Hartley Avenue in the suburb of Strowan, Christchurch

Hartley Ave in Strowan – Formerly St Andrews Terrace. Named because of its proximity to St Andrew’s College. Re-named Hartley Avenue. Named after Leonard Brannon Hart (1874-1960). St Andrews Terrace is first mentioned in The Press in 1924 when land for sale there is advertised. First appears in street directories in 1927. Re-named Hartley Avenue in 1938 because of confusion with St Andrews Square. Hart lived at 2 Hawthorne Street in Papanui and in 1936 he was a branch manager for Abels Ltd. His property was subdivided to form the street plus its extension. A Papanui war memorial street.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I actually walked this street back in October 2021 so I am a little bit behind in writing up some of the streets that I have walked. Huge number of entries in Papers Past for garden competitions. The residents were also frequently mentioned in the social pages. Also lots of birth and death notices. In 1924 the street is described as a new street with 14 sections for and that the land is owned by E T Forbes. In 1926 the street name was to be changed to Walnut Ave but that obviously didn’t happen as the name was changed to Hartley Ave. Edited to say that there seem to have been two St Andrew Terraces and I had already walked and written up Walnut Ave and the name change to Walnut Ave refers to the other St Andrews Terrace. Confused yet.

Apparently Mr Hart approved of the name change and that it was his property that was subdivided.

Between 1959 and 1961 the trees that were planted in the street were mentioned. The Cape Tulip trees were planted in 1936 but the residents put forward a petition in 1959 to have the trees removed. Reason for the removal was the damage to the footpaths and residents properties. Most of the houses in this street were built in the 1920s and 1930s and most were really lovely. Some lovely gardens as well. Would love to have managed some photos. The house from 1910 is looking very sad and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is eventually demolished. The modern houses built from 2018 onwards are really ugly and I will use my favourite description of toilet block style for them. It was mostly a lovely street even if spoilt by the modern houses but well beyond my budget.