New Zealand - Christchurch - A Riccarton tram and trailer turns into Oxford Terrace from Worcester Street in the 1920s. The city's leading hotel of the period, the Clarendon is in the background. #602539 Clarendon Hotel - The first Clarendon, an early wooden hotel, was established in a former private house. It was located at 78 Worcester Street, on the corner of Oxford Terrace. The first occupier of the site was Guise Brittan in 1851, the land agent for the Canterbury Association. He operated the Christchurch land office, located diagonally opposite the intersection on the site that is these days occupied by Our City, a former home of the Christchurch City Council. Brittan sold his building in 1859 to Irish migrant Rowland Davis, who obtained a liquor licence and enlarged the house. Thus, the history of the site as a public house began. - A subsequent owner, George Oram, changed the name of the hotel to Clarendon in 1866, after the then British foreign secretary, the Earl of Clarendon. The quality of the hotel was recognised in 1869 when the Duke of Edinburgh stayed there and bestowed on Oram the title of 'Hotel Keeper by Appointment to His Royal Highness Prince Alfred the Duke of Edinburgh'. - The Clarendon Hotel was often used for inquests into drownings as it was located on the bank of the Avon River. It was also used as the departure point for Cobb and Co coaches to the West Coast. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon_Tower#Clarendon_Hotel) Christchurch tramway system - The Christchurch tramway system was an extensive network in Christchurch, New Zealand, with steam and horse trams from 1882. Electric trams ran from 1905 to 1954, when the last line from Cashmere to Papanui was replaced by buses. A loop track was reopened in the central city in 1995 as a tourist attraction. The track is standard gauge, 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in). - There is now a 2.5-kilometre (1.6 mi) central city loop heritage tram system, opened in February 1995 and running all year round, as well as a 1.4-kilometre (0.87 mi) extension opened in February 2015 and a tram museum at the Ferrymead Heritage Park with operating trams. The extension is part of an additional loop planned and partially constructed during late 2000s, and a new strategy report by Jan Gehl commissioned for Council and published in early 2010 suggested an extension of the tram system (and integration of the trams into the general public transport system) as one of a package of measures aimed at reducing car-dominance in the city. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_tramway_system) A Christchurch Album - It seems unbelievable that 40 years after the last Christchurch electric tram trundled back to the old tram barns in Moorehouse Avenue, trams of that era are once again running in the city streets. - A Christchurch Album is a unique pictorial record by the late W. W. Stewart and his son, Graham Stewart, of this past age when the tram was the life-blood of the city... Author: W. W. Stewart (Illustrator), Graham Stewart (Illustrator) ISBN: 1869340450 Click the link provided at the top to purchase the book through the MAD on New Zealand Shop - Supporting New Zealand Authors and Artists