Jul 20, 2008

1864 Building Identified




A Sushi Restaurant on the Northeast corner of Colombo and Lichfield Streets occupies one of the city's oldest buildings.

The historic premises first enters the documentary record in 1864 as the shop of William Hislop (1828-95), a Nurseryman & Seedsman.

The Scottish Gardener, with his wife Mary Ann and their daughter Elizabeth (1854-1918), had arrived in Christchurch in 1855. Hislop soon established the Woodburn Nursery on the west side of Antigua Street, between St Asaph Street and Moorhouse Avenue, and by 1861 was able to advertise fifteen thousand one year old apple trees for sale. By 1867 Hislop had been elected as a Christchurch City Councilor.

To the Right in the old photograph is the city's first three storey building. Completed at the beginning of 1876, by 1901 it had been identified as a building of historic significance. It was demolished at the end of 2006 after being designated as yet another "earthquake risk."

See where these photographs were taken.

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