Pistacia Place in Hornby – Named after pistacia plants which are a variety of shrubs and small trees. Pistacia trees were approved by the Christchurch City Council as a landscaping tree to complement the Little Gem magnolias which were planted on the berms of the larger of the two roads in the Magnolia Estate subdivision. Named in 2015

A small amount of information from the library website and the street is tree lined. Houses built between 2016 and 2021 plus there are still empty sections. There is a walkway that runs behind this street which I walked to get back to my car. The houses were varied enough for the street to look OK and a few gardens but I didn’t particularly like the street. There was a weird smell here and I was wondering if it was the reserve behind the street as the reserve was a bit swampy in parts. When I walked through the reserve there wasn’t a smell so it must be something in the street. The footpath was also on only one side of the street and we all know how much I dislike this.

Little Gem Road in Wigram / Hornby – Named after Little Gem, a variety of magnolia. Little Gems were approved by the Christchurch City Council as a landscaping tree along the berms of the larger of the two roads in the Magnolia Estate subdivision. Named in 2015

A small amount of information from the library website but they had the street as Little Gems Rd but it is Little Gem Rd. The library has it in Hornby but the valuation website puts it into Wigram. Edited to say that half of the street is in Wigram and the other half is in Hornby. The older houses are at the Hornby end of the street.

The older houses from 2016 are at one end of the street and this part of the street is tree lined. The houses at the Owaka Rd end of the street were built in 2023 and 2024 plus there are still a few empty sections. There is a reserve on one side of the street at the Owaka Rd end. There is a variety of styles of houses here and some have flowers and shrubs. There is a Montessori school on this street. Many houses had interesting garden decorations but one particularly caught my eye and I did take a photo. It had a handmower painted yellow with the word redundant above it. The reason that the lawn mower at this house is redundant is that they have artificial grass. I have occasionally been tempted to get artificial grass but it isn’t good for the environment. I will stick to my wildness area at my house.

Te Repo Drive in Halswell and too new for the library website. A tiny amount from the Council website – the original name of the John Miln’s estate.

The meaning of Te Repo is wetlands or swamps which is suitable for this area. I wouldn’t buy a house here and it is potentially a future red zone.

The street runs from Milns Rd and I can remember when this area was still farmland. I looked at Papers Past and there were many entries for Te Repo Farm in 1920 when the family sold the property. John Miln had a huge family from three wives. Two of the wives died really young and one died in childbirth.

The houses were mostly on just one side of the street and built in 2023 and 2024. The houses were modern and boring with tiny lawns and no gardens. On the other side of the street it is still being developed. There is an entrance to a reserve and walkway on this street. I did have a great conversation with some young men here as they were building a bike for something called Gravity Racing.

Lochhead Avenue in Halswell and too new for library website. A tiny amount of information from the council website – Robert Lochhead is understood to have been an owner of the property in the 1930’s.

I searched Papers Past and ancestry website but couldn’t find a Robert Lochhead living here. There were a couple in Leeston and one who possibly owned Molesworth Station. If he owned land here he didn’t live on the property.

The houses here were mostly built in 2021 and none of them stood out but the gardens were more established than ones in the nearby streets. I couldn’t resist taking a photo of one garden as it still had Christmas decorations in the garden.

Allied Road in Halswell and too new for the library website. A small amount of information from the council website – This is a name of significance to the family, as it is the name of the first business started by the developer’s father.

The houses here were built in 2021 and 2022 but nothing on street view yet the google car drove down a neighbouring street. Nothing stood out for me on this street as it was modern houses with well kept lawns and not a garden in sight. I didn’t even bother to take photos.

Dunning Way in Halswell and too new for the library website. Tiny amount of information from the council website – This is understood to be an area of Perthshire where John Miln was born. Ancestry website have John Miln as being born in a place called Forgandenny but this is only a few miles from Dunning.

The houses here were built in 2020 and there are still some empty sections. Houses mostly on only one side of the road as there is a reserve on the other side. The houses were modern ones with lawns and no gardens. There is a footpath on both sides of the street but they are narrow and also a cycleway. I really don’t like it when pedestrians have to share a footpath with cyclists especially when the said footpath is very narrow. The cyclists tend to go very fast and I have lost count of how many times I have been nearly knocked over.

Grange Street in Hillsborough – Named after The Grange, the home of Dr James William Earle (1805-1878). Earle emigrated on the Randolph in 1850. He bought Rural Section 44, 50 acres, “Christchurch District, near Hills Road” (later Port Hills Road). He practised medicine in Lyttelton, later moving to Opawa where he built The Grange. Edward Steane Harley (1840?-1901), an accountant and a well-known cricketer, owned The Grange later. First appears in street directories in 1901. The northern section of Kennedy Crescent was incorporated into Grange Street in 1963; the southern section remained as Kennedy Crescent. [Jarden Place was originally suggested as a name for the northern section.]

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I covered Dr Earle fully in my write up of Earl St. Edward Harley was accountant for many businesses in Christchurch and was involved with St Marks Church in Opawa.

When Dr Earle first owned The Grange it was known as Grange Farm as Dr Earle mostly farmed rather than practice as a doctor. There were so many different houses in Canterbury known as The Grange that I gave researching. I googled the meaning of grange and it means a country house with farm buildings. A reasonable amount of information on Papers Past including lots of death notices. In 1900 there was a new house in Grange St opposite Baunton’s Stables. Lots of ads between 1900 and 1905 for the sale of sections. Cooksley’s brickyard on Grange St is mentioned occasionally. Apart from ads and death notices there isn’t much on Papers Past until 1957 when the sewage works were upsetting the locals. In 1963 the Old Brewery at 10 Grange St went up in flames. It sounded more like a private home brewery rather than a big company. In 1988 Dingwall Food is mentioned and this business would have been at the far end of the street on the other side of Opawa Rd.

I actually walked this street a few weeks ago. Most houses seem to have been built between 1940 and 1970 but there are a few older houses. There are also a few modern houses. A real mixture of houses and I liked most of them. The older houses were in reasonable condition and I liked the Art Deco houses. I had friends who used to live on this street but I couldn’t figure out where their house used to be. I eventually figured that it had been altered so much that I didn’t recognise it. When you cross Opawa Rd the first thing you notice apart from a business is the Jurassic Mini Golf. It is a bit hard to miss giant dinosaurs.

Connal Street in Woolston – Formerly Victoria Terrace. Named after HM Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Re-named Connal Street. Victoria Terrace was named in 1884 when the Woolston Town Board decided that “the Cemetery Road, Princess Street and the terrace, from Mardon’s Road (Maronan Street) to Barton Street, (would be re-named) Victoria Terrace”. Re-named Connal Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t found out why the name Connal but suspect that it is named after a person. There were two men with the name Robert Connal and they were father and son and both worked for the railways.

There were so many Cemetery Roads that it was almost impossible to find out information under that name. Most articles were about building bridges to replace the old swing bridge. Several mentions of the nauseous stench in the area. Under the name Victoria Terrace it was mostly ads and death notices. In 1917 there was mysterious outbreaks of fire at the Lane’s Crown Tannery. In the 1920s there was discussion around erosion of the riverbank. The name change in 1948 was because of several streets with the same name. Still several death notices and lots of ads because of all the businesses on the street. The main businesses mentioned were Dunlop Rubber Company and Davis Gelatine Company. In the 1950s and 1960s there were several complaints about smells and pollution. There were several very sad entries in 1981 when a missing child was found drowned in the river. In 1980 a house that was built in 1866 was moved from Connal St to the top of Moncks Spur. It used to house the people who serviced the wharves that used to be here. In 1984 there was a petition from local residents objecting to the closure of the street because of the Woolston Cut. In 1986 a footbridge was built.

I actually walked this street in October last year and thought that I had already written it up. Today while I was having a tidy up I found my research notes. My excuses for not writing it up last year is that I was still recovering from the weird illness plus I went to Dunedin for geocaching in the long weekend and then disappeared to Adelaide in November. This street is still mostly industrial and buildings are on only one side of the street as the street follows the Heathcote River. Starting at Rutherford St there is the cemetery and you then follow a very narrow road with no footpath. I am not sure if cars are allowed on this part of the road. Some of the businesses look rather rundown here. The road then comes to an end and there is a green space. It looks like a reserve but doesn’t seem to have a name. There are more businesses which have a bit of street art on their walls. Then near the end of the street there are a few houses mostly dating from 1990s and 2000s. I did take 2 or 3 photos of the house that was built in 1880. There is then a footpath that takes to Rutherford St. I crossed the footbridge to walk in the green space on the opposite side of the river. I forgot to look at old maps for this street.

Appian Lane in Scarborough and nothing on the library website. I couldn’t find anything on the council website about the naming of this street. The only Appian that I know is the Appian Way near Rome. I actually walked the Appian Way in 2016 when I was staying in Rome.

I didn’t actually walk this lane as it was a very narrow private lane and I was surprised to realise that there were 9 properties here. They were built in 1990s and 2000s. The Geographic website puts this street into the suburb of Sumner. The same website didn’t recognise Scarborough as a suburb. They would have great views

here

Riselaw Street in Mairehau – Developed on land previously a farm owned by Arthur William Emmett (d. 1948) and sold after his death. Part of the land was bought by the government for a state housing area “laid out on modern town planning lines”. It was referred to as Emmetts Block. Named on 24 June 1948. First appears in street directories in 1950.

A small amount of information from the library website. Not much information on Papers Past. There were a few death notices plus residents hurt in car accidents. There were two firearm incidents and one was in 1975 and the other in 1980. One year there was a fire in a Christmas tree.

There was another Riselaw Street in Dunedin and the name is possibly from the Ryslaw / Riselaw a place in Scotland.

More than half the houses here are still State houses and most were built in the 1940s and 1950s. Some of the State houses have been demolished and new smaller ones built. For a street with lots of State houses I almost liked the street. There were some quirky features with a brightly coloured house and one with a fun letterbox. I also liked the fairy doors on a tree. What did put me off is that there is obviously a boy racer in the street going by the marks on the road. There are entrances to McFarlane Park here plus an entrance to Shirley Primary School.