2011 NAB Show Adds “Community” to Its Syllabus
Christchurch Now & Then #6
Image by Canterbury Heritage
A Southeasterly view of Lichfield Street towards the intersection at Manchester and High Streets; 1878 and 2007.
On the corner of Manchester Street, at the far Left of the 1878 photo, is the building known in 1865 as the Riccarton Mills store, which was originally the premises of Scotsman Peter Cunningham (1839-1915). He arrived in the colony in 1862 and was trading as Cunningham & Co., Corn Merchants by 1872. Cunningham, a large man, fair with a strong, energetic expression, was a buyer and shipper of Wheat grain. Director of the Union Insurance Company, Grand Master of the Canterbury Masonic Grand Lodge, President of the A & P Association, Chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board and local representative of the Shaw Savill Shipping Company, Cunningham Terrace at Lyttelton is named after him.
By 1888 Albert Cuff (1839-1920) and Frank Graham (1846-1915) were operating as Cuff, Graham & Co, Shipping and Customs Agents from the same building. Albert Cuff was the Consular Agent for the United States of America. Frank Graham was a tall man, balding with a full beard, who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1867. He was a member of the Ceremonial and Entertainment Committee for the 1906 International Exhibition. In 1909 Graham opposed the proposal for a shipping canal from Sumner to the city and was defeated in an election for members of the Lyttelton Harbour Board. This building had acquired a bull-nosed veranda by 1900.
To a design by Robert England (1863-1908), it was replaced by the first stage of Ridley’s Building in 1904, with Ridley’s Drapery on the corner and a Dental Surgery above. By the early 1930’s the Singer Sewing Machine Company occupied the former Draper’s shop. Shorn of a substantial parapet the building was the Commercial Bank of Australia premise by the 1960s. Painted with inappropriate colours, it has been the Ruben Blades Hairdressing Academy since 1997.
The second building from the Left was the premises of the Merchant McGregor Watt who dealt in farm produce as the NZ Produce Co. Watt was awarded a Gold Medal for scoured wool at the 1882 Christchurch Exhibition in Hagley Park South. By 1883 Watt’s building had become the premises of the State Insurance Office. The old building was replaced before 1910 with the second stage of the Ridley’s building in which the United Friendly Society’s Dispensary (pharmacy) was at street level, with Luncheon & Supper Rooms above. The upper levels have continued to be a restaurant and were the renowned Mykonos by the 1970s, in 2007 it is the Honeypot Café.
Boot maker Nathanial Suckling Senior (1810-1882) had originally set up his business in Cashel Street before 1860, but within five years moved to the double gabled premises with the veranda (built prior to 1862). His son (Nathaniel) Joseph (1842-1920) took over the management of the business and in 2007 Suckling’s Shoe Store still operates from nearby premises in Colombo Street.
This building became the Saddlery of H. R. Devereux and then the premises of Charles Bell sometime after 1904. Bell replaced it with the existing building in 1920 to the design of the Luttrell brothers; the city’s leading architects in that era. Charlie Bell was the local agent for AJS and Indian motorcycles as well as Humber and Robin Hood bicycles. Bell’s Motor Works closed in 1960 and the business became Gilbeck Motorcycles. Subsequently it was famed as the Plainsman nightclub, but by the mid 1980s had become Shanton Apparel; a ladies wear retailer. In 2006 the former Bell’s Motor Works became the home to His Lordship’s Café and bar.
Built in 1876, with two floors above an extensive cellar, His Lordship’s Larder hotel claimed to be known throughout the Province for its cleanliness, reasonable charges and good management. The first Publican was William Henry Messenger who had arrived in the colony at the Port of Onehunga in 1861. In 1872 he was involved with His Lordship’s Larder on Auckland’s Queen Street Wharf; a two storey building which collapsed. Married in Christchurch the following year, Messenger deserted his wife and six children in 1886, absconding to Australia with one of his barmaids. A Christchurch Police Constable was dispatched to Melbourne to bring him back; however in 1900 Messenger was the Publican of the Royal Hotel at Balranald in New South Wales.
Subsequent to Messenger’s departure Charles William Crowe became the hotel’s Licensee. Crowe appears to have been the former proprietor of Colombo Street’s Duke of Wellington Hotel and stables in the early 1860s and then another hotel in Market Place (Victoria Square) in 1867.
By the 1970s the hotel was well into decline and had become a favoured haunt of the city’s more street-wise alcoholics. A short-lived live music venue in 1996, the hotel was destroyed by arson in 2000 and six years later became the site of the cobbled His Lordship’s Lane, which connects Lichfield Street to Struther’s Lane and SOL Square (acronym for South of Lichfield).
To the far Right in the earlier image is the home of Francis Slater, with his office at the front. Francis Slater (1812-1879) and his son Henry (1844-1917) practiced as Slater & Son, Barristers & Solicitors, from the early 1860s. Francis Slater who had previously resided at “The Greys” in Riccarton had been declared Bankrupt in 1868. His son Major Francis Slater, of the New Zealand Volunteers, was involved in a notorious libel case in 1903 when he was accused of forgery by another Christchurch Solicitor. However, he went on to become one of the first chancellors of the Anglican Diocese and Slater Street in the suburb of Richmond is named after him.
His Lordship’s Larder was built in the Slater’s front garden and his house had been replaced by 1888 with the premises of Payling & Co., Merchants. George Payling (1855-1909) was a general merchant and importer, especially of tea; in 1895 he was charged with an offence under the Lotteries and Gaming Act for inserting coupons in packets of tea. Arriving in New Zealand in 1875 Payling, who lived in Bealey Avenue, was a city councillor from 1892 and Mayor in 1907, but was unexpectedly defeated in the 1908 election. He enjoyed a long term interest in Trotting, Payling Lane in the suburb if Mairehau is named after him.
Payling’s short-lived building had been demolished by 1918 to make way for the Wellington Woollen Mills’ impressive marble and bronzes facaded edifice. This had become a gymnasium by the 1980s, before standing vacant for many years. In 2003 the building was refurbished as the Living Space Hotel & Apartments.
Canterbury Heritage, a journal of the province’s social history and cultural heritage.
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