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Electric Trams – “Horses No Longer Required”
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Christchurch was the last of the four cities to introduce electric trams. They had tried to introduce the system in 1902, but it was prior to the amalgamation of the boroughs, so with the advent of…
The First Car Comes to Christchurch
Articles, Lost Christchurch
A Packing Case on Wheels Local and General. Star, Issue 6789, 8 May 1900, Page 3 A weird-looking vehicle has recently been seen travelling through the streets of the city much to the amusement and …
A Visit to the Suburbs and a Parting Nor’ Wester
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Notes on a Christchurch Trip By Fabian Bell Part V: A Visit to Some of the Suburbs and a Parting Nor’ Wester The room in which Bishop Julius was entertained at luncheon the other day is a par…
Remembering Lost Christchurch
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Our city is a repository for the social and historical narrative of our past Each street, wall, facade, interior is an integral part of the people who walked passed them, shopped in them, worked in…
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 …
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…
Why Our Historic Buildings Are Important
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Up until February 22nd, 2011, the city of Christchurch was a unique, historic and cultural living and breathing entity. Inherited from a long list of valuable contributors dating back to its incept…
Site Founder
Articles, Lost Christchurch
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…
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist – Sherlock Holmes Creator Visits Christc…
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Conan Doyle’s fascination with the supernatural brought him to New Zealand in 1920 – where he met a special terrier named ‘Darkie’ who he believed had mystical powers. In th…
The Oldest Building in Canterbury
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“To settle what seems to be a somewhat vexed question, a representative of the Lyttelton Times yesterday made inquiries among a number of the Pilgrims with regard to the authenticity, or otherwise,…
The Glenmark – Tragedy and a Fortune in Colonial Gold
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“The tale of a shipwreck has for most readers a fascination unequalled by any other of the many forms of tragedy which from time to time sweep some unlucky band or section of humanity into et…
Christchurch Gardens – Early History
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“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 …
Tram vs Bus in 1930s Crush
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The busiest intersection in the central city heaves under a rush of pedestrians, buses, trams, cyclists and private motor cars, pushing passed each other as they head for various parts of the city.
A Great Pilgrimage Over the Clouds
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Imagine an event so exciting, so spectacular, that 38 trains were required travelling at 28 minute intervals to convey curious sightseers to Lyttelton in order to witness it. The roads from Christc…
Was Christchurch the birthplace of Mary Poppins?
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Almost a century ago, the story of Mary Poppins and the Match-Man was published for the first time – in Christchurch’s afternoon newspaper, The Sun. But how did the story of the world’s most famous…
Government Building Worcester Street – Building for the Future
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The construction of government buildings have long attracted opinion and criticism and the Italian Renaissance style Government Buildings on the corner of Worcester street and Cathedral Square were…
Antigua Street Bridge – from the beginning until 1945
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“Bridges are as much a distinctive part of the Christchurch landscape as its well-planted appearance and its old Gothic style provincial buildings. The chance which placed the city by the river Avo…
“The Publican and the Sinner.”
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The story of a rugby mad church cleric, his neglected wife and a widowed publican. Read time approximately 26 minutes. He was a widower and father of two children. She was a cleric’s wife, te…
Notes on a Journey: Ōtautahi
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“In the bay in which we landed, we found two or three miserable primitive Maori cabins, inhabited by half-a-dozen helpless old creatures and a few diseased children — forming a pa named Rapaki.”…
‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ – The Turkish Bath Culture in Christchu…
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The health benefits, cleanliness and exoticism of the Turkish Bath so appealed to Canterbury settlers that it became the height of fashion in the 1880s. Today we enjoy city operated spa facilities …
The Triangle – Noxious Exhalations, a Precocious Wastrel and a Special Ear…
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“William Wilson was formerly a cabbage dealer in Canterbury; but fourteen years ago he was poor, whereas now he is rich, a circumstance attributable to a lucky speculation in a piece of land …
The Cabman’s Last Stand and the Triumph of the Taxi
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Cobb & Co, Corner of Cashel and High Streets c. 1880. Source: Christchurch City Libraries Photo Collection 22, Img 00803, Private Collection For as far back as 1856, when the first hansom cab p…
Flipping Fried Eggs
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Retired Aircraft Engineer, Corporal Colin Creighton, No. 41 Squadron, RNZAF recounts his experiences serving during the American Vietnam war.
Zealandia’s Turpin
Articles, Lost Christchurch
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…
“Strange Freak of a New Zealand Girl”
Articles, Lost Christchurch
Dressed in a black cutaway coat, dark trousers and a white silk neckcloth, and sporting a Billy-Cock hat over short hair, Henry Jame Muir stood before a London magistrate in 1889 dressed in the clo…
The Misleading Lady
Articles, Lost Christchurch
From 1919 until 1963, New Zealand audiences were guaranteed ‘snappy scenes, bright singing, excellent dancing and sparkling comedy’ when attending a Stan Lawson Production.
All Manner of Exotic Delicacies
Articles, Lost Christchurch
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…
‘Children of Civilisation Ride in Perambulators’
Articles, Lost Christchurch
“Perambulators are one of the necessities of the nineteenth century. The children of savages may roll in the dust or be carried in a shawl, or strapped to a piece of board, but the children of civi…
A Precocious Wastrel and his Valuable Allotment
Articles, Lost Christchurch
John Jauncey Buchanan and his Valuable Allotment Before arrival in Christchurch, the family of Scotsman John Jauncey Buchanan purchased land on what would become the centre of Christchurch. It was …
Little River – A More Complete System of Policing
Articles, Lost Christchurch
The Commissioner of the Christchurch Constabulary Department, Robert Clarke Shearman, was undeterred. He saw Little River, a pivotal stop between Akaroa and the plains, as a prime location for figh…