Mabel Howard Place in Avonside – Named after Mabel Bowden Howard (1894- 1972). Mabel Howard was a trade unionist, community worker and politician and the Labour member of parliament for East Christchurch 1943-1969. This complex comprises 59 Council-owned rental units built in 1968. Named in 1967.
A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. Mabel Howard was well known and the bloomer incident in Parliament is also fairly well known. Sadly I hadn’t realised that she had died in Sunnyside from dementia.
There are 59 units here being to Otautahi Community Housing Trust. When they were built they would have been owned by the City Council and were pensioner cottages. The official opening was in September 1968 and this opening had been delayed. The official opening was supposed to have happened in April 1968 but was delayed because of the April storm. Most of us will remember this storm and I remember being stuck on the school train between Linwood Railway Station and the Heathcote Railway Station for what felt like hours. We were glued to listening to the transistor radio that was owned by someone called Mike.
Most of the entries on Papers Past were death notices which is hardly surprising considering the ages of the residents. There was a sad death in 1981 where a man’s body was found in his burnt out flat. The cause of the fire was a cigarette.
I only walked a few metres here before deciding that I didn’t feel safe. The units are no longer pensioner housing and I recognised one of the residents as being one of the aggressive beggars that hangs around the central city. He claims to be homeless but he obviously isn’t homeless. Definitely no photos here.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 