Downing Street in the suburb of Hoon Hay, Christchurch

Downing Street in Hoon Hay – First appears in street directories in 1951.

A tiny amount of information from the library website and I couldn’t find out how the street got it’s name but suspect that it is a person’s surname.

Because of a certain famous street in the UK there were thousands of entries on Papers Past. I limited my search to Downing Street, Hoon Hay so possibly missed some entries. There were sections available in 1950s and a new footpath was formed in 1957. Lots of entries about the Presbyterian Church. The church was mentioned in 1959 as meeting being held in the church hall. The official opening for the church was in 1962. They then applied for consent to erect a church in 1971.

Most houses here were built in 1950s and then several houses built in the 1990s. The later houses were mostly built at the back of existing houses. This was very common in the 1990s.

Nothing outstanding about the street or the houses and the church is still there. The houses from 1950s are mostly wooden houses and the ones from 1990s are made from brick.