Mary Quinn Ave in Halswell and too new to be on the library website. Information from the council website – Mary Quinn came from London as a young girl with her family in the 1870’s. Mary was a very pioneering woman who due to the death of her parents at a young age carried on farming in the Halswell area as a single woman for many years.

The wording on the council website is slightly strange. I searched both Papers Past and Ancestry and couldn’t find out anything about this woman. The street is only a few metres long and I remember walking here last year and it hasn’t changed. No houses here yet and locals tend to just use it as a car park. There is a roundabout here separating it from Collier Drive and I don’t recall the roundabout being here last year but I can’t find the photo that I thought I had taken last year.

Dalness Crescent in Halswell and it is too new to be on the library website. The council website said that it is named after a racehorse called Dalness Xchange. The houses here are built in 2023 and 2024 with some still being built. I had noticed when walking around the streets in this area that every house had a fairly large circular object in the front lawn. On this street I ended up chatting to a workman who said that they were to do with water and drains and that it cost each house owner $20,000 to have installed. He also said that all new houses have to have them. He personally preferred older houses. This street only had a footpath on one side of the street.

Sequel Road in Halswell and it is too new to be mentioned on the library website. The council minutes said that it is named after a racehorse called Franco Sequel and was stabled at Spreydon Lodge. The houses here were built between 2022 and 2024 with houses still being built. A couple of houses had nice gardens but most had lawns and shrubs. I was able to walk through to this street from Gisele Crescent using a walkway that took you to a playground. At the other end of the street there was another walkway where there were a couple of seats near the entrances of the walkway. No street view on google maps

Gisele Crescent in Halswell and too new to be mentioned on the library website. The council minutes said that the street is named after a racehorse Gisele Franco that was stabled at Spreydon Lodge. I lived near Spreydon Lodge and I honestly can’t remember seeing the racehorses that were stabled here.

The houses here were built between 2022 and 2024 but none really stood out for me. Another street where there were lawns and shrubs but very few gardens had any flowers. There was a footpath on both sides of the street which always gets a thumbs up from me. There were two walkways that ran off this street. One went to a another walkway that runs almost parallel to Sparks Road. The other walkway led to a playground on Sequel Road.

Summerleas Lane in Halswell and it is too new to be mentioned on the library website. Couldn’t find the council minutes for the naming of the street but I did find a couple of items mentioning Summerleas Farm at 79 Milns Road on Papers Past for the year 1987. I didn’t take any photos here as nothing stood out for me. The valuation website said that the houses here were built in 2023 and 2024. Google street view for May 2024 only shows about three occupied houses and a couple of houses being built plus empty sections. There are still a couple of empty sections. The houses had very tidy lawns with a few shrubs. There was a footpath even if it was on only side of the street.

Thackers Quay in Woolston – Named because it is near Thacker’s Slipway and also the Heathcote River. A cul-de-sac serving 15 warehouses at 119 Connal Street. Named in 1999.

A small amount of information from the library website and it is exactly the same information that was on the council website.

Note it was actually called Thacker’s Wharf and the earliest entry I found for the wharf was in 1852 and this information was in Papers Past and on the Ancestry website. Thacker’s Wharf was named after John Eagleston Thacker who came out from Ireland on the George Seymour. He had a store in Christchurch but eventually settled in Okains Bay. As well as being a printer he was involved in shipping.

I was surprised that I hadn’t already walked this street as I have geocached in the area. There was an article about this street on 5th September and I had plans to walk this street that weekend but I ended up in hospital instead.

There is a lot more buildings than the 15 warehouses mentioned in the library website. They all have apartments above the warehouses and they actually look quite nice. I couldn’t see the one that had been occupied by the gang mentioned in the news article and the owner must have repainted it. There is now a green space behind Thackers Quay where 119 Connal Street used to be and the Thackers Quay runs off Barton St. The map from 1958 shows that there used to be a factory where the street now exists.

Barnsfield Close in Halswell – There has been a barn associated with this property for nearly 100 years. The old red wooden barn, built around 1920-30, was a well-known feature in the neighbourhood and prominent landmark. The old barn was demolished after the September 2010 earthquake and replaced with the new red barn. The fields below the barn have provided grazing for sheep, deer and cattle. The new subdivision will overlook the ‘fields’ of the new Hoon Hay Basin Reserve

Too new for the library website but I found information on the council website. The houses here were built in 2023 and 2024 plus there are sections for sale. Footpath is mostly on only one side of the street and parking is very limited. I managed to get a photo of the new barn that the street is named after. There is also a walkway through to the wetlands area. I didn’t get a photo of the house that looks just like the red barn. The houses here are very modern. Because of the limited parking I had parked in the wetlands car park and walked to the street. I attempted this street a couple of weeks ago but because of all the vehicles from builders it was impossible to park and I was still recovering from my recent illness. I am now able walk a reasonable distance without any problems.

Another random post while I am recovering from an illness and I found this building after walking Ensors Rd in August. Entries on Papers Past started in 1910 when the fundraising started for the Girls Hostel connected to the Technical College. The foundation stone was laid in January 1912 and the hostel was opened in April 1913. The hostel had students who lived in and were taught domestic science. The chairman of the Board of Governors for the Technical College is occasionally mentioned and there is a plaque for George Scott nearby. The hostel seems to be mentioned frequently in connection with the Technical College sports grounds. The hostel was closed in 1952 and in 1954 there was a proposal that the building should become a nurses hostel. I didn’t find out if this actually happened. A letter to the editor in 1954 suggested that it would make a good home for the elderly. I hope that this building can be saved and not get demolished.

This is obviously not a street but as I am recovering from an illness called Guillain Barre Syndrome that saw me in hospital for a week I am under orders not to overdo things. I will probably post some random stuff that interests me.

This is the only photo that I found on my computer for this building and I thought that I had more photos of it. The building Harley Chambers has been in the news recently as it is probably going to be demolished even though it is a heritage building. The recent article said that the building is 90 years old yet I found an article about Harley Chambers from 1931. It was a letter to the editor about the traffic problems here with a taxi stand outside the building. There was also a garage and a petrol station nearby to add to the traffic woes. Article in May 1933 solved the mystery as it mentions that the Harley medical chambers has been sold to a company called Harley Chambers Ltd and they will extend the chambers that is currently occupied by a wooden building. The new building was finished in 1934 and it was mentioned that it had given work to many of the unemployed in the city. The articles in the 1940s and 1950s were all about the shares of the company. Most ads were from dentists from 1930s onwards. The 1970s got a bit more interesting plus confusing. In 1970 there was a takeover bid for the company and I got the impression that it was a bit of a hostile takeover. In 1974 a Mr Hanna took over the company but in 1979 the company was wound up and went into liquidation because of bad debts. Mr Hanna also owned a property in Hanmer Springs called The Lodge. In 1978 there was a new owner of the building and it had been a mortgagee sale. The new owner was NZ Insurance Finance Ltd and they would restore the building to the former standard as a building for medical and dentists businesses. I was amused by a court case in 1977 where a woman was charged with running a brothel in the building. In 1984 anti abortionist picketed the because because of a doctor in this building. In the late 1980s and early 1990s there was obviously still dentists in this building as I took both my sons here for their braces on their teeth. I lost track of this building in later years and it was obviously damaged in the earthquake. Heritage New Zealand say that the original building was constructed in 1929 and extended in 1934.

Merton Place in Bryndwr – Named after George Henry Merton (1855‐1932). Merton was headmaster of the Cathedral School and later of the Lower School at Christ’s College. One of the streets in the Papanui area formed on land belonging to Christ’s College. First appears in street directories in 1958.

A small amount of information from the library website. Not much information on Papers Past. There were several ads plus the usual death notices. The most interesting article would be the one in 1976 when the leases were renewed and the annual lease went from $65 to nearly $600. At this stage the land was still owned by Christ’s College. I did get a bit side tracked reading Papers Past as there were a few articles about Horatio Nelson and Lady Hamilton as they lived together in a house called Merton Place. Lady Hamilton’s husband also lived with them.

George Henry Merton grew up in Rangiora where his father had a private school. Just to amuse my friends I will add that I found in the court news information about George Henry Merton being fined in 1900 for riding a bike on the footpath. Yes I do approve of cyclists on footpaths being fined.

All the houses on this street were built in the 1950s and some were obviously from that era but others had been modernised. There is a walkway that leads to Jennifer Street. A pleasant street and I was visiting a friend here. It is a short street just in case my friends think that I am disobeying the advice of the neurologist about limiting how much walking I do after my recent illness.