Hood St in New Brighton – Formerly Ann Street. May have been named after a member of James George Hawkes’ family. Re-named Hood Street. Named after Viscount Alexander Hood (1724-1814). Ann Street was formed in 1890 but does not appear in street directories. Re-named Hood Street at a special meeting of the New Brighton Council on 12 August 1907. Hood was an admiral in the British navy. Harry Hawker (1868- 1947), a councillor 1905- 1909, had suggested that New Brighton street names be changed to the names of British sea captains who had fought in the 18th and 19th century – a gesture linking Christchurch with the home country, was patriotic and emphasised the fact that New Brighton was a seaside suburb.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Couldn’t find any information about Ann St apart from the name change in 1907. I also couldn’t find any information on the ancestry website. In 1914 a new mission hall was mentioned and in 1915 the Presbyterian Hall was mentioned. They were possibly the same building. Lots of birth and death notices but most entries concern sand and sand hills. In 1917 a fence was built at the end of the street for safety reasons but sadly a year later a stranded whale got caught on the fence. In 1960 houses on this street were ordered to be connected to sewage.
I walked this street a few weeks ago and there is an entrance to the Bowling Club on this street and this club was mentioned in Papers Part as early as 1927. Couldn’t see any church hall on the street and I checked street view for 2007 and no hall appeared on this. Houses here cover most decades but many from 1970 and just as many from between 1905 to 1920. A couple stood out for me and one was a cute cottage and the other was a larger wooden villa. I quite liked this street and the many of the houses appealed to me.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 