Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project
I love walking and history and this project covers both interests
Kotzikas Place – Named after Kypros Kotzikas (1944-). Kotzikas is managing director of United Fisheries. First appears in street directories in 1987
A small amount of information from the library website. This is a short street in a business district in Wigram but I would have thought that it was in Middleton. Obviously the main business on this street is United Fisheries.
Renwick Place runs off Kinnaird Place and there was no information on the library website. It was a pleasant wee street and most houses were summerhill stone. Two houses had great little forts / tree huts for children. I know a couple who live on this street but couldn’t remember which house they live in. I know them from kindergarten committee days so quite a few years ago. No photos for this street as I felt that a woman gardening was watching me.
Kinnaird Place – Named after Kinnaird, a house in Lincoln Road. Peter Duncan (1838- 1907), a blacksmith, manufacturing engineer and founder of P & D Duncan Ltd., built the house in 1880 on 5 acres of land leased from the Church of England. The property, in turn, was named after a castle near Duncan’s Brechin birthplace. At the time of his death he was living at a neighbouring property, Airdmhor. From the 1920s, Kinnaird was owned by David Bain of D. M. Bain & Sons until it was subdivided in the 1940s. Named in 1955.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Most of the houses are summerhill stone but there are a couple of weatherboard houses. At the end there was a brand new looking flash house plus some new places built off the road that I couldn’t see properly.. I suspect that there had been a couple of old places that had been demolished where the new houses are.
The photo is of an old house which I believe is the house that the street is named after. I remember that the family who lived in this house had children at school the same time as my sons.Please note that the David Bain mentioned on the library website has no connection to the murderer with the same name.
Marylands Place in Middleton was not on the library website so I have no idea how it got the name. This is an industrial / business area so I was surprised to see three houses amongst the businesses.
Sumner Street – Formerly Bowden Street. Re-named Sumner Street in 1912 at the request of the South Christchurch Estate Company Ltd. Sumner was President of the Canterbury Association and Archbishop of Canterbury. Named after John Bird Sumner (1780-1862).
A wee bit of information from the library website. This street had a mixture of houses. There were the older weatherboard houses. Ones that that had been roughcasted. Some brick houses. Most were in reasonable condition but a few were rundown and needing tidying up. One weatherboard house was painted in Otago colours of yellow and blue. Most of the older properties had been subdivided but they didn’t look as good as Hinemoa or Harker St subdivisions. There was one brand new house that I didn’t like and it has a style that I have nicknamed toilet block style.
Harker Street – Swinchatt Street was renamed Harker Street formally by the Spreydon Road Board in 1911 although Harker Street had appeared in the Star in 1902. May be named after Thomas Henry Harker (1871-1952). Harker was a manager and also a well-known athlete and swimmer
A little bit of information from the library website about this street. The houses were mostly older weatherboard houses in good condition. A few had been roughcasted but not as many as in Plunket Street. A couple had had different cladding used that looks like weatherboard.
One house was obviously not occupied and the neighbour said that if they had enough money they would buy it and demolish it.
Hinemoa Street – Developed by Maurice Buckley Ryan (1878?- 1940), a contractor.
Not much information on the library website. This was a nice street with mostly weatherboard older houses in good condition. Most of them had been subdivided and had newer houses built at the back of the older houses.There were a couple of brick houses. I also got an idea for my garden from a lovely garden in this street. I would have taken a photo but the owners were in view and people tend to not like you taking photos of their houses. The name Hinemoa is from a Maori legend.
Johnson Street -Named after Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Johnson was an English writer. One of the “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham named by a committee of the Sydenham Borough Council on 19 January 1880.
A small amount of information from the library website. There were rundown houses one side and City Care depot on the other side. This road leads to the back of Nazareth House and Sydenham Park.
Rosewarne Street – formerly Rosewarne’s Paddock. Named after Joseph Rosewarne (1829-1909). Rosewarne was a butcher of Victoria Street who died at his residence 261 Montreal Street. He owned several parcels of land in Christchurch; a butcher would have needed paddocks for stock.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website. This street had a mixture of every style house you could think of. Older wooden villas, workers cottages, modern brick townhouses, roughcast houses and summerhill stone. A few in-fill houses. This is where someone has subdivided a larger property leaving the original house in the front. Walking was difficult here as so many cars were parked on the footpath. There was one set of modern town houses I would hate to live in as someone in one of them obviously has a set of drums. The street runs from Simeon St to Selwyn St. The Selwyn St end has a big empty section where there used to be a block of shops.
Spring Grove Street – Named after the Spring Grove Estate. The property was then owned by Mrs Robert Moffett. She was probably Margaret Moffett (1860?-1916), wife of Robert Shaw Moffett (1842?-1917).
A wee bit of information from the library website. A small street that looks like a continuation of Redruth Ave. Older wooden villas and a couple of brick places.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project