St Andrews Hill


St Andrews Hill is a hillside suburb in south-east Christchurch, New Zealand.

History

The first European owner of of the bottom of the hill was Reverend Edward Hooper Kittoe, who never came out to New Zealand, and for whom Edward Ward chose this land. The next 50 acres higher up the hill were purchased by the surveyor Robert Park, who later laid out the township of Ashburton. The land was later purchased by Major Alfred Hornbrook, who added it to his Mount Pleasant run. The Mount Pleasant run changed ownership to R. M. Morten, and upon his death, his sons Richard and Arthur Morten became the owners.
Subdivision of the land began in 1925, after Peter Trolove and Walter de Thier purchased a block of 50 acres. They put four sections up for auction that year, but only sold one of them. The new owner formed a road and called it The Brae after his home in Scotland. Further subdivision started in 1930, when St Andrews Hill Road, Te Awakura Terrace, and 45 sections were surveyed. Trolove and de Thier called their subdivision after St Andrews Links, the famous golf course in Scotland. A further subdivision happened higher up the hill when the Cannon Hill estate was bought by a syndicate in 1960.

Local government

In terms of local government, St Andrews Hill was originally seen as part of Mount Pleasant, which belonged to the Heathcote Road Board that was formed in 1864. In 1891, the area east of the Heathcote River was lost upon petition to the Sumner Borough. Heathcote became a county in 1911 and Mount Pleasant returned to Heathcote's area in 1921. Moves for St Andrews Hill to secede to Christchurch City began in 1941, with the main issue a desire for better water supply. Most of the built up area transferred to the city in April 1943, with a further area following two years later.