Rimu Street in the suburb of Riccarton, Christchurch

Rimu St in Riccarton – formerly Rimu Road. Named after the rimu, a New Zealand native tree.Named to commemorate the Deans families’ efforts to conserve the native forest trees in Riccarton. The naming was also designed to showcase the Maori names of trees. Rimu Road appears on a 1912 map. Rimu Street first appears in street directories in 1917. One resident is listed.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. There was also a reasonable amount of information on Papers Past. Under Rimu Road there were sections for sale in 1916, 1917 and 1938. The rest of the entries were under Rimu Street. In 1920 a Mr Hillier lived on the street. There were several birth and death notices over the years. There were complaints in 1928 about the sewers not being connected. In 1929 it was proposed that a picture theatre to be built at the corner of Riccarton Rd and Rimu Street. Many of the entries were about the Post Office and in 1923 a building on the corner of Riccarton Rd and Rimu St was to be converted to a Post Office. In 1924 the new Post Office was opened. In 1954 there was an article about a new Post Office to be built on the same site as the old Post Office. The article went on to say that a former furniture store served as a Post Office for more than 30 years. In 1989 the old Post Office building was for sale as a new one had opened on Rotherham St in 1986.

In 1957 National Bank was granted permission to shift it’s building on Rimu St to it’s parking area so that a new building can be built on the original site. I couldn’t find any other mention of the National Bank in Riccarton so I don’t know when it moved to the corner of Clarence St and Riccarton Rd.

There are still businesses on the corner of Riccarton Rd and Rimu St including a bank. The building that the bank is on looks very similar to the Post Office building that used to be on this corner. The rest of the street has houses with three of them from the 1920s. The house that I liked was built in the 1940s. Another house that I thought was still being built was actually built in 2007. Some nice houses here but beyond my budget.