Dollans Lane – Named after the Dollan family. John Dollan (1842?-1907), a bootmaker of Madras Street, is mentioned in the Star in 1872. James Ballantine Dollan (1866?-1944), a retired farmer, was living at 403 Madras Street, where this street was later formed, at the time of his death. First appears in street directories in 1960.A small amount of information from the library website and there is at least one mistake as John Dollan wasn’t a bootmaker but his son John William Dollan was a bootmaker and the son lived on Manchester St.John Dollan was born 16th January 1842 in Glasgow and he married Margaret Baillie in Glasgow 22nd April 864 and they sailed for Lyttelton on the British Empire in May 1864. They were aged 22 and 20. They had at least 17 children but sadly 12 of them died as infants. The cemetery records makes sad reading and the children are buried with their parents in the Barbadoes Cemetery. I was surprised to find John’s wife Margaret buried with John and the death notice said beloved wife of John. In July 1890 John was charged with violent assault against Margaret and in September of the same year she sued for divorce. Margaret died January 1903 at the age of 59. All the electoral rolls plus census records in UK have John’s occupation as printer. John doesn’t actually sound like a nice person as in 1900 he was charged with allowing his premises to become a nuisance by the accumulation of offensive matter. This sounded like it was a regular event and it sounded like it was possibly toilet waste. John owned 9 properties but he refused to clean them. He was also frequently fined for allowing lifestock to wander. John and Margaret were the only ones with their surname on the ship British Empire but at some stage his mother Sarah came to NZ as she died at her daughter’s address on Willow St. The surviving children were John William, Henry Neil, James Ballantine, George and one daughter May. James lived at the Madras St address until his death in 1944 but Henry Neil died in 1958 and it was after his death that the subdivision would have happened. Henry lived close by in Hurley Street. I don’t know what this lane was like before the earthquakes as I couldn’t find any information about this lane. The lane is now a driveway to the Pegasus Heath 24 Hour Surgery.

Williams Street – Named after Elizabeth Wilson, née Williams, (b. 1836?). She was the wife of William Barbour Wilson (1819- 1897). William Wilson was a nurseryman, businessman and local politician. His wife was the eldest daughter of John and Isabella Williams. In a subdivision of Rural Section 48, land owned by William Wilson. Williams Street appears on an 1874/75 Deposit Plan and first appears in street directories in 1883.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and most of it is wrong. Yes the land was owned by William Wilson but the street isn’t named after Elizabeth Wilson nee Williams. I covered William Wilson fully when writing up Bedford Row so don’t need to write anything more about him. Between early maps of Christchurch and Papers Past I managed to get a lot of information. The land in this area was sold when William Wilson went bankrupt. I also don’t know when the street became known as Williams Street as it was William Street as late as 1947.In 1879 there were sections available for sale in a mortgagee sale. I am not sure if all the sections were sold as in 1881 most of the block covering Ferry Rd, Wilson Rd and Ropewalk and Madras St were offered for sale. The maps of this area had two streets running parallel to each other and one was called William St and the other was called Wilson St. Both of these streets were named after William Wilson the original owner of the land. In 1882 the residents of both streets requested that they become public streets. The channelling was paid for by the council but the metalling was to be paid by the owners and it was noted in 1884 not everyone had paid their share. William Street – In the 1880s William Stocks who was a monumental mason had a business here and going by death notices he lived on the street as well. In the 1890s a coachbuilder by the name of G D Cronin lived and worked on the street. In 1927 there was at least two suspicious fires in unoccupied houses. A third fire was in an occupied house and a family managed to escape but one person died later in hospital. In 1931 there was a fire at Hurst and Drake the glass merchants. By 1940s this area was mostly just businesses and I couldn’t find a date for when the Polytechnic ( Ara Institute ) took over the street for it’s campus. Wilson Street – Wilson Street no longer exists but because of the link to William St I kept finding references to it. The sections for sale and forming the street information is exactly the same as William St. There was a bakehouse on this street and the surname of the owner was probably Kenny. There was also a furniture manufacturing business owned by H R Wade. He had a huge number of ads in 1907 and 1908. In March 1908 the Bylaw Committee changed the name of the street to Caversham St but both names were used for at least two more years. There was a hotel here called Caversham Hotel which will be why this name and there were many other streets called Wilson which is probably the reason for the name change. I was amused to see that there was a house of ill fame here in 1920. In 1945 there was still a furniture business on the street under the name McDougall Bros. I don’t know when this street ceased to exist and became part of the Polytechnic ( Ara Institute ) but it was still on the map of Christchurch in 1983. Where this street used to be is now a green space at Ara Institute Campus. There was a complaint in 1908 in the a letter to the editor that amused me. The complaint was about the filthy state of both Wilson and William Streets and the writer could see millions of germs blowing along the streets and down as far as Lancaster Park. I found more information than I expected and the early maps on the library website are a great reference.

Fyfe Street / Fife Street. This street doesn’t exist any longer and it ran from Moorhouse Ave to Madras Street and was part of William Wilson’s land. Entries on Papers Past have both spellings and it is most likely named after Fife in Scotland as this is where William Wilson’s wife Elizabeth was from. In 1880 the council called for tenders for the forming of the street. Some of the surnames for families living here were Tallet, Batchelor, Morrison and Cox. Daniel Cox had worked at the railway station for many years going by his obituary. In 1886 a resident cut down part of the school fence so that he could built a fowl house. In 1920 there was a mortgagee sale of two houses on the street and in the same year a substation was built here. The brush company Bunting & Co in the early1920s and were till here until the 1940s.It must have had a nice factory garden as it entered factory garden competitions. The factory had several fires but luckily they were minor fires. The dates of the fires were 1923, 1927, 1939 and 1944. There were still people living here in 1933 and in 1936 an article about the slums of Christchurch included this street. The houses were described as rundown and filthy and crowded up against a high brick wall of the factory. In 1926 Mr F E Shaw sold his property containing 5 houses to the Education Dept and in 1938 there was an article about new additions to the Technical College covering three sections on Fife St. In 1944 under the Public Works Act the street was closed. Where the street would have been is now part of the Ara Institute Campus. I obviously didn’t walk it as it no longer exists and there are buildings there.

Worcester Boulevard – Part of Worcester Street. First appears in street directories in 1993.Worcester Street – Named after the English bishopric of Worcester. One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850 by Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1852 when land for sale there is advertised.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. The information that I found about naming of the Boulevard part of the street gave me the date of 1995 and said that it was when the Christchurch tramway was formed. The boulevard part of the street is a main tourist attraction with the Art Centre and cafes plus the tram. There used to be the Art Centre market but after the earthquakes this creased operating. It restarted a couple of years ago on a Sunday but sadly Covid has forced the closure of the market again. There were a huge number of entries on Papers Past so I have concentrated on pre 1870. The earliest mention that I found was electoral roll entry for Lucas Conway Rose JP living on the street in 1853. In 1854 Dr Alfred Barker had a freehold property on the street. In 1862 Strickland Field complained about the state of the street and this amused me as this man was given fines for letting his horses run loose on the street. In 1865 there were complaints about the artesian well on the premises of the Club House overflowing onto Worcester St and Latimer Square. R D Bust who I believe was an auctioneer had ads about auctions at various yards including ones belonging to Mr Richardson and Mr Rickman. In the 1860s Mrs James Parker had a Registry for Servants in Worchester St / Cathedral Square. In 1867 the council put out a tender for the shingling of the road. Also in 1867 there was a letter to the editor objecting to the plan to widen Mr Lane’s Bridge and that a new bridge over the Avon on Worcester would be better as the old bridge is ricketty. The writer also thought that a bridge that could take vehicles would be better than the current foot bridge. There were lots of entries concerning this bridge as it was washed away in the floods of 1868 and much discussion about replacing it. In 1869 there was an ad from Jones and Tombs about a new newspaper called The Independent. A couple of hotels were mentioned in 1867 and one was the Clarendon Hotel and the other was Coker’s Hotel and Boarding House. Coker’s was in the house that had belonged to his honour Judge Gresson. The female house was mentioned a few times and it only took women of good character. In 1866 there was an article about fundraising so that a training school could be built and attached to the female home. It was to be founded by Mrs Cookson. The female home was started in September 1863 by Miss Rye and a house rented in Worcester St in January 1864. In 1869 the house was up for rent and described as Cookham House and the late female home. I seem to have two different surnames so will doublecheck this. In 1870 the museum was finished being built and stands in the Government Domain at the end of Worcester St West. There was also discussion in 1870 of the street to be extended from Latimer Square to East Town Belt. Also in 1870 Mr Stiffe offered a piece of freehold land for £400 in Hereford St and Worcester St for a fire station. I walked from Rolleston Ave to Fitzgerald Ave. At the Rolleston Ave end is the Art Centre and on the other side are older houses that are either boutique hotels or house businesses. Cross Montreal St and there is a restaurant and a bit further along there is the back entrance to the council building. The Art Gallery is on the other side of the road but the main entrance for this building is on Montreal St. Walk across the bridge and there is the Old Municipal Chambers now known was Our City O-Tautahi. This was earthquake damaged and has been propped up ever since. They have finally started work on the building. Then there are boarded up buildings on one side and empty section being used as a car park on the other side. You come to the Square and on the other side of the Square is the Old Government Building plus an old church on the corner of Worcester St and Manchester St. An entrance to Cathedral Junction is here. A block of green space where all buildings were demolished. As you get closer to Latimer Square there are many apartments including new ones being built. Christchurch Club is on the corner of Worcester Street and Latimer Square. This building is frustrating as I can see a plaque but the gates are locked. I love plaques. I then walk through Latimer Square and Worcester Street used to run through here and was open to cars. I remember in the 1970s that I used to frequently walk here and when my sons were in scouts I remember meeting here for an event. There were several entries online about the closing of the street to traffic and the discussion started in 1998 and it was finally closed in 2006. The most entries were from 2003 and most people seemed to be against the closing of the street. I continued walking and not far from Latimer Square is two older houses from 1905 and they are fenced off as they are in a very dilapidated state. When I was 18 years old I rented a room in one of these houses and used to walk to work as I worked at Mrs Popes those days. I am talking 1972 or 1973. I ended up talking to a man who lived on this street and he used to be a window dresser and Mrs Popes was one of his clients so I probably had met him when I worked there. He pointed out a couple of buildings from the 1970s that he liked and I quite liked them as well. Vagabond Backpackers was in an older house and it looked really nice. Between Latimer Square and Fitzgerald Ave the street had a few older houses but most were modern apartments crammed together. A huge number of them were built in 2000 plus many 2017 and later.

Liverpool Street – Named after Liverpool, a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. Named in 1909. First appears in street directories in 1924.A small amount of information from the library website. Huge numbers of entries on Papers Past as it seems like every city in New Zealand had a Liverpool Street. The council when they named the street didn’t give a reason for the name. Over the years there seem to have been at least three garages on this street and in 1929 someone tried to set fire to a petrol pump. The council wanted to give street hawkers permanent stands on Liverpool St but the hawkers declined this. A solicitor C S Penlington had an office here and in 1944 Hammer & Barrow Ltd had offices in a building called Liverpool Chambers. This street no longer exists and it was officially stopped as a street on 8th November 2016. The area where the street used to be is now a grassy area. I couldn’t find out what businesses used to be here but did find a video showing the earthquake happening.

Struthers Lane – Struthers Lane, named after Robert Struthers of Mason, Struthers & Co. The hardware and saddlery company owned a significant proportion of the south end of Struthers Lane and were bastions of Christchurch business.Formerly Greens Way. Re-named Struthers Lane on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named.Struthers opened a small hardware shop, Mason & Struthers, in partnership with Frederick Mason about 1886. The Mason Struthers building was demolished in 2006There wasn’t any information on the library website but the above information from ketechristchurch looks like it is information that would have been on the library website as the wording is exactly how they normally word it.Papers Past had very little information. Green’s Way in 1932 was on the list of duplicated streets and would possibly be renamed. In 1926 there was a request that the street to be exempt from section 117 of the Public Act. In 1930 there was an application to erect additions to building and for the lane to be exempt from it being widened. In the same year there was an application to erect a building on Tuam St near Colombo St but this would have the effect of blocking access to the back of the shops which front onto Colombo St. In 1945 Mason Struthers Lane was mentioned in Papers Past. Information from Victoria University said that the business of Mason Struthers started in 1874 in Pratts Building on Colombo St and that they then built a 3 story building on corner of Colombo St and Lichfield St. Later on they built a warehouse at 66 Lichfield St. Mason Struthers got a brief mention on the website for Victoria Museum in Australia but they said that the business only traded until 1950 which is wrong. I then went looking for the founders of Mason Struthers. Frederick Mason and Robert Struthers were in business together from about 1878 to 1899 and the partnership was dissolved in 1899 when Frederick Mason when to Australia. Robert Struthers carried on with the business until 1903 but I couldn’t find out who purchased the business. There was a wee note to say that after his death his house became a hostel for a girls high school but not which school. The information from his obituary is that he was from Yorkshire and was in Melbourne before arriving in NZ on the SS Tararua in 1873. That he joined John Ross in farming in Dunedin and then managed various station properties in North Canterbury. He then went to Dunsandel where he set up in business with Mr Henry under the name Henry and Struthers. He then returned to Christchurch in 1886 and set up in business with Fred Mason. He was married twice and had no children. I then looked at a couple of ancestry websites. He married Janet Greig in 1875 in the Leeston district but she died in 1895 and both Robert and Janet are buried in the Linwood cemetery. He remarried in 1897 to Jane Maria Vaughan and Jane was a widow and is buried with her first husband. I couldn’t find Robert on the passenger lists for the SS Tararua but the passenger lists are incomplete. If he did work in Dunedin and North Canterbury I am not sure how he managed it as he was living in Dunsandel on freehold land from 1972 to 1874 and in partnership with John Henry. This partnership was dissolved in 1873 and they had the Dunsandel General Store. In 1875 to 1876 Robert Struthers was on Durham St on leasehold land but from about 1878 was at the Lichfield St address and it was freehold land. The business included Edward Jackson who retired in May 1876 and from 1876 the business partners were Robert Struthers, Frederick Mason and Mr Cross. Found a document from 1882 that had Robert Struthers listed as a member of the Freemasons and living in Christchurch. I then searched Australian records plus English records and couldn’t find Robert Struthers. No record of him on census records and also couldn’t find birth or baptism records. Checked FreeBDM with no joy. The websites using the information saying that he was in Dunedin obviously got this from the obituary. There was another Robert Struthers from Scotland who farmed in the Dunedin area. Robert Struthers was a fairly common name. I obviously couldn’t walk this street as it is where the bus exchange is and there is a big sign saying pedestrians to keep out. I can remember the Mason Struthers stores and there was also one in Lyttelton on Norwich Quay.

Nurseryman Lane and nothing on the library website as it is too new. There was an article on Stuff dated 21st June 2016 about the naming of new lanes. The information in the article about this lane was rather brief and just said that is was reference to a nursery set up in 1851 by William William who was the first mayor of Christchurch. I covered William Wilson fairly fully under Bedford Row. He was from Scotland and he was charged with fraud in 1876 and this concerned a will where he was the executor. His wife left him in 1877 after years of abuse from him. He was charged with threatening behaviour towards his wife. This lane runs from Lichfield St to Tuam St and is near Madras St and is mostly runs along the back of businesses. There is also a car park here.

Armagh Street – Named after the Anglican bishopric of Armagh in Ireland. One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850 by surveyors Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1852 when 1/4 acre sections are advertised for sale there.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. There was a huge amount of entries on Papers Past so I concentrated on pre 1870. I normally also look at ads to see what businesses are on the street but there were so many that I gave up on doing this. In 1860s J W Moorhouse had a depot on the street and Mr Thomson was an auctioneer, accountant, land and commission agent. Mr Thomson was a busy man. In 1853 Mr Gould became an agent for Lyttelton Times. In 1865 the Police Barracks was mentioned and in 1868 the police depot was affected by flooding. In 1870 there was a new lock up. In 1865 there were many complaints about the footpaths and I have seen photos of Christchurch from the 1860s and I am not surprised that there were complaints. In 1866 there was mention that the doors for the new Provincial Council Chamber were made by Mr Detthier who lived on Armagh St. The Philosophical Institute had rooms on the street. In 1865 there was a lot of discussion about the closing of the street and lots of complaints. They were wanting to close it between Durham St and the river. At the same time there was discussion about a direct road to Riccarton that would go through Hagley Park. In 1868 there was a letter to the editor about the bridge over the Avon at Armagh St. Many birth and death notices and William Reeves was mentioned a few times. He was editor of the Lyttelton Times. Both Justice Gresson and Dr Prins allowed groups to use their paddocks for fundraising events and picnics. Many people were fined for allowing their horses to run loose. In 1881 Christchurch Girls High School moved to their Armagh St / Cranmer Square. and were on this site until 1986. Sadly the building on Armagh St was badly damaged in the earthquakes and eventually. This site now belongs to Christ College and is an empty section used for car parking. I walked from Rolleston Ave to Fitzgerald Ave and Christ college owns a few properties at the Rolleston St end. A few new buildings including the RSA building which has now closed. You walk past the the old Magistrates Courts and Provincial Council Chamber. Cross the river and it is Victoria Square and the new Convention Centre and I chatted to Ice Cream Charlie who was washing his van down. He has a permanent site on Armagh St next to Victoria Square. The original Ice Cream Charlie was Sali Mahomet who lived in the Avon Loop. Then there is Crown Plaza Hotel which is currently a MIQ hotel. MIQ is one of the new terms in our language which was unknown just over 12 months ago. Then I came to the block where there is a big empty section on one side and new buildings on the other side. One of the new buildings is The Piano a centre for Music and the Arts. I have been here a few times mostly for the Word Festival. The empty section is in the news frequently because of the endangered seagulls that have set up home here. This site will be the new home for the Catholic Cathedral. Then there is the fantastic Margaret Mahy Playground and I possibly know some adults who love playing here. The mini golf also looks like fun. The closer to Fitzgerald Ave the more residential properties there are. Most are apartments crammed onto tiny sections. Most are post earthquakes but some are dated from 1990s. A couple of housing blocks had a social housing look about them. A few older wooden houses have survived and the oldest is from 1890. The modern apartment buildings are really ugly.

Armagh Courts and nothing on the library website but it is on google maps. It runs off Armagh St next to RSA building. It is just a car park these days but google maps show it as having as least 7 to 8 separate sites. I have searched and searched to find out what was originally here with no joy.

Hereford Street – Named after the bishopric of Hereford. Named by surveyors Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850. The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1852 when 1/4 acre sections are advertised for sale there. A reasonable amount of information on the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. Papers Past had a huge number of entries and again I concentrated on pre 1870. The same names appeared in the thousands of ads. Mitchell’s Repository would have been the most frequent and they seemed to deal with livestock and the products of livestock. Edd’s Repository was also on this street and a further ad gave me more information of William Edd’s horse repository. Hill’s Veterinary Infirmary moved to the street in 1866 and it sounded like Thomas Hill lived at the premises as well going from the birth notices. C W Turner was a wholesaler for alcohol. Harman and Stevens had an office here as well as the auctioneers Burnell, Bennett & Sprot. In 1870 H E Alport moved to new auction rooms on Hereford St. The BNZ opened in 1866 and a full description was given of the building and with the columns and other features it sounded like an impressive building. The police stores were on the street as well as a police station. In 1862 the council called for tenders for forming and metalling the road. There were possibly other hotels but I only found mention of the Golden Age Hotel and this stood on the corner of Hereford and Colombo where the ANZ used to be before the earthquakes. I found a website that mistakenly said that this was the Warners Hotel Hotel but that was wrong. The hotel was renamed Hereford St Hotel. The Shades is mentioned as early as 1866 many businesses were in a building called Stiffe’s building. Would have been named after S B Stiffe a land and estate agent. In 1869 Bonded Store’s previously Louisson’s to be renamed as The Queen’s Bond. Wynn Williams the solicitor had an office here. Freemasons had a lodge and it was new in 1868. A few familiar names from the street were John Coker, Captain Westenra and Dewsbury. I walked from Fitzgerald Ave to Rolleston Ave and it is mostly residential at the Fitzgerald Ave end apart from a fitness centre. A few older wooden villas from about 1910 and one was dated from 1880. Many modern apartments crammed together and at least two blocks looked like social housing. The City Mission is on this street near an old church that is fenced off. A couple of big empty sites. The Transitional Cathedral ( cardboard cathedral) is on this street where a church used to stand. Walk past Latimer Square and there is a huge number of brand new apartments and again they are crammed together. As you get closer to the city centre there is the new parking building plus shops. On the old BNZ building site is the Spark building. Cross the road and the old ANZ site is still an empty section. The Ibis Hotel is practically next door to the old ANZ and for those of us who worked in the ANZ when the Ibis was being built must remember how our building shook when they were pile driving. The Telecom building was next to the Ibis and I remember it as the Post Office in the 1970s. On the opposite site there are new buildings and shops and I was too busy trying not to trip over the fake homeless who sit there begging to remember what the new shops are. The businesses that I remember from pre earthquake are the Boardroom Cafe and Drexels as we often visited them. There was an arcade that went through to Cashel Mall and the only shop that I remember was the sandwich shop. I used to buy lovely roast pork sandwiches every chemo week in 2005 for my lunch. Never felt well enough in the morning before going to work to make my lunch. Then there was a building housing a government dept and it was possibly Internal Affairs. A bit further along was the older wooden building called Shands Emporium which has now been moved to Manchester St. I vaguely recall that years ago the building housed an eye specialist but can’t remember what business was in it in later years. On the corner of Hereford St and Oxford Tce there are new building housing restaurants but I remember Couplands Bakery being here. I used to visit the bakery on my way home on a Friday night as they reduced the sandwiches to half price and sometimes if I was lucky I got free sandwiches. I was saving up to go travelling and I wasn’t too proud to turn down free sandwiches. Cross the bridge and there are new buildings where the Police Station used to be. On the opposite side is the Christchurch City Council Civic Offices and when it was the postal centre it used to have the PO Boxes here. Cross Montreal St and there is the building that used to be Dux de Lux and the Art Centre. On the other side is the YHA and and few older houses and then finally the YMCA. They are working on the YMCA at the moment and it is closed to the public including the coffee shop in the building.