Sandwiched between the iconic White Hart Hotel and the Universal Boot Depot at 223-225 High Street, was the business founded by Mr James Freeman, a pastry cook and caterer. Opened in 1891, the buil…
“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…
The Anglican church of St. Michael and All the Angels, at 84 Oxford Terrace, stands on the site of the first church the Canterbury Association’s settlers built in 1851. Perhaps there a…
“Of all the beautiful places in New Zealand – Christchurch is one of the prettiest. As the metropolis of the Canterbury province, the city has been built in the old Elizabethan style, …
“…the advent of a new Company that will sell goods at reasonable profits for cash…” To the Editor of the Press. Dear Sir, All undertakings of a public beneficial nature, whi…
“Jog on, jog on, the footpath way. And cheerily hent the stile, A merry heart goes all the way, Your sad tires in a mile.” — “A Winter’s Tale,” Sheakespeare. Such is t…
Earthquakes in Christchurch are not unusual events, we’ve been beset with them since European settlement began – and no doubt long before. What is most disturbing of all is that our Eur…
Since early European settlement, the caves that honeycombed the Port Hills, from Sumner to Lyttelton, have been used by all manner of loners, vagrants and deserters as places of escape or retreat O…
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…
Dear Father and Mother, l arrived here all safe on the 23rd of September, after a splendid voyage of 94 days without a single storm. I enjoyed the voyage very much and was kindly treated by everybo…
Retired Aircraft Engineer, Corporal Colin Creighton, No. 41 Squadron, RNZAF recounts his experiences serving during the American Vietnam war.
From 1919 until 1963, New Zealand audiences were guaranteed ‘snappy scenes, bright singing, excellent dancing and sparkling comedy’ when attending a Stan Lawson Production.
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…
One of Christchurch’s most well known and successful chemist and druggist shops was on Colombo street and owned by George Bonnington.
Wendy Riley A relative newcomer to Christchurch, Wendy has deep-rooted connections to the city. Her ancestors, like many colonial New Zealanders, traced their origins to Scotland and England. After…
According to the Press, feeble out of doors, useless in domestic duties, the Christchurch girl’s most deplorable feature is her absolute lack of brains and mental culture…
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 …
The Royal Exchange’s beautiful tower, dome and decorative facade is taking shape as the building nears completion. Fresh to the shores of New Zealand, the Australian architect brothers …
New Zealand’s largest and most iconic booksellers, publishers and printing company was Whitcombe & Tombs of Christchurch. It was established in 1882 by Mr. George Hawkes Whitcombe, a seem…
“The most historic bridge in Christchurch” The iconic stone arch which spans over Cashel Street bridge – linking Cambridge with Oxford Terrace is “a visible symbol” wh…
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 …
“Christchurch people of the younger generations and strangers to the city who wander among the ordered prettinesses of the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, and pace along the pleasant winding paths …
Charismatic, athletic and intelligent, Jonathan Roberts came from a respectable family. A native of Cornwall, he immigrated to New Zealand with his family as a small child in 1862. After leaving sc…
By Helen Solomons Mortimer Cashman Corliss was a true Victorian patriarch, gentleman and government servant who lived in Christchurch for most of his adult life, contributing to the city’s de…
For nearly forty years, the Municipal Tepid Baths provided the Christchurch public with heated swimming facilities from 1908 – 1947. The site on Manchester Street was formerly occupied by Jam…
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…
After World War One, there was a growing appetite for the glitzy glamour of the ‘Jazz Age’ and Hollywood. Christchurch residents were hungry to embrace American culture and its new comm…
Excitement at Lyttelton The ordinary routine of running the express train on the No. 2 wharf at Lyttelton and transferring the passengers to the waiting ferry steamer was disturbed on the evening o…
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…
The moving of the Post Office from Market Square to its new site in Cathedral Square, was a significant development in Cathedral Square’s importance in Christchurch business and city life. Th…