Taylors Avenue in the suburb of Bryndwr, Christchurch

Taylors Avenue in Bryndwr – formerly Taylor’s Road. Named after Joseph Taylor (1836-1918). Taylor came to New Zealand in 1863 on the ship Captain Cook. He became involved with contracting, importing carts and harnesses from England, and worked on forming roads for the Riccarton and other Road Boards. In 1866 he bought 116 acres, land now bordered by Jeffreys Road and Greers Roads. He named his property Wairarapa Farm and ran a small flock of English Leicester sheep there. His home was at what became 143 Wairarapa Road (later 167 Wairakei Road). It was demolished in the early 1930s. The land was gradually subdivided, and in 1958 the last remaining 1½ acres was sold by one of his daughters. Taylor’s Road first appears in street directories in 1914. Becomes Taylors Avenue in 1960.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add to it about Joseph Taylor. His obituary had almost the exact same information. Not much on Papers Past either. There was a subdivision on the farmland in 1920 but then nothing until the 1950s. A few engagement notices plus a woman was attacked in her sister’s home in 1957. Most mentions of the street were ads.

There are houses here from every decade from 1910 to 2024 with most houses being built between 1980 and 2000. There is a variety of architectural styles with a few ugly toilet block style but some of the modern looking houses were built in 2000. I was a bit surprised as I was expecting them to have been built in the last couple of years. It seemed to be a pleasant street when I walked it this morning. Many of the older houses have been demolished but a few are still standing. I wish that I could remember the website where I found a really decent map of streams in Christchurch as my gut tells me that there is a stream running under the houses on one side of the street. I should also pick a day that isn’t bin collection day for walking streets. I had been at Fendalton Library and decided to walk a couple of streets.