Auburn Ave in Upper Riccarton and nothing on library website yet most houses were built in the 1940s. The street is possibly named after a place in Ireland. Many entries on Papers Past were about the water pump and water supply issues. There must have been a water tower on the street but it was moved in 1957 as it was no longer required. In the same year a pumping station was being built but they were having problems with unstable ground. In 1959 a block of 10 shops to be built on the corner of Auburn Ave and Riccarton Rd. In 1952 a playground to be built between Auburn Ave and Riccarton Rd and in 1962 a new scout den was opened in Auburn Reserve. As usual there were lots of death notices. What I looked for on Papers Past but didn’t find was information about State Houses as the houses built in 1940s were State Houses. There are about 40 houses built in 1940s and some are still State Houses. The reason that I know that most of the street had State Houses is that in the 1990s the government had a special scheme to help tenants of the State Houses buy the houses they were living in. I was working in a bank and saw several customers who were wanting to buy their houses. One successful applicant lived on this street. When I was walking the street yesterday I just couldn’t remember which house it was yet I had visited it more than once.
The shops on the corner of Auburn Ave and Riccarton Rd are still there. Most of the houses still have a state house look about them but that will be because of when they were built. There were two houses that stood out for me. One was because it was a bit quirky and the other because it looked like it had been a church. I couldn’t find any evidence of it having been a church and in the 1940s through to 1970s it was a private home. It is now houses a counselling service business.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 