Orchard Road in Harewood / Christchurch Airport – formerly Orchard’s Road. Named after Charles Samuel Orchard (1827- 1890). Orchard, a sawyer, emigrated to Canterbury with his wife, Jane, and their son, on the Cashmere in 1855. They settled in Harewood, where he worked at felling trees. They later moved to the Main North Road, then Kaiapoi and, finally, Ohoka. Orchard’s Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1874. First appears in street directories in 1936.
A small amount of information from the library website and I only found one mention of it being Orchard’s Rd and that was in 1874. Several Orchard’s Roads in North Canterbury and I suspect that they are named after the same person as he died in Ohoka. Most entries in Papers Past relate to the airport especially after the 1950s. There seemed to be lots of events involving aircrafts. In 1888 there was an ad from the Road Board about forming Orchard Rd near Harewood Church. In 1918 there was one ad and in 1933 there were two ads. In 1956 the MOW offered 12 acres of land suitable for grazing. A shingle pit opposite the airport was opened.
In 1964 a tourist hotel for Americans to be built on the corner of Memorial Ave and Orchard Road. It was a 10 acre block owned by the city council and a group of businessmen from Dallas had secured an option on the land.
In 1977 more land was required by the airport. The White Heron Lodge was mentioned plus Deep Freeze. The International Antarctic Centre was opened in 1992.
I looked at old maps and they are confusing. The earliest map that I could see this road on was in 1958 and it wasn’t where the modern Orchard Road is situated.
I walked this street a couple of weeks ago and at the Perimeter Rd end there is an old house which was possibly a club room or drinking place for airport staff. Airport parking is at this end as well. Cross the roundabout and there is more car parking plus SuDIMA Hotels and the International Antarctic Centre. I am fairly sure that the SuDIMA Hotel was a Covid isolation hotel during lockdown. Then there is the US Antarctic Program, Airforce and Air NZ buildings. A huge number of rental vehicle businesses along this road. From Wairakei Road onwards there are lots of businesses relating to rental cars and if you look at older street view it was mostly bare land here. Orchard Road from Harewood Road seems to have been only formed from about 2019 onwards. I remember when the Antarctic program was called Deep Freeze. I was amused by the business called UK Caravans as I decided that they might be a bit lost. I had an interesting encounter here as a bus driver stopped and asked if I wanted a lift to the airport. He seemed a bit bewildered that I actually wanted to walk the street. It isn’t helped by the fact that I prefer using a backpack rather than a handbag. I frequently get harassed by the fake homeless in the central city because of this.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 