S & H Nashelski’s Melbourne House
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Beside Christchurch’s Town Hall, stood Solomon Nashelski’s hardware and ironmonger’s shop. Called ‘Melbourne House’, this small shop was later replaced with a permane…
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Quakes Haunt Christchurch Since Settlement Began
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The underlying geological issues hidden beneath Christchurch’s swampy plains meant that the city’s founders and their surveyors who chose this site for their planned city, knew nothing …
Sharing Memories
Articles, Lost Christchurch
In response to the loss of our inner city of Christchurch, we were inspired to create this website, Lost Christchurch, as a freely accessible archive of photographs, social history and memories of …
The Government Provincial Buildings
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Christchurch has a frontier appearance about it in this photograph taken by Dr. Barker in 1860 from the tower of the Canterbury Provincial Buildings. With little beyond the immediate streets, it c…
The Gravenor Building, Corner Manchester & Hereford Streets
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The red brick, cream stone and plaster building on the corner of Manchester and Hereford Street, proudly displays the architectural features becoming commonplace in the commercial confines of this…
Lichfield Street, between Colombo and High Streets, 1883
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The growing permanence and sophistication of Christchurch, is evident in this photograph of Lichfield Street. Taken by the Burton Brother’s, the photograph shows us that the little frontier …
Port Lyttelton – ‘a mean, insignificant little place’
Articles, Lost Christchurch
This land-locked port of Lyttelton – called occasionally Port Cooper and sometimes Port Victoria – is the main, or rather the only, entrance to the Province of Canterbury. The surroundi…
Cambridge Terrace, Worcester Street and the Avon River 1910
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Here we look upon one of Christchurch’s beautiful public gardens which spans Durham Street and the River Avon. This photograph shows how carefully the city authorities went about landscaping …
Government Geologist reports on ‘extraordinary earthquake phenomena’
Articles, Lost Christchurch
After the September, 1888 earthquake centred in Hanmer caused extensive damage to the Christchurch cathedral, the government geologist, Alexander McKay was sent out to review the land damage. This …
Steam and Speed, Christchurch’s Railway Station in 1878
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Tiny British-made locomotive engines first began chugging between Ferrymead’s Wharf on the estuary and the city on December 1st, 1863. This was New Zealand’s first public railway line, …
A Poor Joke! A Premonition of What Was Yet to Come.
Articles, Lost Christchurch
This photographically produced postcard of Christchurch’s Provincial Government buildings, appearing twisted and warped, was a semi-humorous card sent out at Christmas after the Murchison ear…
Sumner Tram Excursion
Articles, Lost Christchurch
On this summer’s day in 1906, the ten o’clock morning tram to Sumner is about to depart from outside the Royal Exchange in Cathedral Square. An excursion to Sumner was a popular outing …
A Penny Stamp for All Places – Cathedral Square c.1908
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“There are two classes of Christchurch postcards – those with the Cathedral and those without.” [1] The elegance of a lost age is captured in this exquisite photochrom post…
Domestic Maids and the Curse of the Bloody Handprint
Articles, Lost Christchurch
This charming advertisement designed in 1913, was printed onto postcards and distributed at the New Zealand High Commission Office in London to attract young, single women to the colony. Irregardle…
New Zealand’s Tallest Building – NZ Express Co. 1905
Articles, Lost Christchurch
New Zealand’s first skyscraper was built on the corner of Manchester and Hereford Streets between 1905 – 06 for the New Zealand Express Company. This state of the art seven storey buil…
Cashel Street looking east, from 1882
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Ballantynes and Hobdays on Cashel Street in 1882 The Burton Brothers captured this softly lit image of Cashel Street, the main commercial street of Christchurch. The camera sits at the corner of Hi…
The Car Makes its Presence Felt, Cashel Street c. 1920
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Cashel Street has been taken over by the new phenomenon – motor cars. This photograph documents the quickly changing dynamics of a street which once enjoyed a more sedentary pace of life. Ch…
Market Square: swamp, river and raupo in the central city
Articles, Lost Christchurch
It was hard to avoid sinking up to your knees in wet weather in Market Square in 1862. This panoramic photograph shows Christchurch’s Market Place (later renamed Victoria Square) the damp ge…
The Edwardian Seaside of Sumner c. 1905
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Sumner Beach was the last stop on the Sumner line. In this intriguing photograph, we can see the goings on of a typical summer’s weekend, one hundred and six years ago. Hundreds of city dwe…
Midday on Manchester Street c.1905
Articles, Lost Christchurch
It is midday on the busy intersection of Manchester, High and Lichfield Streets when this photograph was taken from the corner of Bedford Row c. 1904. The street is full of activity as shoppers mak…
Cobb & Co. Corner of Cashel and High Streets, 1872
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Cobb & Co.’s booking office on the corner of Cashel and High Streets was a hub of activity. Here the proprietor, W. R. Mitchell took charge of the bookings and service on this site since…
Christchurch City’s Heart – the Cashel and High Street Intersection
Articles, Lost Christchurch
This intriguing photograph taken at the junction of Cashel and High Street draws us back to a typical summer day in Edwardian Christchurch in February 1913. A summer rain fall has just cleared, all…
Holly Lea – a Rich Man’s Folly?
Articles, Lost Christchurch
An elderly man, dressed in a plum coloured suit and bow tie, stands gazing at his nearly completed home. It is September 1900, and this is no ordinary home, it is reputed to be the largest wooden r…
September 1888 – the most destructive earthquake since the Canterbury Pilg…
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Shortly after 4 o’clock this morning the whole of the South and a portion of the North Island was shaken by a violent shock of earthquake, the most severe experienced for more than 20 years……
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