This photograph shows Daresbury, a 50-room house on 25 acres, designed by S. Hurst Seager and built between 1897 and 1901 for George Humphreys (1848 or 9-1934), co-founder of the wine and spirits merchants Fletcher Humphries. Until 1945 the property was called Daresbury Rookery because of a colony of rooks that made its home in about 100 bluegums planted on the property in 1862 by Jane Deans. A snowstorm in 1945 damaged the trees and the rooks left.
Do you have any photographs of Daresbury Rookery? If so, feel free to contribute to our collection.
Kete Christchurch is a collection of photographs and stories about Christchurch and Canterbury, past and present. Anyone can join and contribute.
Los Angeles is a bungalow at 110 Fendalton Road built in 1909.
Photograph taken 21 March 2003.
Do you have any photographs of Los Angeles bungalow or Fendalton Road? If so, feel free to contribute to our collection.
Los Angeles is one of the earliest examples of a California bungalow to be built in New Zealand. It was constructed sometime between 1909 and 1913 for its owner, Captain James McDonald, a trader. Opinion differs as to the origins of the material used in its construction. One tradition states that the kitset form of the house was brought out from California by McDonald. The other, that only the weatherboards and cedar shingles were imported from the United States. However, the chimneys, roadside fences, and verandah pillars were built from Canterbury riverstones.
Kete Christchurch is a collection of photographs and stories about Christchurch and Canterbury, past and present. Anyone can join and contribute.
The first open air classroom at Fendalton Primary School was officially opened on the 26th of July 1924 by Mr E.H. Andrews, a member of the Canterbury Education Board. Professor Shelley, who was Professor of Education at Canterbury College, also gave an opening address encouraging the school and committee to continue the project.
A classroom at Fendalton Open-Air School, Clyde Road, Christchurch, 1928, CCL PhotoCD 7, IMG0025
This first open air classroom was viewed as an experiment in the new educational philosophy that fresh air, good ventilation and sunlight encouraged good health for the students, as well as providing space for exercise.
The classroom was designed by the Headmaster Mr A.R. Blank, M.B.E. and Dr R.B. Phillipps, the Canterbury Schools’ medical officer, along with the architects Ellis and Hall. A new architecture for classrooms was developed to cater to the new philosophy and the Fendalton examples allowed the whole side of a building to be opened up. Using wood as an adaptable building material, rather than brick, was seen as important for this new architecture to enable adaption of the buildings over time to incorporate developing ideas in educational theory.
Creator unknown : Photograph of an open air classroom, Fendalton School, Christchurch. Ref: PAColl-8863. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23185726
Mr Blank and Dr Phillipps’ belief in the ideals of the Open Air movement was so high that they guaranteed half of the £400 cost from their own pockets, and secured the other half from Christchurch Rotary Club. By opening day £170 had been raised from the public and no money was requested from the Government or Education Board for the experiment. The Department of Education was reported as being skeptical of the potential benefits of this new educational philosophy, but Mr Andrews stated in his opening speech that the Education Board had been misrepresented as being opposed.
Through the 1920s, three additional open air classrooms were built at the Fendalton Primary School. The school was often visited as an example of how open air classrooms could operate including by Dr Truby King, the Department of Education and the British Medical Association.
The Open Air Schools League was established to continue to champion the cause, and they put out a booklet The New Zealand Open-Air School in 1928 using Fendalton as the example of what can be achieved.
If you have any images you would like to contribute to a community repository of Christchurch, please visit Kete Christchurch.
It is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori – Māori Language Week and this year’s theme is Ngā ingoa Māori – Māori names – so we are bringing you some of the stories behind the Māori names of our libraries.
The bilingual names for Christchurch City Libraries were created in late 2003. With the support and approval of Ngāi Tahu through our Kaumatua, Dr Terry Ryan, and the extensive research undertaken by NekenekeiteRangi Paul, each library within our network was honoured with a Māori name.
Waimairi, can mean many things, and has done so to many people. Some ideas behind each name are evident in itself such as – ‘Listless stream, deep water channel, honey water, water by which Maire trees grow, or peaceful water running by a tree’. Waimaero is stated as being the correct Māori version of this word.
Fendall Town remained more or less cut off from Christchurch, the way to the city being via Lower Riccarton and across seven creeks with no bridges. By 1866 the name had been shortened to Fendalton, as we know it now.
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 