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Chancery Lane
From 1851 Dr. A.C. Barker had always had problems with others concerning his plot of land on the corner of Cathedral Square, where the former Government Life Building is awaiting to be demolished today. Nicknamed the ugliest building in Christchurch, it has never the less – since the 1960’s – cast its shadow over the …
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Sir William Fox (1812 – 1893)
After reading about Sir William Fox and getting the idea that he tended to go where the wind took him, I can’t ignore the fact that today, we do not have a clear idea of what William was really like. The descriptions of his personality and values go from one side of the scales to …
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John Shand 1805 – 1874
Those walking or travelling down Riccarton Road – known as Harewood Road in them days – during 1851 or thereabouts, I’m sure would have slowed their step and craned their neck in wonder at what was rising out of the Shands Estate. What was that crazy John Shand up too? Is that a tower? Widower …
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Christchurch’s First Christmas ~ 1848
On the 27th March 1848, the day the Canterbury Association was founded, the dream that was to become Christchurch was born. Although at the time, the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains was just one of the options, by the month of December, it was almost a certainty. All throughout 1848, Canterbury Association surveyors began to replace …
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