Huntsbury

The Huntsbury hillside was originally the site of the Cashmere Sanatorium complex, a tuberculosis hospital which opened in 1914.[6] At the time, best practice tuberculosis treatment consistent of "open air" living, so many patients in the complex lived in "huts", about 9 square metres with permanently open doors and windows, even in winter.[7] After antibiotics largely eliminated tuberculosis, these huts were phased out from 1950, but one was restored by the city council and is found at the end of the private road Kimbolton Lane.[7]

Other huts were built by returned servicemen as temporary homes while earning money to build permanent homes. These people were known as "hutters" or "hutties" and were the subject of complaints by other residents.[7]

The first sections were sold for housing on Huntsbury Hill in January 1920.[7]

A water reservoir with capacity for 35,000 cubic metre was built in 1952. [8]

Following the discharge of the final tuberculosis patient in the 1960s, the sanatorium complex became the site of Coronation Hospital, before it too closed in 1991. Construction company, Fulton Hogan, demolished the last of the complex to make way for the Broad Oaks subdivision.[6]

By 2011, the Huntsbury water reservoir was Christchurch's main drinking water storage facility.[7] During the 2011 Christchurch earthquake a previously unknown shear zone beneath the facility ruptured. The basin was shattered and water drained into the cracked hills, while the pump station was extensively damaged.[8] Following the quake a new pump station was commissioned, and the reservoir was replaced with two structures on either side of the shear zone,[8] designed to move independently in future quakes.[7]

The 2011 earthquake also had a marked effect on the suburb's houses. By 2020, many houses had been repaired but many other sites remained empty following demolitions, and retaining walls broken.[7]