Normans Rd in Strowan – Named after William George Norman (1816- 1891). Norman arrived in Canterbury on the Sir George Seymour in 1850. He began working as a carrier and soon earned enough money to import two draught horses. One of these won first prize in the first agricultural show in Christchurch which was held in Market (later Victoria) Square on 6 October 1853. In 1865 he bought a house on Papanui Road near the present Normans Road, calling it Dorset Villa. He developed a beautiful garden there. The property is described in detail in The Press in 1912 when it was advertised for sale. First appears in street directories in 1887.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website and this is another street that I actually walked in October 2021. Papers Past had lots of birth and death notices plus articles about St Andrews School. Best articles about the school were the ones from 1929 where someone managed to set fire to a classroom. This was during the school day. In 1881 building allotments were being offered but there must have already been houses here as in 1879 residents were requesting a footpath. In 1885 there was a petition to rename Norman’s Road to Norman’s Street. It is still Normans Road. Note that over the years the apostrophe is usually dropped from street names where the streets have been named after a person. If you come across a street name that ends in an s then it is frequently named after a person. Between 1914 and 1924 there was talk about widening the road. There were occasionally flooding issues but there is a stream nearby so that is likely to be the reason. Lots of car accidents but I think that is because of Papanui Rd plus the corner by Strowan Rd is tricky. In 1958 a new Elmwood Post Office was opened on Normans Road.
St Andrews College takes up a huge amount of this street at the Papanui Rd end of the street. At Strowan Road end blocks of shops take up both sides of the road. I used to go to Hands Ashfords shop here but sadly that shop has gone. A surprising number of houses built in the 1910s and 1920s are still standing but many are on back sections these days. There are houses from every decade after 1920s and as usual the modern ones are ugly. There is a house from 1890. There have been garages built in front of it so it isn’t easy to see and I hadn’t realised the age of the house. It is a busy road with traffic especially school traffic.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 