In 1996 the Christchurch City Council purchased an inner city site bounded by Worcester Boulevard, Montreal and Gloucester Streets.

In the last three supplements to the Bulletin, the history of some of the more prominent previous occupants of the site has been explored. These have included a school, a church, and a motor engineer and dealership.

However, over the years the site was also home to many individual residents, who lived in one or other of the seven houses that faced either Worcester, Montreal or Gloucester Streets.

• Residents of Worcester Street
• Residents of Montreal Street
• Residents of Gloucester Street

Residents of Worcester Street

By 1877 three substantial houses had been built facing Worcester Street.

55 Worcester Street
55 Worcester Street was one of these and the home of Mr Archibald Morgan, who in 1864 purchased two of the allotments sold to the Church Property Trustees by the Canterbury Association.

Born in 1824, Archibald Morgan entered the army at an early age and served with the 93rd Highlander regiment prior to coming to New Zealand with the rank of sergeant major. Morgan lived here mostly in retirement with his wife Emily, from the mid-1880s. It was here that he died in 1915 at the age of ninety. Only Mrs Sibella J. Ross, who lived on the corner of Montreal and Gloucester Streets for 57 years, was a longer resident on the New Gallery site. In 1912 Morgan sold one of his properties to Dexter and Crozier and his house was transferred to them after his death in 1915.

49 Worcester Street
49 Worcester Street, the immediate neighbour of the German church, was initially the home of Lewis Albert Elerig and his wife and family. Elerig, a commercial traveller, was resident at this address by the late 1870s and lived there for almost twenty-five years. Then it became the home of Urban Vigors Richards, a drill instructor and his wife Katherine Faith Richards, who was a school teacher. They had lived at 316 Montreal Street in the early 1890s.

Mrs Ann J. (Jennie) Tipler and her husband Walter

moved to 49 Worcester Street three years after their marriage. Walter was Ann's second husband. Her first was E. J. Robinson an inspector of schools for Westland. By 1900 she had a career in music of more than twenty years standing and was a highly regarded mezzo-soprano and teacher of singing and voice production.

Born in Liverpool as Ann Jane Atkinson, she came to New Zealand as a child with her family who settled initially at Hokitika. It was there that she received her formative education at the Hokitika Academy. In Hokitika and Greymouth she trained under local music teachers and later travelled to Melbourne, where she was, for a time, a pupil of Signor Creechi, the teacher of the famous Dame Nellie Melba. As a soloist, Ann performed regularly in Greymouth and Reefton as `Jennie Atkinson' and became highly regarded on the West Coast.

Following the death of her husband in 1894, she moved to Christchurch, where her success as a singer was already well known, and she quickly attracted a large circle of pupils. She was also in demand as a performer in light opera and musicals.

On 10 July 1895, `The Press' referring to her role in the musical `The Sleeping Beauty' stated "the great charm of Mrs Robinson's singing is the ease with which she gets all the effects". As well as light opera and musicals, she took many solo roles in oratorio and grand opera.

In December 1898, Ann Jane (Jennie) Robinson married Walter Tipler (1842 - 1906), a schoolmaster, who came from Killinchy near Leeston. After moving to 49 Worcester Street, she continued to teach singing and voice production and was still doing so in 1920. In 1923 she purchased the property which she then owned until her death in 1944, although from 1925 she lived elsewhere in the city.

51 Worcester Street
51 Worcester Street was home from the 1880s for several residents many of whom were music teachers, including the Misses Janet Smith and Amy Parker, and Alfred Bünz, who perhaps is the most well-known.

Alfred M. W. Bünz, lived and taught music at 51 Worcester Street from 1910 until 1914. He was born in Christchurch in 1876, the second son of German musician Carl F. Bünz (1844 -1923) who was band master of the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry band and many musical societies as well as being a music teacher.

Alfred Bünz initially studied music with his father and other local music teachers before travelling overseas to study in Vienna under Theodore Leschetizky (1830-1915). Bünz later became conductor of the Christchurch Orchestral Society and a prominent member of the Christchurch Leidertafel. By the time of his death in 1949 he had become one of the leading teachers of piano in Christchurch and a considerable influence on a whole generation of local pianists.

Miss Bessie Smith lived at number 49 Worcester Street from 1926 until 1944 and Miss Charlotte Lowe, a dancing teacher lived next door at number 51 Worcester Street from 1922 until 1953. By the late 1940s these two properties were both owned by David Crozier Motors who eventually demolished the houses.

Residents of Montreal Street

There were two houses at addresses 312 and 316 Montreal Street between the German (Lutheran) Church and Mrs Sibella Ross's `Tin house' school.

312 Montreal Street
312 Montreal Street was initially part of section 386, purchased for the German Church in 1872, but later assigned a separate land title. A house was built in the 1870s as the manse of the German Church and among its first residents was J. Korner. In the 1880s it was occupied by Reverend P. J. Jacobsen, William Edmund followed in 1890, James Hall of Patterson and Hall from 1895 to 1901 and then by Francis Ronalds.

The next resident was Mrs Margaret Funston and her daughter Alice. Mrs Funston was born in England where she married Frederick Say Funston. They had children born in London before they came to New Zealand where Frederick Funston established himself in Christchurch as a merchant.

The family included three daughters who grew up at `Melrose' in Lichfield Street, East. All had musical ability, especially Emily and Alice who both became music teachers. Of the two, Emily was the most proficient. By 1878, she had been appointed organist of St John's Anglican Church, Latimer Square, and in the following year of Holy Trinity Church, Avonside. In 1882, she became organist at the Roman Catholic Pro Cathedral and remained so for almost twenty years. As an all round professional musician she performed publicly from 1887 in many concerts.

Emily's sister Alice was less prominent but continued teaching music at 312 Montreal Street until 1917. In 1918, following the death of her mother, she turned the family home into a boarding house which she operated for almost ten years.

From 1927 Mr Vere Churchill Buchanan, a violin teacher, was the occupant of the house until 1932 when the property was purchased by Mrs Annette M. Clifford. She reopened it as St Elmo Boarding House and around 1940 it was converted to flats and became first St Elmo Flats and then from 1950 to the 1980s, St Elmo Apartments. In 1987 it was acquired by Windsor Central and demolished with other properties on the site.

316 Montreal Street
316 Montreal Street was initially owned by the Wilson Estate and occupied by Mrs Ross from the 1870s to around 1890 when she moved next door to the `Tin house' which had been part of the school and dormitories. Her son Edward Ross occupied the house for a year or so then Urban V. Richards and his wife moved in. They lived there between 1892 and 1895 before moving to a property they purchased at 49 Worcester Street.

The house was then rented out to a succession of single women many of them retired teachers. From 1916 on, it was home of the Heywood sisters Emma and Lizzie and Mrs Annette Bowen who shared the house with them in the 1920s. Mrs Bowen, wife of Reverend Croisdale Bowen, was an early educator in Christchurch and had opened a private school for young women in Armagh Street in 1894. These were the last residents. With Mrs Ross's death in 1929 the property was sold to Canterbury College and demolished.

The lots 387, 391 and 393 on the Gloucester St frontage of the new art gallery site all belonged to Rangiora runholder Robert Chapman (1818 - 1882). Chapman was never a resident but often used these, and other town sections he owned, as security for mortgages. Between 1852 and 1877 land records show mortgage transactions occurred no fewer than six times. However in March 1871 he sold two of these sections to Reverend James Wilson and the following year one to John Terras Bell a land agent. The fourth section Chapman retained until 1882 when it was purchased by Reverend Charles Turrell.

54 Gloucester Street
54 Gloucester Street was an empty section when it was bought in 1882 by Reverend Charles Turrell (1828 - 1906) who had decided to move his school for boys back into town after ten years at Upper Riccarton. He built his new school, his residence and dormitories on the new site. Some of these buildings survived for almost 90 years though considerably altered by the time they were demolished.

Charles Turrell was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and Bonn University. It was while he was living in Germany that he met Charlotte Wilhelmina Schilling and they married at the home of a friend Henry Austin Bruce (Lord Aberdare). Soon after they went to live in Brussels.

Turrell was ordained and in 1865 and was engaged by the Anglican Church in England to become the incumbent at Leithfield, Canterbury. He and his wife arrived at Lyttelton on 1 January 1866 to take up the post. But after a difficult four years in the Leithfield parish Turrell moved to Christchurch where he was relieving priest at Holy Trinity Church Avonside. It was while he was there that he decided to open a school and in December 1871 advertised that he would be opening a `boarding school for young gentlemen.' After a few terms the school at Avonside proved inadequate and was reopened in a more substantial house called `Midmont', in Upper Riccarton.

Whilst living on the continent Turrell had developed some facility for French and German and in 1872 was appointed lecturer in modern languages to the Collegiate Union, the fore-runner to the University of Canterbury.

By 1881 with the establishment of Christchurch Boys' High School, Christchurch Girls' High School, Christ's College, Canterbury College and numerous other private schools in the area bounded by Hereford and Armagh Streets, and Rolleston Avenue an educational precinct had developed. Turrell felt it was desirable to be part of this.

The boarding school which opened in 1883 at 54 Gloucester St was called `Aberdare House' after his friend Lord Aberdare. Turrell retired from lecturing in modern languages in 1890 and shortly after closed his school. Around 1897 he moved to live at `Louden' in Mays Road and it was there that his wife died in 1900 and he, six years later.

The house at 54 Gloucester St then became a boarding residence run by James Barford. In 1902 Turrell leased `Aberdare House' to David Brown Low and his wife who also ran it as a boarding house until 1909.

On Turrell's death the property passed to his eldest son Charles Murray Turrell who was with the NZ Shipping Company in Wellington. He also became responsible for the mortgage as it had never been freehold. For several years he continued to lease out `Aberdare House'. The last leaseholder was Mrs Emily Chisholm McIntosh Strachey who was a boarding house proprietor.

In June 1920 Turrell sold the house to a widow Elizabeth Davies who owned it for just a few months. The next owner also held it less than a month before selling it in September 1920 to the Girls' Friendly Society Trust Board.

The Church of England Girls' Friendly Society
The Church of England Girls' Friendly Society had been founded in England and began in Christchurch in 1883. By 1886 it had 164 members and provided church lodging house accommodation for single women.

In its early years the hostel was known as `St Catherine's Home for Young Women' and was run by Miss Frances Torlesse at an address almost opposite the Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA) in Gloucester Street. There the Society had retained rooms and offices until they were transferred to `Aberdare House'. The hostel at `Aberdare House' had accommodation for 36 boarders and was managed by matron Ethel Baker and three staff. It continued operating until the end of 1932.

In January 1933 it was purchased by a building contracting firm, Benjamin Moore and Sons Ltd., who converted it into 10 apartments and changed the name to `Westmore Flats'. These flats were subsequently purchased by Herbert Eastmond, a shoe store owner, in 1951 and then in 1957 passed to Norman Strachan the last private owner. In February 1966 this property was sold to David Croziers Motors who demolished it for the new showrooms that opened in 1969.

58 Gloucester Street
58 Gloucester Street the neighbouring property is the last on the new art gallery site. This was originally owned by Robert Chapman but on 22 May 1872 was sold to John Terras Bell (1838 - 1908) a land and estate agent. At the same time Bell also purchased the adjacent property on the west and by 1876 each had a house that Bell rented. Like the Turrell property this was constantly mortgaged.

In the late 1870s one of Bell's early tenants was architect Thomas Stoddart Lambert who lived at this address from 1877 to 1879. Lambert was an architect born in Selkirk, Scotland in 1840 where he also began his training. This he continued in Edinburgh and London in 1866. When he first came to New Zealand he settled at Marton and a few years later in Wellington but found it difficult to find adequate work in his profession.

In 1874 he moved to Christchurch where he joined the office of Frederick Strouts with whom he worked for three years. Among the projects on which they collaborated was a survey map of the inner city. Lambert drew this up in 1877 after having personally measured the more than 4000 buildings between the city belts. It was lithographed and then published by Strouts. The same year Lambert set up his own office and soon had some design work.

These included the Jewish Synagogue in 1881 just three doors from where he had lived in Gloucester St and of great significance to him because of his faith. The 1882 International Exhibition Building for South Hagley Park was also an important project as was Mortens Building later the United Services Hotel in Cathedral Square in 1885. Lambert also designed many schools, churches, halls, warehouses, shops and banks. In 1890 his office dealt with 339 contracts and from that year until 1893 he also ran an office in Dunedin.

Lambert was also elected to the Christchurch City Council on three occasions in 1879, 1881 and 1883 and was Chairman of the Public Works Committee. He was also, from 1881 - 1884, a member of the Council of the Canterbury Society of Arts and remained a working member until 1890. In 1893 he returned to live in Wellington where he conducted a very successful practice until a few years before his death in 1915.

There were several other residents at 58 Gloucester St after Lambert. In 1892 it became the family home of Frederick Strouts his former partner. Strouts was born in England in 1834 and it was there he trained as an architect.

He arrived in Canterbury in 1859 with his brother-in-law James George Hawkes with whom he set up a business that included various activities including ironmongery, land agency and surveying. This business was declared bankrupt in 1872. During the 1860s Strouts was also doing a certain amount of design work as well as supervising projects initiated by other architects.

In 1861 he married Charlotte Rosa Lock Sparshott and the first of his five children was born two years later. In 1868 they returned to England and the following year Strouts was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Following his return to Christchurch he became more involved in practicing his profession. In the 1870s and 80s, like T. S. Lambert who joined his practice from 1874 to 1877, his office was a very active one. Two of his most notable designs of that period which have survived are the model farm homestead at Lincoln designed in 1877, (now Ivy Hall Lincoln University) and Rhodes Convalescent Home, Cashmere,1887. Frederick Strouts also speculated in land. He owned two hectares on Selwyn Street, Addington but preferred to live in the inner city so, in the early 1870s, he leased the 58 Gloucester Street property.

Strouts played an important part in establishing the architectural profession in Christchurch and around 1872 joined Alexander Lean, B.W.Mountfort and W.E. Armson to form Canterbury's Association of Architects.

In 1908 John Terras Bell who lived at `Whiteleigh', Addington, died and soon after Strouts and his wife left 58 Gloucester Street. Whether Bell's death influenced this move after sixteen years is uncertain but likely. Strouts died at his home in Kilmore Street in 1915.

Later residents included John Terras Bell's daughter Gertrude Jane Bell, who had inherited 58 and 64 Gloucester Street in October 1909. She subdivided the property to create 62 Gloucester Street by reducing the property by half. This change is the reason for the irregular shape to the north east corner of the New Art Gallery site today.

The remainder of 58 Gloucester St was the home of Miss Janet Lucas from 1910 to 1915. It was then purchased by Miss Frances M. Evans who shared the address with her two sisters Eva and Ann. Frances died in 1948 but her sisters remained there until 1954.

Art Gallery site 1955 with houses still on Montreal and Gloucester Sts

In 1955, 58 Gloucester St became the location for J. Ilott Advertising Limited, with Ronald Scott, later Sir Ron Scott as manager. They remained there until 1968. Then it was redeveloped by David Crozier Limited for their Gloucester St Showroom.

In 1987 Windsor Central, a holding company for the Island of Nauru Government, purchased this property with the others that remained on the site and by the end of 1988 it had been returned to the vacant state it had been 177 years earlier.

The history of nearly twelve decades on the site has revealed a rich and varied past. With these historical foundations the New Gallery cannot fail to have an equally rich future in the new century.

Neil Roberts
Senior Curator

• Land Registers and Titles 1852
• Cyclopaedia of NZ Vol.1 (1897) p 581
• Cyclopaedia of NZ Vol.2 (1903) pp 191, 233
• G R Macdonald - Dictionary of Canterbury Biographies (Canterbury Museum)