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Discover Spanish Mission style gem, New Regent Street, Christchurch

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New Regent street is a homage to Spanish Mission style with pastel colours and building facades tempting visitors to linger in the many cafes.

Rare Art Deco streetscape, New Regent St Christchurch, New Zealand
Rare Art Deco streetscape, New Regent St Christchurch, New Zealand

New Regent Street Christchurch

Spanish Mission inspired jewellery, curated homeware stores and speciality shops mingled with cafes make New Regent Street the place to be. Hop on the vintage tram as your transport option. Hungry? grab a snack or relax in a street side setting and people watch. With its Spanis Mission facades and pretty pastel colouring it is favourite photo moment for your instagram profile.

The street is beautiful and, as the slogan says, indulge yourself. And, of course take a selfie, everyone else is.

New Regent street is one of the few streets in New Zealand with a uniform design facade. In the early 1930’s a new street was built to connect Armagh Street and Gloucester Street. The architect, well known for his theatre buildings designs, Francis Willis decided Spanish Mission style was the way to go. Shaped gables, medallions and tiled window hoods with barley twisted columns are on the buildings lining the small street with its historic tram line bisecting the narrow street. The name New Regent was to associate the street, the shops with one of the premier shopping destinations in London, Regent Street.

New Regent St, art deco buildings Christchurch South Island, NZ
New Regent St, art deco buildings Christchurch South Island, NZ

Discover more shopping destinations in Christchurch

For more holiday inspiration check out Things to do in Christchurch places to visit, attractions, activities & heritage.

 

Travel pack informaton

The “miraculous cures” of Madam Thora

THE SALUS PAD COMPANY advertisment customer testimonial, Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19521, 21 June 1933, Page 3

Crossing the street and a little further down at number 13 was a very interesting clinic, the Salus Pad Company, with Madam Thora Galli.

In 1932, our Madam had left Timaru for Christchurch to take up the position of general secretary at their Head Office and Clinic on New Regent Street. The Salus Pad Company was a chain of clinics that offered ‘miraculous cures’ by way of ‘electro-magnetic-therapic appliances, ultra-violet rays, infra-red rays’ for a range of things like rheumatism and arthritis, all yours for ‘ridiculously moderate fees’!

Thora Galli was probably a pseudonym for Arabella Ann Tate, born in Dunedin in 1884.

Arabella’s third marriage was to Leon Clement Galli, an Italian born ‘Electro, Magneto and Therapic Expert’ of the Salus Pad Company. Though they didn’t officially get married till 1937, the name ‘Thora Galli’ appears in newspapers earlier than that suggesting she was going by this name for some time before their marriage.

Thora Galli was a ‘well known hair and skin specialist’ who lived and worked around Timaru and Ashburton before her move to New Regent Street. We think the Salus Pad Company was only on New Regent Street for a few years before the couple moved on. Thora/Arabella died in Devonport at age 80, in 1965.

Source New Regent Street in the 1930s: Theft, fire, and candy | Christchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi.

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