College Avenue in the suburb of Strowan, Christchurch

College Ave in Strowan – Named because of its proximity to St Andrew’s College. First mentioned in The Press in 1925 where it is described as a “new” road. First appears in street directories in 1928. A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name as it is fairly obvious. In 1926 there were 26 sections sold in the subdivision and the land was possibly owned by developers Gow and Pannell but I couldn’t get more information on Papers Past. The sewers were laid in 1928. The entries on Papers Past were mostly birth and death notices plus the best street and garden competition entries. There was an interesting court case in 1934 where Thornton Reddell was charged with the failure to cut back and trim his hawthorne hedge on a vacant section. He was charged under clause 4 of the fireblight act 1922. I googled and fireblight is a destructive and highly infectious disease that attacks blossoms, leaves, shoots, fruits and roots of trees especially apples and pears. There were several entries in 1937 where a young child aged 4 years drowned in the Strowan Stream on St Andrews College ground. She had gone with another young girl to meet her father who was coming home on the tram. The verdict of the inquest was accidental drowning. Her name was Valerie Linda Lusk and was the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Lusk of 9 College Ave. I have friends who have the surname Lusk on their family trees. I walked this street at the beginning of last week and spending today catching up my street project. Not doing any walking today because of the weather. The houses on this street are mostly 1920s wooden villas and many are very similar to each other with bay windows in the front of the house. There are 2 or 3 modern houses which look out of place in this street. It is a lovely tree lined street but would be totally out of my price range.