Luxury new 3 bdrm home | 4 beds | 2 baths
The houses that now define the heritage area...
88 & 86 - Listed Heritage
Located on the corner of Chester Street East and Madras these adjoining homes are referred to as the bookends of Chester Street East. They are the legacy of William and Ann Widdowson, who arrived from England in 1858. William worked as an architect, builder and Inspector of Works for the Canterbury Provincial Council, helping shape the young city’s built environment.
By 1892 he’d built four pairs of semi‑detached Victorian townhouses, each one a mirror image of the next, all kauri weatherboards, brick, iron latticework and those unmistakable double‑height bay windows. Think San Francisco flair with a dash of Arts and Crafts detail. He had also built 104 Chester Street East for his own home, where he died here in 1902.
William and Ann's son Howell, had a daughter, Grace Widdowson, who was one of the most influential nursing leaders in Canterbury’s history. For 17 years she led the nursing staff across all public hospitals from Ashburton to Kaikoura, shaping standards, training, and the reputation of Christchurch Hospital as a centre of excellence. She was known for her absolute commitment to her nurses and patients, her formidable administrative skill, and the confidence and authority she carried into every room. In 1951 she was awarded the OBE for her service to nursing. The motto on the wall of her office was 'There is no defeat in this house' — a line that perfectly reflects her forthright, confident presence and her unwavering belief in high standards and professional integrity. Her obituary in 1989 was a a full page article in the Christchurch Press entitled "Grace Widdowson - the Presense of Christchurch Hospital".
The Widdowson family held onto the properties until 1961. No. 86 narrowly dodged demolition, lived a few lives as flats and then as Youth for Christ offices, before landing in the hands of Anna Crighton in 1983.
When Anna bought 86 and 88, they were tired, carved up, and stripped of their original charm. She sold 88 and poured two decades into restoring 86 piece by piece, room by room, right down to the garden. Just as she finished, the 2010 quake hit. She stayed. The 2011 quake didn’t give her that option — the house had shifted 80 centimetres off its foundations and the party wall was wrecked.
Crighton doubled down, determined to save one of the few remaining Victorian townhouses in a city that had just lost so much of its heritage. After the 2010–11 earthquakes it took 18 months to repair, gaining full insulation, secondary glazing and radiators. "It’s been a labour of love....I was determined that this well‑known landmark house be retained and restored...The devastating loss of so much heritage in the central city made it even more important to save this house.”
After three decades of care, in 2022, Anna sold 86. “It will be the first time in my life I will have lived in a new house.”
Anna Crighton founded the Christchurch Heritage Trust, chaired the Canterbury Earthquake Heritage Buildings Fund Trust, led Historic Places Aotearoa, served twelve years as a Christchurch City Councillor overseeing arts, culture and heritage, and chaired the Christchurch Arts Centre Board. Across all of these roles, she championed the conservation of New Zealand’s bi‑cultural heritage and fought to retain the city’s architectural identity at a time when much of it was under threat. Her leadership, persistence and advocacy have shaped the heritage landscape of Christchurch for an entire generation.
#98 #100
Information coming soon!
#106 - former Cassidy Villa / now Vailima
The former Cassidy Villa is a well‑preserved early 20th‑century bay villa. Built around 1903, the single‑storey home features an irregular footprint, a mix of hip and gable roof forms, and a north‑facing veranda with a cross‑gabled entrance porch. A distinctive corner bay anchors the western end of the façade, marked by a decorative gable and a large Palladian‑style window. Weatherboard cladding and corrugated metal roofing complete its traditional Edwardian appearance. The craftsmanship seen in the villa — from its timber detailing to its decorative gable forms — is typical of the period and remains an important part of the heritage character of Chester Street East.
The villa was built by James and Ada Cassidy. James Cassidy, a Christchurch lawyer, lived here until his death in 1920, after which Ada sold the property around 1922. Later residents included Rita and Angus Donaldson.
It was home to Walter Logeman for twenty years (~1980-2001). The Christchurch Press records that when Walter bought the property it had fallen into disrepair and Walter believed that it would likely have been torn down had he not been smitten by it's charms and taken the plunge. "I'm a romantic...it was a bit of a folly in a way but I just fell in love with it" say Walter. The current owners purchased the home from Walter.
Significant earthquake repairs have been undertaken by the current owners, including changes to the layout inside and modernising. The home now features 2 lounges, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
In an exciting new development, whilst one of the current owners, Shane, was outside gardening one day a lady was standing staring at the house. The lady told Shane it used to be her family's home and that when they left they thought it would be demolished so they removed all the stained glass windows and have had them in a barn since. They have been returned and Shane and Bernadette are commissioning repair and reinstatement. The first one to be completed and returned to it's original home is the windows surrounding the front door. This attractive art deco style glass window returns the house name 'Vailima', after writer Robert Louis Stevenson's home in western Samoa.
#110
The house was built around 1881–83 by James Brett De Renzie, an Irishman from a poor family of ten children who joined the British Army and served as both engineer and cavalry officer — in Borneo, in Turkey and in India, where he helped quell the Indian Mutiny and was mentioned in dispatches for the Battle of Kirwee.
He came to New Zealand with his campaign bounty, named his estate "Kirwee," sat on the Selwyn District Council and helped found the Canterbury and Christchurch Clubs.
Colonel Brett’s greatest legacy to this district was the creation of the water race system that transformed life on the dry Canterbury Plains. In the early farming years, many properties had no reliable water supply, and settlers hauled water long distances in drays carrying 400‑gallon tanks. Brett understood how critical this problem was, and drawing on irrigation systems he had seen in India, he proposed bringing water from the rivers to the plains.
Although his idea was initially dismissed, a survey in 1871 confirmed its feasibility, and work began in 1876. By 1877 the headworks and first section of race were completed, and by 1881 water was flowing to Kirwee, where farmers—including Brett—dug their own small ditches to access the supply.
The system expanded as demand grew, eventually supplying West Melton, and by 1889 even the new freezing works at Islington. After 144 years, Brett’s water race still operates today, a testament to how profoundly it changed daily life for early settlers, who said that water “changed the whole face of nature in the district.”
He died in 1889 at 110 Chester St East and is buried in Linwood Cemetery; his widow stayed briefly before it sold. In 1930 a monument was built over the water race at Kirwee to honour the man whose vision reshaped the region.
By the 1950s it had been carved into four bedsits with four kitchens and bathrooms, the through-corridor blocked off. The Wizard lived there for a time. Later a finance company and Customs used it as offices, laying a kerbed car park over the front garden.
Alistair bought it in 2001 and spent five-plus years restoring it — living in the mess throughout, adding windows for light, building a sympathetic rear extension and a rare Christchurch cellar, and hunting salvage yards for kauri doors, skirting and ceiling roses.
Work finished barely a year or two before the 2010–11 earthquakes, which took the chimney, cornice and liquefaction wrecked kitchen floor. Alistair notes "After the earthquake, I lost not a single bottle in the underground cellar."
The house was re-gutted, plywood-braced, re-insulated and jacked back into line — emerging stronger and warmer.
#118 - Former Holliss House (c. mid‑1890s)
The former Holliss House is a late‑Victorian double‑bay villa with a later bungalow‑style addition on the eastern side. The single‑storey dwelling has an H‑shaped footprint and gabled roof forms, with its principal north‑facing elevation arranged around a central entrance flanked by two cross‑gabled bays. A secondary entrance is located on the eastern wing.
Typical of the period, the house features double‑hung sash and casement windows, and a main door with side and fanlights. It sits close to the road boundary, and is constructed in lapped weatherboards with corrugated metal roofing.
The house appears to have been built in the mid‑1890s and was the long‑term residence of Lucy Holliss, widow of James Holliss of the Telegraph Department in Lyttelton. Lucy lived here until her death in 1921. From at least the mid‑1910s, rooms in the house were offered for let, and by the 1940s the property was advertised as providing bed‑and‑breakfast accommodation for visitors to Christchurch. It remains in private residential use.
Architecturally, the house is representative of late‑Victorian domestic design and contributes to a streetscape characterised by a diverse range of 19th‑ and early‑20th‑century residential typologies. The dwelling exhibits craftsmanship typical of its period, including timber joinery, weatherboard construction, and traditional gable detailing, and is considered a defining element of the heritage character of Chester Street East.
Significant earthquake repairs have been undertaken by the current owner, including changes to the layout inside and modernising. The home now features 2 lounges, 3 bedrooms and bathrooms.
#131 - Matapuna / former 'Myhre house'
The house is an Edwardian-era villa, built around 1900, and is thought to have been one of three houses built by Walter Grummitt, a local draper, at adjacent properties 131, 133 and 137 Chester Street East. In 1903 Grummitt’s business partner Charles Myhre was in residence in 131; it was later the home of Jonathon Hamilton, a clerk, in the late 1910s; George Atmore (1923) and Edgar Williams, an engineer (1926), were later residents.
The house retains its original weatherboard character, centre‑gutter roof and decorative veranda, but its survival was far from guaranteed. The current owners bought it “because we love heritage houses and wanted to save it from any redevelopment.”
Severely damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes, it has since been carefully restored with a focus on authenticity. The original brick side walls were replaced with timber to match the historic cladding, and while the kitchen, bathroom and toilets are modernised, the rest of the interior keeps its early‑20th‑century feel. The house currently has 4 bedrooms, one bathroom and two toilets.
Behind the house is a private English‑style garden — an unexpected oasis in the central city. A mature holly tree anchors the space, attracting kererū each spring to feed off the berries.
#133 - former 'Grummitt house'
The house is an Edwardian-era villa, built around 1900, and is thought to have been one of three houses built by Walter Grummitt, a local draper, at adjacent properties 131, 133 and 137 Chester Street East. Grummitt appears to have lived at number 133 before moving to number 137. Number 137 was later demolished, around 1975.
The single-storey villa has many features typical of its era, including rusticated weatherboard cladding, a corrugated iron roof and a veranda running across the front of the house. Decorative brackets above the veranda posts, double-hung sash windows and the central entrance with its fanlight and sidelights add to its character.
Over the years, the house has been home to a number of Christchurch residents. Among them were Jonathan Simpson, a surveyor, who lived there in 1923, and Reverend Herbert Brahn, a Lutheran minister, who was a resident in 1926.
The house is significant not only because of its architecture, but because it is part of a surviving side by side pair of older homes in this part of the inner city.
More recently, former owner of 131 and 133, Gwyneth Hopkins, played an important part in helping preserve the properties at that time. After the Canterbury earthquakes she was involved in the work to restore both houses. In 2017, she sold 131 and deliberately retained ownership of 133 to ensure they would remain as separate properties rather than developed as one large site.
More recently, current owners have extensively renovated including; kitchens and bathrooms repositioned and replaced with new electrical, plumbing and drainage and added ducted heating. The decks and external areas have been replaced and a Louvre Concepts system added over the north facing deck. They noted "when we renovated the house recently we found it to be in relatively original condition. Things like Halswell basalt piles and original weather board and profiled timber joinery."
#139
Built around 1860, this simple single-storey workers’ cottage is a rare survivor from Christchurch’s early residential years.
With its gable roof, sash windows and roughcast plaster exterior, the cottage is modest by today’s standards. Its compact size provides a glimpse into the everyday living conditions of early Christchurch residents. Beneath the roughcast plaster, the original weatherboards are still in place, while the original native timber floor remains beneath replacement flooring.
The cottage has been continuously occupied for more than 160 years. Early residents included Mrs Frances Vincent, a nurse, and Mrs Sarah Ann Carter, who lived there around 1900, followed by Mrs Eva Heighway in the 1920s. Most recently, it has been owned by Charlotte Mayne for the past 20 years.
The cottage underwent a major renovation and strengthening in 2004/05. During the work, it was stripped back to its “shell” so it could be relined and insulated, revealing more of the original construction. The original kauri roof shingles were later uncovered in 2018. They were photographed before the roof was replaced in mid-2018. Landscaping in 2022/23 also revealed what appears to be the remains of the original outside toilet – a roughly one-square-metre concrete structure in the north-east corner of the section. Charlotte, the current owner-occupier, says: “It’s a little house that has survived an awful lot, and I’d quite like to make sure it survives the next 160 years too.”
One of the cottage’s more entertaining chapters came during the Canterbury earthquakes. Hagen, an East German master builder and carpenter who worked on the 2004 strengthening, would ring after every significant earthquake with the same question: “How is the little house, Charley?”. The answer was usually, “Hagen, it is good.”. To which Hagen would reply:
“Yes. German bunker!”. That confidence eventually took a knock after thousands of aftershocks, when a slump was noticed in the south-west corner. Hagen’s diagnosis was characteristically blunt: “Yes. Poorly made British foundations!”
#250 Kilmore - Listed Heritage
250 Kilmore Street is an 1881 timber villa recognised as one of five defining dwellings contributing to the RHA and is listed in the Christchurch District Plan. The house underwent a major restoration in 2023, during which it was moved 13 metres to allow new foundations to be constructed. The forty‑two‑week rebuild has been documented in a three‑minute time‑lapse recording.
The property’s origins date to 1859, when the land was first purchased by Alfred Walter Money, an English immigrant who later constructed the house in 1881. Money owned the property until his death in 1909, following a fall from a tram at the age of 81. Alfred's obituary records his other ventures, "He was a very energetic member of the Canterbury A&P Association" ... "After being engaged in the butchery trade he became licensee of the Oxford Hotel, and later of the Carlton Hotel. Some years ago he took a prominent part in a movement to enable steam vessels of light draught to run between the city and New Brighton, and he was the owner of the little steamer Avonia, which plied for some time between the city and New Brighton."
Alfred and his wife, Annie, amassed considerable wealth but had no children. Upon their deaths, money was left to their siblings and descendants, plus many Christchurch and NZ charities. The value of the estate in today's terms is NZ $19 million.
Across its long life, 250 Kilmore Street has been home to a wide mix of working people whose occupations reflect the character of inner‑city Christchurch from the late 19th century onward. In the early 1900s it housed a lamplighter, followed by tenants in the 1920s whose roles included a telegrapher, a plumber, and a compositor in the printing trades. Ownership also passed through individuals described at the time as a gentleman and a spinster, before later becoming the long‑term home of a coal merchant from the late 1940s through to 1981. Together, these roles show how the house consistently supported residents working in practical, hands‑on and service‑based occupations, illustrating the everyday lives of the city’s working families over more than a century.
A significant restoration was undertaken in the 1990s by owner Keith Preen, who spent seven years repairing and reinstating the house after it had been occupied by a group known as Alf’s Imperial Army. At the time, the interior had been painted entirely in red, white, and blue. Visitors have since noted the irony that the exterior has again adopted a red‑white‑blue palette in its most recent repaint.
A further major restoration was completed twenty years later by the current owners, Simone and Joe, who sought to secure the increasingly rare heritage building for the future. Their work was recognised in 2023 with an award from the Christchurch Civic Trust, which commended the meticulous restoration and acknowledged the owners’ initiative and commitment in retaining a house of important heritage character.