Hadfield Courts at 15 Somerfield St. I decided to do a separate write up for this address. The units were opened in the 1970s as pensioner housing but is now social housing. When I was researching Somerfield St the name John Hadfield kept popping up. He really enjoyed writing letters to the editor and was frequently in disagreement with other people who wrote letters to the editor. He was a very busy man as he was mayor of Sydenham in 1899. He served on various local bodies including the Drainage Board. He was a foundation member of the Sydenham library plus involved with the Methodist church which was practically next door to him when he was living at 15 Somerfield St. He was living at 38 Strickland St when he died in March 1937. I was surprised that I couldn’t find an obituary for him. He was a bootmaker and he came out to New Zealand as a child. His father was also a bootmaker. In 1898 when he purchased 15 Somerfield St it had been part of a larger estate called Beckenham Estate. Note John Hadfield in his letters to the editor frequently got upset when he felt that Sydenham, Beckenham or Somerfield were used incorrectly to describe where streets or areas were.

Stenness Ave in Somerfield – Probably named after Stenness in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. First mentioned in The Press in 1928. First appears in street directories in 1929, running off Selwyn Street.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. This street was in the same 1925 subdivision as Cardiff Ave. Several entries on Papers Past for birth and death notices. In 1934 the Christchurch Reserve Committee planted potatoes at No 1 Stenness Ave. I found a couple of references to a reserve but couldn’t find it on any maps. The mayor Robert Mafeking MacFarlane lived on this street and he was burgled in 1940. Note Macfarlane wasn’t his name at birth but was the name of his stepfather. I did doublecheck the Ancestry website at this stage as my stepmother always claimed to have been related to him. Note my stepmother wasn’t the brightest of people so this is why I doublechecked plus I don’t recall that they were ever in contact and I also don’t recall that he came to my father’s funeral. Yes they were related as they shared the same mother and he would have been her half brother. He was a good 20 years older than my stepmother.

I hope that the people living in this area liked pipe bands. Every New Year in the 1950s and 1960s a man called Reg H Stillwell had an open air event and the public were invited to celebrate the New Year. In 1955 the locals were invited to bring their bagpipes but after this he had the Riccarton Pipe Band at the event. He was a busy man Reg Stillwell but in searching his name I discovered that he has a street name after him. I feel an urge to have a walk over in the New Brighton area coming on.

This is a lovely street with most houses built in the 1920s and 1930s. The houses are lovely and I really hope that the developers with their ugly modern houses stay away from this street. There is an older house which looks like it is being renovated.

Cardiff Ave in Somerfield and nothing on library website. This is a bit surprising as the street has been around since 1925. I looked at a map of Spreydon from 1912 and this map is very useful for this this area. There was one big section that went from Somerfield St to what is now Stenness Ave. Stenness Ave was in the same subdivision as Cardiff Ave. A reasonable amount of information on Papers Past. There were ads in 1925 for a subdivision which included new streets of Cardiff Ave and Stenness Ave. Most entries were for birth and death notices plus best street competitions. It was two engagement notices that jumped out at me. One engagement notice in 1973 was for Lorraine Hoskins getting engaged to Peter Lublow. That bought back some memories. The other engagement notice that caught my attention was from 1947 and it was for a Bernard William Smyth. I went googling to double check that it was the same person that I was remembering. I expected to have found Bernard Smyth’s obituary but Stuff’s revamp made this impossible. I also checked the Ancestry website to check electoral rolls. I did find Bernard Smyth’s father’s obituary on Papers Past. Bernard Smyth was a presenter on Town and Around for locals old enough to remember this show. He was also an author and I just checked the library website and they are only available to read at the library and can’t be borrowed. The various family trees on Ancestry website said that he lived and died in Lyttelton but that isn’t correct. After he retired he was living in Sumner but him and his wife are buried in a Lyttelton cemetery.

This was a pleasant street to walk with some lovely older houses. Most houses in the street were built in the 1920s and 1930s. One of the older houses now has a childcare business in it. I was amused by the garden decoration at one of the houses. I did go back to google maps and took a screenshot of the Smyth house which was a very ordinary looking 1930s house. It would have been a brand new modern house when the family moved there. I have been sidetracking yet again when looking for information about a street.

Holcombe Place in Somerfield – formerly Halcombe Place. Halcombe Place first appears in street directories in 1947. Becomes Holcombe Place in 1948.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find anything on Papers Past about the naming of the street. Both spellings of the name were used in ads and articles from 1947 to 1975. Mostly ads, death notices and engagement notices. In 1975 there was an incident that required the armed offenders squad.

There is a Holcombe in the UK and I think that I have driven past it as it is in an area that I frequently visited. There is a vague Robert Falcon Scott connection to this town as his parents ran a brewery here at one stage. It is also possible that the street was named after a government official as it was a state house development in the 1940s and many of these developments were named after government officials.

Most of the houses in this street were built in the 1940s and many are still state houses. Several have been demolished and as the original houses were on large sections they will eventually be replaced with multi dwelling units if they follow the pattern of what is happening in other areas. I recently found a link that gives me the information about how many state houses are on a street. Yes I know that state house is no longer the official term for these houses. Note I am old enough to remember state house tenants coming into the Post Office with their rent book to pay their rent.

Bard St in Somerfield – formerly Grey Street. Grey Street first appears in street directories in 1941. Re-named Bard Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were renamed.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. It was almost impossible to find out information about Grey St as there was thousands of entries on Papers Past. Even limiting my search to 4 newspapers there was thousands of entries. In June 1948 Grey St was to be changed to Hurley St but in August 1948 there was an amendment and it was to be called Bard St. My best guess for the name is to do with William Shakespeare. A few death notices and engagement notices. There was an entry about a fisherman drowning at the Rakaia River Mouth in 1966. The companion of the fisherman lived on Bard St. The fisherman was swept away by a freak wave and his companion tried to save him but he was then knocked over by a wave. The article mentions recovering the body plus rescuing the companion. I remember this event and I certainly remember the name of the rescuer. My family had a bach at the North Rakaia Huts and I would have been only 11 years old when this event happened.

I walked this street on Sunday and I didn’t like the street. Most houses were built in the 1940s and at least two of them are still State Houses / Housing Corp houses. I thought that more of them would have been State Houses but the Housing New Zealand website list has only two of them. No photos for this street and I didn’t feel comfortable or safe here.

Baretta St in Somerfield – Named after Frederick Baretta (1846?-1916). Several Italians were brought to New Zealand to quarry and dress the stone quarried on the north slope of Marleys Hill. Baretta was one of these and lived in nearby Dunn Street. First mentioned in The Press in 1904 when sections in Baretta Street, “Castellan Estate”, are advertised for sale. First appears in street directories in 1906.

A small amount of information from the library website. Papers Past had the usual birth and death notices. I couldn’t find out who the original two owners who sold the land were but as Frederick Baretta was selling sections at the same time he was possibly one of the land owners especially as the street is named after him. Between 1904 and 1907 there were a lot of ads for selling houses and sections and a company called Baker Bros seemed to be the estate agent for the subdivision. The road was formed in 1907. A reporter in 1905 was shown around the area by one of the agents from Baker Bros and there were new cottages being built on the 10 acres of land that was Castellan Estate. The land was put up for auction in December 1903 by the two owners. In 1977 Gordon Ogilvie in his write up about Marley’s Hill Quarry described Frederick Baretta as the principal quarryman and that he lived in one of the largest stone cottages. The article said that he moved to Somerfield in 1902 where a street is named after him yet the electoral rolls have him living on Dunn St as early as 1893. In 1980 there was a house fire where two people died and the fire was probably started by a cigarette butt.

This is a lovely wee street and it is narrowed in the middle. At least a quarter of the streets were built between 1905 and 1915. Many houses were built in the 1970s and 1980s and then there are some ugly ones from last year. The older houses are lovely with nice gardens. I did take a photo of a lovely older house on the corner of Baretta St and Somerfield St. The address for this house is actually Somerfield St and I was worried that they were planning on demolishing the house because of the fence around the property. I looked at street view and the house is being renovated. It was in a fairly poor condition before they started the work.

Dunn St in Somerfield – formerly Dunn’s Road and Dunn Road. Dunn’s Road is first mentioned in the Star in 1885. First appears in street directories in 1902. Becomes Dunn Street in 1914.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. Papers Past didn’t have any entries for Dunn Road. Not many entries for Dunn’s Road. A few death notices including one for John Baretta son of F Baretta. In 1906 F Baretta had 4 sections for sale. The street would have been named after Robert Dunn as it was his land that was being sold in 1880 to create 70 sections. The ad in 1880 about the 70 sections called it Dunn Street and in the same year they were calling for tenders to form the street. Robert Dunn had some sort of business connection with Charles Leitch. Robert Dunn was made bankrupt which is why he was selling the land to pay his debts. Charles Leitch in 1881 purchased Robert Dunn’s debts so that Robert Dunn could be discharged from bankruptcy. Also in 1881 unsold sections of Dunn’s land fronting Dunn St, Leitch St and Selwyn St were available.

Papers Past had lots of death notices plus some birth notices. In 1894 there were complaints about the state of the road and this seemed to be connected to the overflow of water from the Cashmere drain. It doesn’t seem to have been fixed as later in the 1890s the residents were wanting reduced rates because of the issue. It must have been an ongoing problem as it was also mentioned in 1888. The subject arises again in 1911 and the residents were fed up with the main drain overflowing and in their complaint they mentioned that about 3 years earlier they had to wade through knee deep water to get to their homes. They were also unhappy with cattle and horses on the footpaths.

After that Papers Past mostly had birth and death notices unto 1974 and 1975. For those two years most of the entries concerned the Epitaph Riders Headquarters. There were a huge number of fights between them and another gang. At least one person was shot. One entry said that up to 80 people were arrested.

This actually looked like a pleasant street when I walked it on Sunday and many of the houses from 1910s and 1920s still exist. I was a bit disappointed with the 2 houses from 1890 and didn’t even notice when walking here that they were from the 1890s. Most of the 1920s wooden villas are looking lovely. The house that did stand out for me was built in 1915 but I still can’t figure what the blue things are that are on the fence posts. There are houses from most decades including a couple of ugly modern places.

Leitch St in Somerfield – Probably named after Daniel Leitch. Leitch was living at nearby 49 Wordsworth Street in 1904. First mentioned in The Press in 1880. In the Star in 1900 it is described as a “continuation of Smollett Street”. First appears in street directories in 1909.

A small amount of information from the library website and if it was named after a person there is usually an s on the end of the street name. Wordsworth St isn’t exactly nearby either but I couldn’t find any information about the street name. It was only one ad in 1900 that claimed Leitch St to be a continuation of Smollett St plus someone in 1919 argued that the name of the street should be changed to Smollett St because it was a continuation of that street. Papers Past mostly had birth and death notices but 1953 there was a brief mention of a resident on this street being a survivor of the Tangiwai train disaster. In 1880 there were several ads for the sale of 70 sections with frontages to Leitch St and Dunn St and that these streets would thus connect Colombo St South via Smollett St to Selwyn St. The difference in how long it would now take to travel to the Selwyn St area was mentioned as it would reduce the travelling time. More sections were available in 1900 and 1923. I couldn’t find out the name of the original landowner who was selling the sections in 1880. The shop on the corner of Strickland St and Leitch St was damaged by a suspicious fire in 1986. There is still a business here and it is now a hairdresser.

Over a quarter of the houses on this street were built between 1900 and 1920 and the one from 1900 is built from brick which is unusual so I suspect that it has been recladded but I could be wrong. These older houses are disappearing fast and being demolished by developers who are putting up ugly modern houses which are totally out of keeping with the lovely older houses on this street. There are also a lot of houses built in the 1980s and many of these are on back sections. There was one house that was a mess and it is rather obvious that a hoarder lives here.

Edited to say that I have solved the mystery of Daniel Leitch as his name was Daniel Leach and he lived on Lower Windmill Rd aka Antigua St but then moved to 49 Wordsworth St. The ancestry website have a few entries with the Leitch spelling but most entries including UK records have the Leach spelling.

Ignore my previous edit as the street is more likely to have been named after Charles Leitch who lived on South Christchurch Rd AKA Old Christchurch Rd which eventually because Strickland St. Charles Leitch had a connection with Robert Dunn who Dunn St is named after. There doesn’t seem to be a connection between Charles Leitch and Daniel Leitch AKA Daniel Leach but information on the Ancestry website is a bit sketchy.

Penrith Ave in Somerfield – formerly Penrith Street. Penrith Street was named in 1937. Penrith Avenue first appears in street directories in 1940.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. Going by brief article in 1937 about naming of the new street it was called Penrith Street but it seems to have been known under both names of Penrith St and Penrith Ave from the beginning. Penrith is a town in Cumbia so it is easy to think that the street is named after this town. My personal feeling is that whoever came up with the name for the street made a mistake. I feel that the street should have been named Penwith after an area in Cornwall.

On Papers Past there were lots of death notices plus best street and garden competition entries. One real estate ad in 1979 caught my eye as it described the house being sold as an Historic Homestead. Most of the houses on this street were built in the 1930s and 1940s with about a dozen built more recently including a couple of ugly ones built in 2023. I ended up looking at old maps and a map of Spreydon dated 1912 helped plus ancestry website. I had another look at Papers Past but not looking for Penrith Ave or Penrith Street.

There are two older houses on Penrith Ave dating from 1915 and 1920. The map showed just two properties where the street now is sited. There is a slight kink in the street and that will be because of the boundaries of the two properties. The house from 1920 doesn’t stand out from it’s 1930s neighbours and I haven’t found out who originally owned it. The house on the corner of Strickland St and Penrith Ave is a different story. I thought that this house was on Strickland St and mentioned it when I walked Strickland St in January 2019. I wasn’t doing quite so much research into the history of the streets when I first started my street project. The house on the corner of Strickland St and Penrith Ave is gorgeous. The original owner of this house John Martin Mitchell died in 1929 in London aged 54. Edited to say that the obituary got his age wrong and he was 64 or 65 when he died and he is buried at St Agnes in Cornwall. His wife died a few months later aged 65. The address of the house those days was 71 Strickland St so I was partly right. It looks like after street was formed that the address became 49 Penrith Ave. John Martin Mitchell started the firm J M Mitchell and he sold furniture from his shop in Colombo St. Lots of photos and information on Papers Past when the shop was destroyed by fire in 1977. Also at 71 Strickland Street Mrs H S Mitchell ran Spreydon Rabbitry but she decided to give up rabbit farming in 1934. It was mostly Angora rabbits that she was breeding and they were bred for their wool. Note I haven’t worked out exactly where Mrs H S Mitchell fits into the family. John Martin Mitchell was from the Penwith area of Cornwall which is why I think that they got the street name wrong.

If they ever decide to open this house to the public during Heritage Festival I will be first in the queue. Looking at my photos I realise that there is an Art Deco house on this street but forgot about it as I got seriously sidetracked by the older house.

McCombs St in Somerfield – Named after Elizabeth Reid McCombs (1873- 1935). Elizabeth McCombs was a socialist, social worker and politician. She was a member of the Christchurch City Council from 1921. Developed in a state housing area in what was Spreydon in 1937. Named in 1937. First appears in street directories in 1940.

A small amount of information from the library website. The library have neglected to mention that she was the first woman MP in New Zealand. McCombs St and the neighbouring Cooke St were developed as State Housing streets at the same time.

Papers Past had lots of death notices and a few birth notices. Several mentions of best street and best garden competitions. In 1951 the tenants in the State Houses were offered the opportunity to buy their houses. The Christchurch City Council opposed this offer claiming that it was against their bylaws. The government overruled the council in this matter and the tenants were able to buy their houses.

All bar two houses on this street were built in the 1930s and there were at least three Art Deco houses. A few show their State House beginnings but many have been modified.