Massey Crescent in the suburb of St Albans, Christchurch

Massey Crescent in St Albans – Formerly Massey Street. Spooner’s Lane, later Eden Street, was incorporated into Massey Street. Named after William Ferguson Massey (1856- 1925). Spooner’s Lane was named after George Frederick Spooner (1843?- 1918). Re-named Eden Street. Originally part of George Dickinson’s dairy farm. Massey was the Prime Minister of New Zealand 1912-1925. Massey Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1922, described as running from St Albans Street east to Trafalgar Street. Spooner, a coachbuilder, lived where Spooner’s Lane was formed off Crescent Road (later Trafalgar Street). Spooner’s Lane first appears in street directories in 1894. Re-named Eden Street which is first mentioned in The Press in 1905. Massey Street first appears in street directories in 1925. Eden Street was connected to Massey Street in 1927. Massey Street was renamed Massey Crescent in 1950. [In 1925 residents asked for an avenue of mountain ash trees to be planted in the street.]

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. The name Massey is fairly obvious as William Massey died in 1925. There was a letter to the editor in 1925 where someone wanted Colombo St to be renamed Massey St as a memorial to William Massey. This obviously didn’t happen. Not a lot of information on Papers Past and there were so many Massey Streets in New Zealand that I possibly missed a few articles. In 1960s and 1970s the street was mentioned in best street competitions. Several death notices. There was only one mention of Spooner’s Lane in Papers Past and that was when in 1904 the residents requested the street name to be changed to Eden St. George Spooner left the district in 1890 and Spooner’s Lane was developed here he had lived. Eden St was a tiny dead end street leading off Trafalgar St. I ended up checking old maps and the maps for 1912 and 1922 only show Eden St. Massey St doesn’t show up on maps until 1930 and it was a dead end street leading off from St Albans St. The maps for 1941 only shows Massey St and Eden St had disappeared. The streets had joined up and had become one street. The residents in 1927 requested that the street name be changed from Massey St to Massey Crescent but this didn’t happen until 1948.

It was a pleasant tree lined street and most of the houses were built in the 1920s. They were lovely wooden villas.