Chapter Street in the suburb of St Albans, Christchurch

Chapter Street in St Albans – Named after a position in the Anglican church. A chapter is the name given to the clergy associated with a cathedral. It usually consists of the dean of the cathedral and residentiary canons. One of a number of streets with names with Anglican associations, chosen when the Church Property Trustees sold their land. Dedicated in 1907. First appears in street directories in 1908.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. Huge number of entries on Papers Past and this was because of the status of the people who lived on this street. Many of the entries related to the social activities of the residents. Their social events were recorded along with who was visiting them plus reporting them going away on holiday. Many had holiday homes and it would be mentioned whenever they went to stay at their baches / holiday homes. There were many death notices as well as other family notices such as births and weddings. Between 1908 and 1910 there were a huge number of ads for the sale of sections. During World War One an artist Frederick Saxby Candy was mentioned. I couldn’t find out much more information about him. I was hoping to find examples of his artwork but google will only give me images of lollies because of Americans using the word candy for lollies/ sweets. Very annoying.

In 1926 there was a further subdivision of church land and the street was extended to Rutland St. In the 1930s there were a few mentions of a couple of suicides and the men were involved in the finance industry.

In 1945 Rev Brittan died aged 97 and he came out to New Zealand as a two year child with his family. There were a fair number of people connected to the Anglican church living on this street. Many of the family names from this street are still well known surnames in Christchurch.

Entries from 1950s onwards were mostly death notices.

This is a street with seriously gorgeous houses on it but I only managed a couple of photos. Some of the houses have been demolished after the earthquakes and replaced with ugly modern houses that don’t fit in with the character of the street. These houses really ruin the look of a lovely street. A huge number of the houses date between 1905 and 1930s. I wish that I could have got a photo of one of the houses from 1905 as it was gorgeous with a fantastic garden but the view was blocked by a vehicle. I looked at street view but an aged concern vehicle was blocking the view of the house. Tempted to go back to the street just to get a photo. There was another gorgeous house from 1910 but there was a huge big truck in the driveway plus blocking the footpath. It better not be getting demolished. Loved the street but the houses would be well beyond my price range plus I actually like living within walking distance of the central city. I am also within walking distance of the hospital and yes I am still in my son’s bad books for walking to the hospital when I had that weird illness last year.