Draper Street in Richmond – First mentioned in the Star in 1881 in an advertisement. In 1883 it is referred to as Draper’s Street. No-one with the name of Draper lives nearby. First appears in street directories in 1887.
A tiny amount of information from the library website and I found an article in Papers Past from 1938 which gives the reason for the name of the street. It was apparently called Draper St / Draper’s St because three of the leading drapers lived on the street. Note the suburb was called Bingsland until the residents petitioned for it to be changed. The earliest mention that I found on Papers Past was from 1881 where a J Hadfield was selling his estate. The residents in 1895 petitioned for the street to be channelled and asphalted. Several complaints about drains. Lots of death notices and a few birth notices. In 1926 the Richmond Burgesses Association suggested that Draper St and Swann’s Rd become one name. This obviously didn’t happen. The street is on a map from 1879 but it isn’t named.
There is a shop on the corner of Draper St and Stanmore Rd and next to the shop there looked to be a commercial block. My usual website for giving me dates for houses wasn’t working properly for this street. Many houses look like they date from the 1970s and are multi dwelling type of housing. Several would have been built in the last couple of years and older houses on large sections have been replaced with multiple units. There is at least one house from 1915 but the saddest house is from 1890. I was really surprise to realise that the house from 1890 is actually being lived in as it looks like it is falling down. The grounds are so overgrown that I couldn’t get a photo. I didn’t particularly like this street and felt a bit claustrophobic here. I think that it was because of the houses all being crammed together.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 