Landsdowne Terrace in the suburb of Cashmere, Christchurch

Landsdowne Tce in Cashmere – First appears in street directories in 1964.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. Most entries on Papers Past were ads for sections in 1966 but there was one interesting article from 1963. The secretary of the Historic Places Trust Christchurch branch requested that the name of the street be changed as it was misleading. This obviously didn’t happen. Reason for the request was that the property developer was promoting the various subdivisions in the area as having great views over Bowenvale Valley and Landsdowne Valley. Landsdowne Valley is miles away and closer to Halswell than Cashmere so I could see his point. In 1972 plans for a Community Centre were discussed and a site on this street had been selected. In September 1976 the Community Centre was opened. There was another Landsdowne Tce in Dallington in 1919 and I remember this from one of the Dallington streets that I walked a couple of months ago.

I walked this street in the early evening last night and it looks like a pleasant street. Most houses were built in the 1960s and 1970s and none of them stood out for me but many had lovely gardens. There are still a few gaps from where houses were demolished after the earthquakes. In one gap there is a house that has been relocated to the site. It is a 1920s wooden villa and it wasn’t there when I checked street view for September 2022. It looks very similar to a house that was recently removed from Strickland St. The drivers of those huge vehicles are amazing and watching the one on Strickland St made me appreciate their skill. There are a couple of ugly rebuilds but one house that took my eye was a fairly ordinary house with blue shutters. When I checked it was a house built in the 1940s which is 20 years before the street was created. I am getting very good at guessing the ages of houses just by the style of the house.

I used to visit this street in the 1980s as I had friends who lived there. Sadly he died in 1988 at the age of 37 leaving a young family and when walking the street last night I just couldn’t remember which house it was.