawthorne Road, Papanui”. Re-named Walnut Avenue on 24 May 1926 when 21 streets were renamed. [Ten ratepayers objected to the name change, suggesting Raneleigh Terrace. Another eleven suggested Mountview Terrace.] First appears in street directories in 1947.

A small amount of information from library website and the part that refers to a street known as St Andrew’s Terrace off Norman’s Rd and off Hawthorne Rd, Papanui doesn’t actually refer to this street and the library website is incorrect. It was difficult to get information about this street as there was another St Andrews Terrace now known as Hartley Ave. This is the street that runs from Normans Rd to Hawthorne Rd. It was strange that they gave the name of St Andrews Tce to the street now known as Walnut Ave as there was another St Andrews Tce nearby. Papers Past mostly had entries for Walnut Ave in Ashburton. The main entries I found were for Papanui Garden Competitions plus sections for sale in 1925. In 1924 land belonging to Mr E T Forbes was subdivided and it is possible that this street was part of this subdivision as it mentions new street known as St Andrew Terrace but it possibly also refers to the other St Andrews Terrace. Ernest Forbes lived at 5 Normans Rd in 1938 and was a farmer. In 1949 he lived at 14 Alpha Ave and was a milkman. I sidetracked slightly here as Ernest Thomas Forbes was born in Lyttelton and was married in 1897 in Lyttelton. Ernest died in 1965 and his wife Leah died in 1942. I couldn’t find any children for them. The street runs off Hawthorne Rd where numbers 45 and 47 would have been. Most houses on this street were built in 1940s with a few built later than that. I liked the one that had a large turret but the rest were fairly boring but nice gardens. Google maps amused me as they had a church here but there isn’t a church as they have got confused with Walnut Ave in Ashburton. I walked this street yesterday and was happy to find a geocache on this street.