Erewhon Tce in Hillsborough – Named after Samuel Butler’s book Erewhon or Over the Range. The book is about Butler’s life on his high country station Mesopotamia. First appears in street directories in 1970.

A small amount of information from the library website. Very little information on Papers Past and in 1962 the unformed portion of Erewhon Terrace to be stopped. Same information in 1963 and 1964. In 1981 the land was rezoned from residential to rural. Sounds like the plan was for a much longer street but this didn’t happen. Only about10 properties here with a couple of houses from 1950s but rest date from 2018. Erewhon Terrace Recreation Reserve was mentioned a few times and I checked maps but can’t find a reserve. I only walked about 100 metres and then it was just driveways. Great views but a very narrow road. I had detoured slightly before meeting the walking group at the top of Rapaki Road. A bit surprised that I hadn’t already walked here as I have done Rapaki Road.

After researching Guild Street and Stapletons Road plus a online conversation with a friend I decided to research a building. Several hours later I can now write up the information. The story starts in Church Square in Addington where there is St Mary’s Home for girls. The church in Church Square is called St Mary’s. The earliest mention in Papers Past was in 1879. In 1897 there was a meeting about the lease of the building in Addington as the lease was terminating in the next year and there was a need for a more suitable premises. At least 50 girls from the home had gone on to lead virtuous and reputable lives and many had managed to be respectably married. There were only 5 cases of absolute failure. Nine girls had been transferred to the institution at Mount Magdala. The Church Property Trustees had offered a suitable site. St Mary’s obviously had a laundry as the profit from this was mentioned. It was to be hoped that a home in a less populous locality would benefit the girls.

The new site was at 73 Stapleton Road and in July 1898 the foundation stone was laid by Bishop Julius. In November 1898 there was the opening ceremony at the newly erected St Mary’s Home and Bishop Julius was at this opening ceremony. The first mention of St Saviour’s Guild is in 1898. Same year the old premises in Addington is to be sold. In 1899 the new chapel is opened by Bishop Julius. In 1899 a nightsoil contractor was charged with breaches of the Drainage Act. Instead of taking the sewage away he allowed it to flow into a natural watercourse. It was a clear running stream that ran past St Mary’s and into Dudley Creek. In 1904 with the completion of the Te Oranga Home girls were transferred from St Mary’s Home to the new home leaving only 11 immates in St Mary’s Home. In 1905 Nurse Maude was given permission to place a small water wheel in St Albans Creek at the back of the home.

The first mention of St Saviour’s was in 1910 and in 1911 St Saviour’s Guild confirmed that the work to convert St Mary’s Home into St Saviour’s Home for orphaned, neglected and destitute children had been completed. They were now in need of another building to house boys older than 8 years old. Reason for this was that there was a law that didn’t allow boys over 8 years old to remain in the same building as girls. In 1914 the Church Property Trustees granted to St Saviour’s Guild 5 acres of land fronting Stapletons Road and adjoined to the present orphanage premises. In 1915 Bishop Julius laid the foundation for the new wing for the Anglican Orphanage for girls. In 1916 Bishop Julius opened the new building. Note the boys never got a building for them at this site but they did get their own orphanage also called St Saviour’s Orphanage but in Timaru.

In 1918 an open air school was built adjunct to St Saviour’s Orphanage and was on Dudley Street. Also in 1918 40 out of 75 girls got influenza but luckily none of them died. The headline in the newspaper said that the girls had been attacked by influenza. In 1919 there was an outbreak of scarlet fever and the drains were blamed.

In 1929 there was an article about St Mary’s Home in Addington but the reporter got it wrong and called it St Saviour’s Orphanage. The home in Addington was never called St Saviour’s Orphanage. St Mary’s Home was on Poulson Street and went from Church Square to Cotterill Street. The land was known as Sewell Estate. The building was old and in bad repair and had been demolished. It was a wooden structure with old English gables. The Church Property Trustees had owned it when St Mary’s Home was using the property but when it was being sold in 1929 it was owned by the government. The land had been set aside to build a hospital called St Helen’s Hospital. It was decided to instead use the Essex Street site for a hospital. The land was sold for a housing subdivision. In 1930 it was agreed that the Education Board take over St Saviour’s Orphanage School and run it as a public school. The orphanage was placed in quarantine because of a scarlet fever outbreak. In 1945 a new wing was built to replace the old wooden St Mary’s Home plus the large brick building and chapel built in 1915 were upgraded. The home now holds 73 girls.

There were lots of entries in Papers Past over the decades because of all the fundraising efforts by the St Saviour’s Guild. Several people left money to the home in their wills.

In 1952 the old people at Howardville in Burnham had to be moved because the army were moving there. The old people went to various places and some were moved to St Saviour’s Orphanage. The Church were willing to move the children and use the building for a home for the aged. In 1954 Churchill Courts is the name for the former St Saviour’s Children’s Home. The children were rehoused in cottage homes under the supervision of cottage mothers. The reason for the Churchill name will be because Bishop Julius’s name was Churchill Julius. In 1961 a new 27 bed hospital was built plus a nurse’s home. In 1964 there was an appeal launched for renovating the chapel as it had been built for the children and would now be a parish church for the old people. There was a long waiting list for people wanting to live at Churchill Courts. I was surprised to see a death notice in 1973 for a Thomas Cave and no it wasn’t my father. In 1985 new ownership flats to be built in the grounds In 1989 a new psycho-geriatric unit to be built. Note it was a dementia unit.

Most entries from 1960s onwards were death notices. Churchill Courts didn’t survive the earthquakes and the historic chapel was badly damaged in the September earthquake and had to be demolished. Some of the elderly were moved to other homes after that earthquake. After the February earthquakes Churchill Courts was evacuated and 19 residents were taken by bus to Geraldine and Temuka. A further 20 residents in the dementia unit were moved but the article didn’t say where they went. After the February earthquakes they lost power, water supply, phones and sewage. Liquefaction caused huge problems and the buildings slumped.

After being an empty abandoned site for many years after the earthquakes the site is now home to social housing. There were a couple of good articles about the new housing. The address for the social housing is 40 Guild Street and this had me wondering why as St Saviour’s Orphanage was at 73 Stapletons Road. A few ads in the 1980s solved the problem for me. Churchill Court had the address 73 Stapletons Road. The Churchill Hospital and nurse’s home had the address of 40 Guild Street. The current entrance at 73 Stapleton Road has those rising bollards blocking it and the main entrance is on Guild Street.

Stapletons Road in Richmond – Named after Thomas Stapleton (1826-1895). Stapleton, a gentleman, was a sawyer and “poultry enthusiast”. He died at his home in Stapletons Road. First appears in street directories in 1887.

A small amount of information from the library website. Any street name with an s on the end usually means it was named after a person. Eventually the apostrophe stops being used. Thomas Stapleton lived on North Stanmore Rd and his address eventually became Stapleton Road. The church owned a huge amount of land in this area and I couldn’t tell from maps where the boundary was between his property and church property. Thomas Stapleton had freehold land and at least one leasehold property so it is possible that he leased this property from the church. He resigned as treasurer of the Poultry Society in 1889 and wasn’t mentioned but I suspect that it would have been for health reason. His death notice in 1895 mentioned that he died aged 69 from a long and painful illness. No scandals or bankruptcy issues for Thomas Stapleton which makes a change for someone who has a street named after them in Christchurch.

There was a large amount of information on Papers Past and the earliest entries I found was in 1879 which is a bit earlier than what the library claims. The residents requested that the bridge over Dudley Creek be wider. The Road Board had ads calling for tenders for shingling the road plus either altering the existing bridge or building a new one. In 1882 the bridge was closed for repairs. Bridges feature a lot on this street and in 1885 Mr T Codling was asking for a bridge over Dudley Creek. In 1886 the Road Board was calling for tenders for building a bridge over Dudley Creek. I suspect that this was a bridge that was at the Shirley Road end of the street. In 1899 the bridge on Shirley Road at the corner of Stapleton Road was closed for repairs. In the same year a resident was requesting a culvert because of drainage issues. The Drainage Board basically said not their problem.

Looks like there was a least one pig farm on this road plus two or three dairy farms. I know that there was a butcher on the street as in 1882 he requested that a Mr M’Connell remove his filly from his paddocks or he will sell it. A few complaints about the state of the road over the years. In 1912 the church had a big subdivision in this area. In 1925 sewers were laid. In 1912 when the church land was sold off a Mr Daniel Neil bought up a big block of land and in 1925 he subdivided the land and sold off the sections. In 1926 relief workers were sent to this street to fell trees. Relief workers were frequently mentioned in Christchurch in the 1920s. In 1926 the street was described as a narrow winding lane and tenders were called for widening the street. In 1928 the residents of this street and surrounding streets were very upset to be included in the Kaiapoi electorate. In 1927 the sewer was being laid to the new pumping station. A letter to the editor in 1951 was from a man complaining about noise from backyard businesses and he wanted them to be moved. A hand grenade with the pin still in it was found in Dudley Creek in 1961. After this it was mostly death especially because of an old age care home on this street. I am going to do a separate write for that property. I was surprised to see a name that I knew in the death notices and it was in 1979 for Flora Sneddon a Lyttelton person.

A large number of houses on this street are from the 1920s with two houses dating from 1910. One of the houses from 1910 is in a very sad condition and I did take photos of it. I also managed to get a photo of a house from 1915 and it is lovely. The houses cover most decades. I started my walk at Shirley Rd and these days you can’t tell but there used to be a bridge here as it goes over a drain or creek. These days it is a large culvert. Dudley Creek follows most of the road until near Dudley Street. Houses on that side of the street have bridges over the creek. Two of the streets that run off Stapleton Road only have footbridges now as it was considered too expensive to repair the road bridges. My map only shows Dudley Creek going along this road from Julius Terrace to just before Dudley Street but there is definitely a creek going from Shirley Road to Julius Terrace. The pumping station that was built in 1927 is still on the street and I did take a photo of it. There are some lovely houses on this street. The street ends at North Avon Road.

Guild Street in Richmond – Named after a position in the Anglican church. Guilds were originally associations of craftsmen in particular trades. The term was borrowed by the Anglican Church. A guild tends to be a group of lay persons (often women) within a parish which meet together for social purposes and to maintain the building and its finances. In an area where the Anglican church owned land. First mentioned in The Press in 1910 when land is advertised for sale there. It was then being formed. First appears in street directories in 1914.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Papers Past had the usual birth and death notices. In 1910 there were several ads for the sale of sections in the Church Property subdivision. In 1920 there was a proposed council bylaw to forbid horses, cattle and sheep being driven down this street plus the surrounding streets. The sewers were connected in 1926. In 1962 it was proposed that a Hospice for the Aged to be build. The article in 1963 said that the erection of the modern geriatric hospital was processing nicely. There were several ads for staff for the Churchill Hospice. Later on it was being called Churchill Hospital. Street view from 2007 had a sign outside it saying Churchill Complex.

In 1983 the road was closed at the Stapletons Road end of the street as the wooden bridge over Dudley Creek was unsafe. What was a temporary closure became a permanent closure and there is now just a footbridge there.

The street has only about a dozen houses with some built in 1910 and 1920. Where Churchill Complex used to be there is now social housing for 15 families. It is called Guild Street Housing Community and there was an article about it in 2021 and another article earlier this year. The article states that this housing was built where there was an abandoned Aged Care Village known as Churchill Courts.

Chancellor Street in Richmond – Named after a position in the Anglican Church. The chancellor is the legal adviser to an Anglican diocese. He or she is one of those who administer the affairs of a diocese between meetings of synod. One of a number of streets with names with Anglican associations, chosen when the Church Property Trustees sold their land. First mentioned in The Press in 1910 when land for sale is advertised there. First appears in street directories in 1914.

A small amount of information from the library website. Papers Past had ads for sections in 1910 for the Church Property subdivision. In 1913 there were seven workers dwellings allotted to this street. In 1914 there was a Workers Dwelling for sale in the Chancellor Street Settlement. There were several sections for sale between 1913 and 1914. In 1915 there was a school to be built on the corner of Shirley Road and Chancellor Street. I then got a bit confused as there was a letter to the editor in 1928 with a question about using the site of the old Richmond school for a playground. I searched Papers Past and couldn’t find anything about Richmond school being on Chancellor Street. There were some birth notices and lots of deaths notices.

At the Shirley Road end of the street there is a playground called Shirley Community Reserve. The Shirley Primary school was on this site from 1916 to 1977. Then the Shirley Community Centre was here from 1979 to 2011. The Community Centre was damaged in the earthquakes. Near Julius Terrace there is a Play Centre. Also at the corner by Julius Terrace the road is closed and there is a footbridge over Dudley Creek connecting the one part of the street to the other part of the street. The street has only been closed at this point since 2016 and not everyone was happy about this. There are a couple of empty sections where houses have been demolished. Going by street view they looked like lovely 1920s houses but they were made from brick and many brick houses didn’t fare well in the earthquakes. Most of the houses on this street were built between 1910 and 1925. I managed to work out that the workers dwellings were near the Guild Street end of the street as they were all in an identical style. It was a pleasant street and there was one house that looked lovely but I am not sure if it a complete rebuild or just updated.

Julius Terrace in Richmond – Formerly Harper Terrace. Named after Henry John Chitty Harper (1804-1893). Re-named Julius Terrace. Named after Churchill Julius (1847- 1938). Harper Terrace is first mentioned in The Press in 1912. First appears in street directories in 1914. Bishop Harper was the first Anglican Bishop of Christchurch 1856-1889. Formed on land originally owned by the Anglican church. Benjamin Oakes Moore (1888?-1953), a builder, is one of the first two residents listed. Re-named Julius Terrace in 1918 because of the duplication of Harper Streets in Christchurch. Bishop Julius was the second bishop 1890- 1925 and Archbishop of New Zealand 1922- 1925.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and there is a Wikipedia page for Churchill Julius. The Te Ara Dictionary of NZ Biography has much better information and sadly the NZ Government announced this week that they will be cutting staff to the department that runs this website. I did slightly sidetrack here as Churchill Julius’s father was Frederic Gilder Julius. I might need to do some research on the Gilder family.

Not a lot of information on Papers Past about the street under the Harper Terrace name. Just a few ads for the subdivision in 1910 plus a couple of birth notices for B O Moore and his wife.

The street changed to Julius Terrace in 1918 and there were various ads over the years. In 1923 the residents complained about the willows on the street. There were several entries for 12 Julius Terrace which belonged to Benjamin Oakes Moore. Sounds like they had a fantastic garden and often held social events at their home. After Benjamin Moore’s death the property was for up for sale in 1957. It was also for sale in 1962 and 1972 and the description of the house made me want to visit the house. In 1982 when it was for sale yet again it was described as a Palatial Residence that had been recently subdivided. The property must have been huge as it still covers all of one side of the street. In 1983 the street at the Stapletons Rd end was closed to traffic. Reason was that the bridge needed replacing so the council replaced it with a footbridge.

This is a short street with only 8 houses and a couple date from 1910 and a couple from 1920. One house from 1910 looked a bit rundown but the other other is gorgeous. The gorgeous house covers one side of the street and Dudley Creek runs between this house and the street.

Averill Street in Richmond – Named after the Rev. Alfred Walter Averill (1865-1957). Averill was the vicar of St. Michael’s Anglican Church 1894-1910. He then became Bishop of Waiapu before becoming Bishop of Auckland. He was Archbishop of New Zealand 1925-1940. First mentioned in The Press in 1912 when land in North Richmond is advertised for sale by the church property trustees. First appears in street directories in 1914.

There is a Wikipedia page for Alfred Walter Averill plus a Wikipedia page for his son Leslie Averill. The Averill surname was familiar to me but it was unlikely that I was ever treated by Dr Leslie Averill as he retired from being a GP in about 1969 and I was still living in Lyttelton those days. For some reason eyes popped into my head and it is possible that Dr Averill’s son Thomas Averill was my eye specialist.

This street was a church subdivision and it was described as a new street in 1912. Lots of ads for sections in 1912 and they were still selling sections in 1915 and 1919. There was another sale of church land in 1924 and 54 acres was sold to Daniel Neil of The Shades Hotel. Daniel Neil must have subdivided the land as sections were available in 1925. Sewers were laid in 1926 and in 1927 there were complaints about the state of the road after the sewers were laid. There must have been a butcher shop on this street as it was burgled in 1926. The street was tar sealed in 1935 and in 1941 there was a new waterworks pumping station built. A few birth notices and lots of death notices. One family on this street had terrible bad luck with their children. They had a 19 month old son who went missing in 1947 and sadly they found his body in Dudley Creek. A couple of years earlier an older son had been rescued from the creek. In 1951 they had a daughter who died after being scalded with hot water. In 1970 there were complaints about students from Shirley Boys High School parking on the street.

I decided to walk this street after watching Moving Houses this week. My best photos of this house are from Petrie Park. I started my walk from Stapletons Road end and it looks like this house takes up what used to be two sections of land. The house that was moved dates from about the 1880s. There are still many lovely older houses on this street dating from 1910 onwards. A few modern houses and there is a building site on this street and I suspect that they will end up being ugly ones. Banks Avenue School is on this street and I googled this school. The school had a new school built after the original school was destroyed in the earthquakes. The new school opened in 2022 on wat was the site of Shirley Boys High School. Shirley Boys High moved to a different site after the earthquakes.

Kawau Crescent in Bromley and nothing on the library website. I checked both the old and new street information on the library website.

Luckily I found an article from 1972 where six streets are mentioned as being named after the Maori names for birds that live in the Estuary. It was a new subdivision in 1972 and I managed to walk all six streets today. Kawau means black shag.

Only ads and death notices on Papers Past. Most houses were built in the 1970s with at least three rebuilds after the earthquakes. There is an entrance to a kindergarten from this street. The houses were typical 1970s style but a two storied house looked a bit different. I did have a nice chat with a local here. She said that it is mostly a pleasant street to live on but there are occasionally a few issues. This was my last street to walk for today and it was getting rather warm for the time of the year.

Korora Street in Bromley and nothing on the library website. I checked both the old and new street information on the library website.

Luckily I found an article from 1972 where six streets are mentioned as being named after the Maori names for birds that live in the Estuary. It was a new subdivision in 1972 and I managed to walk all six streets today. Korora means penguin. I have never seen a penguin in the estuary.

Very little information on Papers Past and it was just ads and death notices. Houses here were built in the 1970s and are typical for that era. None stood out for me. It was a pleasant and nice and tidy street. Pity that the car blocking the footpath spoiled my good impression of the street. The car even had a bike on the back of it so they must be a cyclist and we all know how I feel about them. Yes I know that there are some nice cyclists who do use the cycleways.

Pateke Place in Bromley and nothing on the library website. I checked both the old and new street information on the library website.

Luckily I found an article from 1972 where six streets are mentioned as being named after the Maori names for birds that live in the Estuary. It was a new subdivision in 1972 and I managed to walk all six streets today. In the article it said that Pateke means brown duck but google says Brown Teal.

Very little on Papers Past as it was just a few ads and death notices. Houses here built in the 1970s and 1980s and none of them stood out for me. A couple of nice gardens. My only photos are of people parking badly. I hate it when the footpath is blocked my cars. There was plenty of room to park properly.